Migrate from Column Case Management to Freshsales

Column Cases map to Freshsales Deals as the primary record. Investigative metadata (case number, priority, status, solvability score) become custom fields on the Deal. The case subject(s) link to the Deal via Contact Roles. All original timestamps, such as date opened and closed, are preserved as system fields on the Deal, and any case-specific notes migrate to the Deal description.

For agencies requiring a dedicated investigative case record separate from sales Deals, we create a Freshsales Custom Module named 'Cases' (Estate/Forest plans). The Cases module holds all investigative fields; Deals link to Cases via a lookup relationship. This separation allows granular access controls and reporting specific to investigative workflows.

Column Subjects (persons of interest, complainants, witnesses) map directly to Freshsales Contacts. Name, contact information, address, and role-in-case migrate as Contact fields plus custom fields for investigative role. Additional identifiers such as driver license numbers or badge IDs are stored in custom fields to maintain investigative context.

Column Subjects who are not yet confirmed contacts route to Freshsales Leads when no email address exists. Lead records are converted to Contacts upon investigative confirmation using Freshsales' lead-conversion flow. The conversion maps the subject's role and custom fields to the new Contact, preserving the investigative history.

Column Evidence records (documents, digital files, physical exhibits) migrate as a Freshsales Custom Object. Evidence metadata (exhibit number, collection date, chain-of-custody status, storage location) become custom fields. Files attach to Evidence records via Freshsales Files. Each file's original filename and mime type are stored for reference and downstream processing.

Column's subject-evidence associations and case-evidence associations require a junction object in Freshsales linking Cases to Evidence and Subjects. We build a Case_Evidence__c custom object and a Subject_Evidence__c junction to preserve the relationship graph. These junction records capture role assignments such as handler, reviewer, and custodian for audit purposes.

Column Incidents (events triggering a case, such as a fraud report or complaint) map to Freshsales Accounts as business-level entities. When the incident involves a known subject, the Account links to the corresponding Contact record. Incident date and type are stored as custom fields on the Account for reporting and segmentation.

Investigative tasks (interview notes, evidence collection, report writing) migrate directly to Freshsales Tasks. Original due dates, assignees, and task status preserve; task priority maps to Freshsales Task priority values. Any attachments linked to the task, such as interview recordings or evidence photos, are reattached as Freshsales Files.

Column documents attached to cases (PDFs, images, reports) migrate as Freshsales Files attached to the corresponding Deal or Cases module record. File metadata (document type, author, created date) preserved as custom fields on the attachment. The original folder structure is noted in a custom field to aid in locating files after migration.

Column users and investigators resolve to Freshsales Users by email match. Unmatched users are flagged before migration; teams either create Freshsales accounts or reassign records to a fallback user. The fallback user is designated as a system admin to ensure all records have an owner during and after the migration.

Column's field-level audit trails (who changed what and when) cannot map to Freshsales native audit logs (available only on Enterprise). We create a Case_Audit__c custom object and populate it with Column's audit history as reference records. Each audit entry includes the timestamp, user, field name, old value, and new value for completeness.

Column's NIBRS-compliant reporting templates and investigative report formats have no Freshsales equivalent. We export report templates as PDF references; teams rebuild reports using Freshsales' custom report builder or Freshsales Suite analytics. During export, we capture any dynamic fields and formulas so they can be replicated in the new reporting environment.