Migrate from Awesome Support to Zoho Desk

Awesome Support tickets live as custom post types in wp_posts. We extract post ID, post_title (subject), post_date (created timestamp), post_status, and the priority meta key (wpas_priority) and map to Zoho Desk Ticket fields: Subject, Created Time, Status, and Priority. The original ticket ID is stored as TicketExtId for reconciliation. Post-modified date maps to the Last Modified timestamp in Zoho Desk.

Replies and internal notes are stored as comments on the ticket post type. We query wp_comments where comment_post_id equals the ticket ID, distinguish public responses from private agent notes by comment_type (wpas_reply vs wpas_note or blank), and map to Zoho Desk Thread records with the is_public flag set accordingly. The comment_author and comment_author_email map to the agent Contact on Zoho Desk. Comment content including any HTML formatting migrates as-is.

Agents are WordPress user accounts with a specific role or capability added by Awesome Support. We extract wp_users (ID, display_name, user_email, user_registered) and map to Zoho Desk Agents. A critical prerequisite: Zoho Desk requires every Agent to be associated with at least one Department before ticket import. We create a default Department during schema setup and associate all migrated agents to it. If multiple departments exist in the destination org, the customer specifies the mapping during scoping.

Registered WordPress users who submitted tickets have wp_users entries. We extract user_email, display_name, and any user meta and map to Zoho Desk Contact. The WordPress user ID is stored as ContactExtId for deduplication. Contact is created before the associated ticket so that the Contact lookup is satisfied at import time.

Guest ticket submitters provide only an email and name with no WordPress user account. We extract wpas_user_email and wpas_user_name from ticket postmeta, create Contact records without an Account association, and link them to the migrated ticket. Guest contacts are flagged in a custom field so the admin can follow up for account linking if appropriate.

Awesome Support stores custom field values as postmeta with wpas_ prefixes or custom namespaces defined by the Custom Fields add-on. We enumerate every distinct custom field key across all tickets during scoping, map field types (text, select, checkbox, radio, textarea) to Zoho Desk custom field types, and pre-create the custom field schema in Zoho Desk before ticket import. Select and checkbox fields that map to picklist values on Zoho Desk require a value-mapping table built during scoping.

Tags are stored as WordPress post terms in the ticket_tag taxonomy. We export the full tag set and apply tags to Zoho Desk Tickets using the tag field. Zoho Desk allows multiple tags per ticket. We deduplicate tags across all tickets and validate that the destination tag field can accommodate the tag length and character set from WordPress.

Awesome Support allows renaming default status labels via the admin settings page, stored in wp_options with wpas_status_ prefixes. We read the current status label configuration from wp_options during discovery, then map each renamed label to a Zoho Desk Status value. Zoho Desk Status values are department-scoped, so we create the status configuration per department during schema setup. The mapping table is validated against the Zoho Desk allowed status values list.

Attachments are stored as WordPress media attachments linked to the ticket post. We extract attachment URLs from wp_postmeta (where meta_key references the attachment ID) and re-upload files to Zoho Desk as ticket attachments. We validate each URL during extraction, flag any returning 404 or redirect errors, and log missing attachments for admin recovery from backup or original email threads. Large media libraries may require host-level bandwidth planning.

Survey responses (star ratings and feedback text) are stored in wp_postmeta with wpas_satisfaction_ prefixes when the Satisfaction Survey add-on is active. We export available survey data and map star ratings to Zoho Desk's rating field and feedback text to a custom field or the ticket description. This add-on is not present on all installations; we confirm its status during scoping and include only if active.

When WooCommerce or EDD add-ons are active, tickets can be linked to specific products or orders via postmeta. We extract product IDs and order IDs from ticket meta, map them to Zoho Desk Product records if product data is in scope, or preserve the association as ticket custom properties referencing the original WooCommerce order number for admin follow-up.

Time tracking is a separate add-on that stores billable hours against tickets in a dedicated custom table or postmeta namespace. Entries include agent ID, duration, and optional billing notes. We export time entries as logged time records against the migrated Zoho Desk ticket if the Zoho Desk Professional or Enterprise tier is in use, which includes time tracking. The time entry stores agent, duration, description, and billing status.

Private notes are distinguishable from public responses via comment_type in wp_comments. We flag them during extraction and set the is_public attribute to false on the Zoho Desk Thread record, ensuring internal notes are not exposed to the end customer in the customer portal. Author attribution is preserved as the agent Contact on Zoho Desk.