When transitioning from a Zendesk account to Zoho Desk, the challenge lies in efficiently migrating critical data like customer information, ticket histories, agent interactions, referenced articles, comments, and attachments. A structured approach is crucial to maintain data integrity and ensure a seamless transfer.
Zwitch provides a solution for the orderly migration or export of data from Zendesk to Zoho Desk. This efficient tool facilitates the organized transfer of modules, including customer details, tickets, agent interactions, and attachments. This ensures a smooth transition between help desk platforms, supporting users in seamlessly adopting Zoho Desk.
Note: The Primary Contact and Support Administrators can initiate data migration. Modules that can be migrated from Zendesk to Zoho Desk
Before proceeding with the migration steps, it's important for users to take note of the process that occurs during the data processing and data retention phase.
What happens during data processing?
1. Migration wizard:
- Zoho Desk offers a migration wizard with a dedicated template for Zendesk data import.
- Submit Zendesk backup through Zwitch for validation.
2. Data format:
- Zendesk data is accepted in JSON format for accurate and glitch-free migration.
- XML exports are supported but not as reliable.
3. Data import process:
- Desk import wizard extracts module-wise data using the JSON file exported from Zendesk.
- API calls to Zendesk are made for importing custom fields, KB items, and attachments.
4. Data management:
- Zendesk backup files processed by the wizard are periodically deleted.
- Migration records are purged within 30 days.
5. Zendesk account maintenance:
- Keep Zendesk account active until the final migration.
- Maintain the account with sufficient API rate limits for access during migration.
How are data retained?
1. Data retention:
- Tickets can be filtered using Zendesk groups and brands to migrate only relevant ones to Desk. Users can skip irrelevant tickets and only migrate the select ones into Desk.
- Zendesk ticket IDs are stored in the custom field 'zendesk-id' for easy reference.
2. Custom fields in desk:
- Custom fields are dynamically created during migration, with types predicted from sampled data.
- Field names in Desk may vary slightly from Zendesk, but types and values remain unchanged.
3. Thread replies:
- Thread replies from Zendesk tickets are marked with the direction_value 'in'.
- Organization admin (primary contact) using OAuth for migration is assigned as the sender.
4. Channel tagging:
- Threads without 'from' and/or 'to' addresses are tagged with the channel 'CUSTOMERPORTAL'.
Exporting data from Zendesk account
Exporting data from a Zendesk account involves acquiring a thorough backup of information, encompassing account details, tickets, contacts, organizations, custom fields, and user details, typically in JSON format for accuracy and reliability.
To initiate data migration
- Sign in to Zendesk, enter the URL of your portal name. For example, <zylker.zendesk.com>
- Login to the account with the credentials.
- Click the Products icon > Admin Center.
- In the Admin Center home tab, click on Accounts.
You can find it on the left panel, also in the Admin Center list.
- Go to Accounts > Tools > Reports.
- On the Reporting page, click on Exports.
- Select timeline for json export and click export. Tickets json export alone can furnish all the relevant module data needed for migration.
- Select the From date
- Select the To date
- Select tickets from the drop down.
- Click Export.
- A download URL would be sent to the registered email.
- Download the file using the URL received via mail.
Note: Read more on how to import data from Zendesk to Zoho Desk.