Migrate from Dynamics 365 Customer Service to Zoho Desk

Dynamics 365 Cases (incident table in Dataverse) map directly to Zoho Desk Tickets. The incident.title becomes Ticket Subject, incident.description becomes Ticket Description, incident.statecode maps to Zoho Desk Status (Open, Pending, On Hold, Closed), incident.prioritycode maps to Priority, and incident.customerid (the polymorphic customer reference) resolves to either the Zoho Desk Contact or Account record we created in the preceding phase. We preserve incident.createdon and incident.modifiedon as the ticket creation and modification timestamps. Incident resolution details (incident.resolution) migrate as an internal note on the ticket.

Dynamics 365 CE Contact records map to Zoho Desk Contacts with full name, email address, phone, and address fields preserved. We use the contact.emailaddress1 field as the dedupe key. Parent Account linkage (contact.parentcustomerid) is resolved after the Account import phase so that Contact records are linked to the correct Zoho Desk Account on insert. Custom Dataverse contact columns migrate as Zoho Desk Contact custom fields scoped to the department receiving the ticket data.

Dynamics 365 Account records map to Zoho Desk Accounts. account.name becomes Account Name, account.website becomes Website, and account.telephone1 becomes Phone. The Account-Contact hierarchy migrates as a flat Account in Zoho Desk with no hierarchical sub-account support; we flag this during scoping if the source uses multi-level Account hierarchies and advise whether to flatten or create multiple Accounts.

Dynamics 365 Knowledge Articles (knowledgearticle table) map to Zoho Desk Solutions. We migrate article title, content (article.content as HTML), language, status (draft, published, archived), and article number as an internal reference field. Article version history flattens to the current published version unless the destination Zoho Desk department has the version-history feature enabled. Article categories map to Zoho Desk Solution categories; we run a pre-migration category inventory to avoid orphaning articles without a matching category.

Dynamics 365 Queues that hold Cases and Activities map to Zoho Desk Teams. Queue membership (queueitem) is translated into Team membership during import. Note that Zoho Desk's migration documentation explicitly states Teams cannot be transferred as records; we create the Team structure in Zoho Desk using the department and group data from Dynamics 365, then add agents to the relevant Teams as a post-import step. Queue routing rules (how Cases enter a queue) do not have a direct Zoho Desk equivalent and are documented for admin review.

Dynamics 365 Entitlements (entitlement table) represent support contracts with allocated hours, case-count limits, channel restrictions, and SLA linkage. Zoho Desk has no native Entitlement object; we map entitlement terms (name, start/end dates, remaining case count) to Zoho Desk Contracts module if the customer is on Enterprise tier, or to Ticket custom fields on the relevant Account and Contact records. We flag any SLA linkage on the Entitlement so the customer's admin can bind the correct SLA policy after migration.

Dynamics 365 SLA definitions (slaid table) with KPI targets (first response, resolution) and business hours migrate to Zoho Desk SLA Policies under Setup > SLA Policies. We map the SLA name, applicable entity (Case), warning and failure thresholds, and business hours calendar. Paused SLA time (from incident's timezoneruleversionsnumber) does not transfer automatically; we calculate elapsed time and resume SLA timers in Zoho Desk on the correct date. If the source organisation is on Professional tier with no SLA capability, we document the absence so the customer understands that SLA features will be new post-migration.

Dynamics 365 Email activities (email) linked to Cases migrate as ticket comments in Zoho Desk. The email.from (activityparty) becomes the ticket requester or a comment author; email.to becomes a CC list on the ticket comment. Email body (email.description) preserves HTML formatting; attachments migrate as file comments. Zoho Desk cannot import CC users as native fields; we migrate email CC addresses into a custom multi-line text field on the ticket for reference.

Dynamics 365 Phone Call activities (phonecall) linked to Cases migrate as ticket comments with a phone call indicator. Call duration (phonecall.actualdurationminutes) and outcome (phonecall.directioncode) are captured in the comment body. Call recording URLs stored in custom fields migrate as a link in the comment. We flag call recording attachments separately because they often live in external storage (SharePoint or the original telephony provider) and require re-link or re-upload.

Dynamics 365 Task activities linked to Cases migrate as Zoho Desk Tasks attached to the corresponding ticket. Task subject, description, due date, and status map directly. Task ownership resolves by matching the task's owning user to the Zoho Desk agent created during the User provisioning phase.

Dynamics 365 Appointment activities (appointment) migrate as Zoho Desk Tasks with the meeting details in the task description. Start time, end time, and location are preserved. Attendees are noted in the description field; Zoho Desk has no native Event/calendar object for customer service tickets, so attendee tracking is informational rather than calendar-synced.

Customers extending the data model with custom Dataverse tables and columns require pre-migration schema design in Zoho Desk. We inventory every source custom column (logical name, type, option-set values for picklists), map each to a Zoho Desk custom field of equivalent type (string, integer, decimal, date, picklist, checkbox) scoped to the relevant department, and flag any Dataverse lookup relationships that cannot be represented as a simple reference in Zoho Desk (Zoho Desk supports lookup fields within the same module or across Modules). Custom table-level relationships (one-to-many, many-to-many) are simplified to one-to-many with a foreign key field.

Dynamics 365 Omnichannel conversation sessions and messages (msdyn_ocliveworkitem, msdyn_ocsession, msdyn_ocmessage) linked to Cases migrate as ticket comments with a channel indicator (chat, voice, SMS, social). We export session start time, message timestamps, and full message transcript text. Channel-specific assets (voice recordings, social media attachments) are flagged separately because they often reference external storage or the original channel provider and require re-link after migration.

Dynamics 365 Customer Voice survey responses tied to Cases via Activity records are exported with the response payload and linked survey metadata. Survey definitions themselves live in Customer Voice and are not portable to Zoho Desk; we document the survey list, the response data, and recommend Zoho Desk's native satisfaction ratings and reporting as the replacement mechanism.