Migrate from Fernand to Zendesk

Fernand Conversations map directly to Zendesk Tickets. The conversation subject or first customer message becomes the Ticket Subject, conversation status (open/pending/resolved/closed) maps to Zendesk Ticket Status, priority maps to Priority, assignee maps to the Zendesk Agent assignee. We resolve assignee by email match against the Zendesk User table. Created_at and updated_at timestamps preserve the original conversation timeline.

Fernand Replies within a Conversation map to Zendesk Comments on the corresponding Ticket. We preserve the reply body, author (agent or customer), creation timestamp, and the internal/external visibility flag. AI-generated draft replies included in Fernand export migrate as internal Comments with a note flagging the AI origin. Comment ordering within the ticket thread is preserved by insertion sequence.

Fernand Customers map to Zendesk End Users (the requester field on Tickets). We export name, email, and any custom customer properties. Email address is used as the primary dedupe key. If a customer appears across multiple Fernand Conversations, we deduplicate to a single Zendesk End User and attach all corresponding Tickets. Fernand does not have a separate Organizations object, so the Organization mapping depends on whether the destination Zendesk account uses Organizations to group end users.

If Fernand stores company-level data per Customer, we map this to Zendesk Organizations. Organizations must be created before End Users if the customer's workflow requires End Users to be linked to an Organization at import time. We use the Fernand customer company name as the Organization name and resolve any duplicates by domain match if available.

Fernand active users (those who can reply to customers) and passive collaborators map to Zendesk Agents. We export user name, email, and active/passive status. Passive users without Zendesk agent access are documented for admin review. We resolve agents by email match against the Zendesk User table and flag any Fernand agents without a Zendesk counterpart for manual provisioning before record import.

Fernand conversation tags map to Zendesk Tags. Tag names and usage frequency are preserved. Zendesk Tags apply across Tickets, Users, and Organizations. If the customer uses tags for reporting categories, we recommend creating Zendesk Views filtered by tag before migration so reporting continuity is maintained.

Fernand Custom Data fetches external API responses per conversation (API endpoint URLs, header names, and fetched payloads). We export the fetched payloads as Zendesk Ticket Custom Fields rather than replicating the live fetch configuration. The original endpoint configuration (URLs, auth headers, refresh logic) is platform-specific and documented separately for manual rebuild in Zendesk as a Zendesk Sidebar App or integration. Field types in Zendesk are determined by payload format: JSON objects become text fields, booleans become checkboxes, dates become date fields.

File attachments on Fernand Conversations and Replies are downloaded and re-uploaded to the corresponding Zendesk Ticket Comment. Image attachments sent via the widget are included. We preserve original filenames, MIME types, and attachment order within the comment thread. Attachments exceeding Zendesk's file size limit (20 MB per file) are flagged for the customer to store externally and link as URLs.

Fernand's GitHub integration links conversation threads to GitHub issues and can auto-reopen conversations when issue status changes. We export the linked GitHub issue URL as a Zendesk Ticket Custom Field of type URL. Issue state sync does not carry over because Zendesk lacks the native GitHub auto-reopen trigger. We document the original integration logic for the customer's admin to rebuild as a Zendesk Trigger or automation if desired.

Fernand's Linear integration creates a feedback loop similar to GitHub. We export the linked Linear issue reference as a Zendesk Ticket Custom Field. The Linear issue state sync behavior does not transfer; conversations will not auto-reopen when Linear issue status changes. We document the original integration configuration for rebuild in Zendesk using Linear's webhook API and Zendesk Triggers.

Fernand supports email and chat channels. We export channel type per conversation as a Zendesk Ticket Custom Field or mapped to Zendesk's native channel identifier. Email-channel conversations map to Zendesk's email channel; chat-channel conversations map to Zendesk's chat channel if the Zendesk account has Chat enabled. Channel mapping is confirmed during discovery based on the destination Zendesk plan and enabled channels.