Migrate from Cision to Odoo CRM

Cision's journalist database with 1.4M+ records maps to Odoo res.partner. We extract beat assignments, outlet affiliations, contact details, social profiles, and journalist notes as custom fields on the Contact record. We set partner_type to 'contact' and create a custom field journalist_beat__c to preserve beat classification. We deduplicate by email address and flag records with missing contact details for customer review before final import. Cision's journalist quality (verified vs. unverified) does not have a native Odoo equivalent and is stored as a selection field on the contact.

Cision outlet records (publications, broadcasters, digital outlets) map to Odoo res.partner with partner_type set to 'company'. Outlet type (print/digital/broadcast), geography, beat coverage, and contact relationships migrate as fields on the company record. We link the outlet company to journalist contacts via the contact's parent_id pointing to the outlet company, preserving the outlet-to-contact relationship from Cision.

Cision media lists curated for targeted pitching map to Odoo mailing.list. List name, description, and created-by metadata migrate. List membership (which contacts are in which lists) migrates as mailing.contact records linked to the mailing.list. We deduplicate contacts by email within each list and flag any contacts that were not migrated as standalone records for separate handling.

Press release content, distribution history, recipient lists, wire tier, and open/click metrics migrate as Odoo documents linked to the relevant campaign or contact records. Wire distribution tier (Basic/Standard/Advanced/Premium) stores as a custom selection field on the document. The actual wire distribution service (PR Newswire) does not migrate; the customer re-subscribes to wire distribution separately post-migration. We deliver a written inventory of every release with its wire tier and performance metrics for the customer to act on.

Cision PR campaigns with grouped releases, pitches, and coverage mentions map to Odoo crm.lead as a top-level tracking record if the intent is sales pipeline measurement, or to project.project if the intent is campaign project tracking with task management. We determine the destination during scoping based on whether the customer uses Odoo CRM pipeline stages or Odoo Project for campaign workflows. Campaign date range, status, and linked contacts migrate as fields on the record.

Monitored coverage records with article metadata, outlet, sentiment, reach estimates, and tags migrate as Odoo notes linked to the relevant Contact (journalist) or Company (outlet) record via res_model and res_id. We deduplicate coverage records by article URL and normalize sentiment values from Cision's scale to a simple positive/neutral/negative tag on the note. Tag associations from Cision migrate as Odoo tags (mail.message.needaction) attached to the note record.

Brandwatch social monitoring data including social mentions, engagement metrics, and trend data migrates as Odoo mail.activity records with activity_type = 'note' linked to the relevant Contact or Company. Platform attribution (Twitter/X, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram) stores in a custom field on the activity. Brandwatch-specific sentiment scores and reach metrics migrate as custom float fields. We flag any Brandwatch metadata that does not map directly to Odoo's activity model for customer review.

Open rates, click rates, syndication reach counts, and wire-tier information from PR Newswire distribution records migrate as custom fields on the parent campaign record (crm.lead or project.project) or as metadata on the documents.document record. We document the full metric set during discovery and create the custom fields in Odoo before migration begins.

Cision user accounts with name, email, role, and workspace assignments map to Odoo res.users. We match by email address. Any Cision user without a matching Odoo user goes to a reconciliation queue for the customer's admin to provision before contact import resumes. Workspace-based access controls from Cision do not map directly to Odoo's security groups; we document the access matrix for manual Odoo group assignment post-migration.

Saved monitoring alert configurations and monitoring search parameters are platform-specific with no portable format. We document every active alert during the discovery call: alert name, keywords, outlet filters, date ranges, recurrence, and notification method. The customer uses this inventory to recreate alerts in Odoo's automation rules or in a third-party monitoring tool post-migration. This inventory is delivered as part of the written handoff package.

Cision dashboard widget layouts and saved report templates use Cision's proprietary schema and are not exportable as reusable configurations. We export the underlying data (metrics, coverage charts, campaign performance numbers) as CSV and deliver it alongside a written dashboard inventory describing each widget's contents and recommended Odoo reporting approach. Odoo's reporting engine (built-in CRM reports, pivot tables, and graph views) is the rebuild target.

Cision stores relationship metadata between journalists and outlets (beat assignments, beat coverage, outlet affiliations, relationship type, last contact date, contact frequency). We map these as custom fields on the Odoo res.partner record and as Odoo tags for classification. The relationship between a journalist contact and an outlet company is preserved by setting parent_id on the contact record to the outlet company and adding a custom relationship_type field.