Migrate from Autotask Professional Services Automation (PSA) to Zoho Desk

Autotask Resource records (technicians and staff) map to Zoho Desk Agents. We extract Resource by email as the dedupe key and create Zoho Desk Agents with the matching email, name, and role. Inactive or deleted Resources in Autotask are flagged for reconciliation — agents without a Zoho Desk equivalent go into a queue for the customer's admin to provision before the main migration phase begins. Autotask Resource license status maps to Zoho Desk Agent active/inactive.

Autotask Company records map to Zoho Desk Accounts. CompanyName becomes AccountName, phone and address fields map directly, and the Company website becomes the Account website. We load Accounts first in every migration phase because Contacts in Zoho Desk carry an AccountId lookup — that reference must exist before any Contact insert to avoid orphaning. Autotask Company UDFs map to Zoho Desk custom fields on Account.

Autotask Contact records map to Zoho Desk Contacts with the parent Account reference preserved via the AccountId lookup. FirstName, LastName, Email, Phone, and Title map directly. Autotask Contact-level UDFs (custom fields scoped to the Contact object) map to Zoho Desk custom fields on Contact. The Contact-to-Company linkage is preserved by resolving the Autotask CompanyID to the newly created Zoho Account ID at migration time.

Autotask Tickets map to Zoho Desk Tickets as the primary migration object. Ticket title, description, status, priority, queue assignment, and created/modified timestamps migrate directly. We resolve the Autotask Company and Contact references to their Zoho Desk equivalents before inserting Tickets. Autotask Ticket UDFs (custom fields on Tickets) are the most common migration gap — we audit every UDF during discovery and create matching Zoho Desk custom fields before the Ticket load begins. Note: Zoho Desk does not preserve the original ticket creation date during migration; tickets display the migration date and time. Original timestamps are stored in a custom field if the customer requires audit continuity.

Autotask file attachments on Tickets are stored in its Document Management module and retrieved via sequential per-attachment API calls. We schedule the attachment phase separately from the primary record migration to avoid compounding call-count against the 10,000/hour ceiling. For large attachment volumes (thousands of files), we pre-count total attachment volume, schedule the phase in off-peak windows, and use parallel-safe API threads where available. Zoho Desk imports attachments linked to the migrated Ticket ID.

Autotask Time Entries (hours logged against Tickets, Projects, or standalone task work) map to Zoho Desk Tasks linked to the corresponding Ticket. Hours, date, owner, and optional notes carry over as Task fields. Time Entry-to-Ticket linkage is resolved by matching the Autotask TicketID to the migrated Zoho Desk Ticket ID. Time Entries not linked to a Ticket are logged as standalone Tasks against the relevant Contact or Account.

Zoho Desk has no native Project management module. Autotask Projects (containing Tasks, milestone dates, resource assignments, and budget tracking) must be created as a Zoho Desk Custom Object or migrated to Zoho Projects via the Zoho Projects API as a separate integration step. We scope this gap during discovery and the customer chooses: create a Custom Object in Zoho Desk, integrate Zoho Projects, or accept that Projects are manually rebuilt. Milestone dates, phases, and Project status migrate to the chosen destination if the customer selects the Custom Object path.

Zoho Desk has no native Contract management module. Autotask Contracts (defining billing arrangements, labor rates, service level terms, and recurring billing rules) cannot be migrated as standard records. We create a Contract custom object in Zoho Desk and map the contract name, start/end dates, rate cards, and terms as custom fields. Rule-based billing rules and labor rate schedules that drive Autotask's billing engine have no Zoho Desk equivalent and are flagged for rebuild in Zoho Books or a dedicated billing tool post-migration.

Autotask UDFs are defined per-customer per-object and have no automated discovery export. We run a UDF audit during discovery, enumerating every custom field on Tickets, Companies, Contacts, and any other object, capturing its data type (text, number, date, dropdown, checkbox, multi-select) and picklist values. Each UDF is then created as a matching Zoho Desk custom field before the data load phase. Any UDF without a Zoho Desk equivalent is flagged and discussed with the customer before migration proceeds.

Autotask Service Calls (field service scheduling and dispatch records) have no documented export path in the Autotask REST API. We do not migrate Service Call records. The customer must manually review Service Call schedules and recreate relevant appointments in Zoho FSM or another field service tool post-migration. We provide a Service Call inventory checklist documenting every active appointment record for the customer's admin to reference during rebuild.

Autotask To-dos (individual action items tied to users, not to tickets or projects) lack a bulk export API endpoint in the REST API. We do not migrate To-do records. Relevant To-dos should be reviewed by end users before the migration window and converted to Zoho Desk Tasks manually, or the customer's admin uses Zoho Desk's Tasks feature to batch-create them post-migration.

Autotask Workflow Rules have no export capability via the REST API. Every rule must be manually reviewed and rebuilt in Zoho Desk using its Blueprint (for ticket process flows) and Workflow automation features. We deliver a written workflow audit checklist documenting every Autotask Workflow Rule with its trigger, conditions, and actions, mapped to a recommended Zoho Desk Blueprint or Workflow Rule equivalent. The customer's admin or a Zoho implementation partner rebuilds the automations post-migration.