Migrate from Fernand to Zoho Desk

Fernand Conversations map directly to Zoho Desk Tickets. The conversation subject, body (first message), status (open, pending, resolved, closed), priority, assignee, and created/modified timestamps migrate to the corresponding Zoho Ticket fields. The conversation ID is preserved as a custom field original_conversation_id__c for audit and cross-reference. Zoho Desk's department assignment defaults to the primary department if the source conversation lacks department metadata; we configure department mapping during scoping.

Fernand Replies within a Conversation migrate as Zoho Desk Comments on the corresponding Ticket. We preserve the reply body, author email (mapped to the Zoho Agent by email match), creation timestamp, and the internal/external flag. AI-generated draft replies included in the Fernand export are written as internal Comments with a prefix note. Thread ordering is preserved by comment sequence position at migration time.

Fernand Customers map to Zoho Desk Contacts. Name, email, and any custom properties migrate to Contact fields. If the customer organization name is present, we create a Zoho Account record and link it to the Contact via the AccountId lookup. Email address is the dedupe key. Fernand passive users (collaborators without customer email) do not create Contact records but are reconciled against Zoho Desk Agents separately.

Fernand conversation tags migrate to Zoho Desk Ticket Tags. Tag names and usage frequency are preserved. Zoho Desk tags are scoped per department; if Fernand conversations span logical departments, we assign tags to the primary department during migration. Tags used for channel classification (email, chat) are also mapped to the Zoho Ticket channel field.

File attachments on Fernand Conversations and Replies are downloaded from the source, preserving original filename and MIME type, then re-uploaded to the corresponding Zoho Desk Ticket via the Zoho Desk API. Image attachments (widget-sent screenshots) are included. We track the original file URL as a fallback reference field. Attachment re-upload adds latency on large archives; we chunk uploads and use exponential backoff on Zoho's rate limit responses.

Fernand email and chat channels map to Zoho Desk channel types (Email, Chat, Phone, Social, Web). We export the channel type per conversation and set the corresponding Zoho Ticket channel field during import. Any Fernand channel types without a Zoho Desk equivalent are mapped to Email as the fallback and documented in the mapping spec.

Fernand Custom Data stores external API endpoint configurations and the fetched payloads per conversation. The API endpoint URLs, header names, and refresh logic are platform-specific Fernand configuration that cannot be replicated in Zoho Desk without rebuilding. We export the fetched payloads as key-value pairs written to Zoho Desk custom fields on the Ticket, with the original endpoint reference preserved in a text field for the admin to evaluate for Zoho Creator or webhook-based rebuilds.

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 custom URL field on the Zoho Desk Ticket. Issue state sync does not carry over; conversations will not auto-reopen when GitHub issue status changes. The Zoho Desk admin can rebuild this behavior using Zoho Workflow rules and a GitHub webhook if desired.

Fernand's Linear integration creates a similar feedback loop to GitHub, linking conversation threads to Linear issues. We export the linked Linear issue reference as a URL custom field on the Zoho Desk Ticket. Linear issue state sync does not transfer. Any Linear+Zoho integration would need to be rebuilt using Linear's webhook API and Zoho Desk workflow rules.

Fernand active users (those who can reply to customers) are matched to Zoho Desk Agents by email address. We export name, email, and active/passive status. Active users without a matching Zoho Desk Agent are held in a reconciliation queue for the customer's admin to provision before record import resumes. Passive collaborators (view-only in Fernand) can be mapped to Zoho Light Agents if the destination plan supports that role type.

Fernand passive users (collaborators who cannot reply directly to customers) map to Zoho Desk Light Agents on Professional and Enterprise plans. Light Agents can view tickets and add internal comments but cannot reply publicly. We flag passive users during scoping so the customer can decide whether to provision them as full Agents (Standard+) or Light Agents (Professional+) based on their Zoho Desk plan.

Fernand conversation created_at and updated_at timestamps migrate to Zoho Desk Ticket createdTime and modifiedTime. Note: Zoho Desk's migration tooling cannot transfer created_at dates by default; we use the REST API directly to set createdTime during insert, preserving the original timestamp. If the API rejects a backdated timestamp, the timestamp is written into the first internal Comment as a metadata note and the standard Zoho createdTime is set to migration time.