Migrate from Autotask Professional Services Automation (PSA) to Zendesk

Autotask Tickets map directly to Zendesk Tickets. The ticket title, description, status, priority, issue type, and SLA reference transfer as native fields. Queue assignment in Autotask maps to Zendesk's Group or Assignee fields, and we resolve queue members to individual Zendesk agents. Custom Ticket Fields (UDFs) on Autotask tickets require a pre-migration UDF audit — we enumerate every UDF, capture its data type (text, number, dropdown, checkbox, date), collect picklist values, and create matching Zendesk ticket fields before the data load begins. Any UDF without a clear Zendesk equivalent is flagged for customer decision.

Autotask Company records map to Zendesk Organizations. The Company name becomes the Organization name, and address, phone, website, and domain data transfer to Organization fields. Autotask Company UDFs migrate as Organization fields. We resolve the Organization ID in Zendesk before importing Tickets so that the ticket-to-organization link is satisfied at insert time rather than patched post-load.

Autotask Contact records map to Zendesk end-user User records. Email, name, phone, role, and Contact-level UDFs transfer. We resolve the parent Organization ID so that each User is linked to their Zendesk Organization at insert time. Agent accounts in Zendesk (users with agent role) are a separate provisioning step; we map Autotask Resource records to Zendesk agents in a parallel phase with the customer's admin validating role assignments.

Autotask Projects have no native Zendesk equivalent — Zendesk does not have a project management object. We export Projects as structured CSV/JSON including tasks, milestones, resource assignments, and budget data, and we deliver the export alongside a recommendation for ongoing project tracking (Zendesk Explore for reporting, or a companion PSA for active project delivery). Projects with open tickets are flagged during scoping so the customer can decide whether to close project-linked tickets before migration or carry the cross-reference as a note.

Autotask Contracts define billing arrangements, labor rates, service level terms, and recurring billing rules. Zendesk has no contract or billing object. We export Contracts including associated billing rate cards and service terms as structured CSV/JSON. For ongoing service billing, the customer needs a companion PSA (Datto PSA via API, or a replacement) or a Zendesk Sunshine custom object implementation. We scope this gap explicitly before migration begins.

Autotask Time Entries capture hours logged against Tickets, Projects, or standalone tasks with date, owner, and billing notes. Zendesk has no native time tracking object — Talk (phone) and Explore (reporting) provide limited time capture but not the full labor-and-billing model. We export Time Entries as structured CSV/JSON with the parent object reference (Ticket ID or Project ID) preserved so billing can be reconstructed in a companion PSA or billing system post-migration.

Autotask Resources (technicians and staff) map to Zendesk agent User accounts. Role, department, license status, and email transfer. We map Resources by email to Zendesk User, but the customer's admin must confirm role assignments (agent vs admin vs admin) in Zendesk before migration because the Autotask role model does not map one-to-one onto Zendesk's permission structure. Resource UDFs migrate as User fields in Zendesk.

Autotask file attachments on Tickets are stored in the document management module and retrieved via sequential per-attachment API calls. For customers with thousands of attachments, this creates a high call-count burden against the 10,000 calls/hour ceiling. We chunk attachment migration into a separate phase after primary records, pre-count total attachment volume, and schedule it in off-peak windows to avoid colliding with the ticket and contact migration. Attachments land on the Zendesk Ticket via the Attachments API. Inline images in ticket comments migrate as separate attachments linked to the comment record.

Autotask UDFs exist on Tickets, Companies, Contacts, and other objects. The UDF schema is customer-specific and has no automated discovery export — we run a manual UDF audit before migration to enumerate every custom field, capture its data type and picklist values, and build a Zendesk field mapping table. Text, number, date, and checkbox UDFs map directly. Dropdown UDFs require us to pre-create the picklist values in Zendesk before the data load so that the values are valid on insert. UDFs without a Zendesk equivalent are flagged for the customer's admin to decide whether to create a matching custom field or drop the data.

Autotask Workflow Rules have no export path via the REST API. We do not migrate automation rules as code. We deliver a written workflow audit checklist documenting every active Autotask Workflow Rule with its trigger, conditions, actions, and recommended Zendesk Business Rule or Trigger equivalent. The customer's admin rebuilds these in Zendesk post-migration.

Autotask Service Calls are field-service scheduling and dispatch records with no Zendesk equivalent. They do not have a bulk export API endpoint. We do not migrate Service Calls; the customer recreates these manually in Zendesk, in a companion field service tool, or in a separate scheduling system. We flag the count of Service Calls during scoping for the customer's awareness.