Migrate from Freshservice to Zendesk

Freshservice Tickets map directly to Zendesk Tickets with all standard fields (subject, description, status, priority, type, group, agent) preserved via the Zendesk tickets API. Freshservice's agent and group assignments map to Zendesk's assignee_id and group_id using our pre-built lookup tables. Custom ticket fields migrate as Zendesk ticket fields with equivalent types (text, dropdown, checkbox, date). Conversation threads (public replies and internal notes) migrate as Zendesk comments with the public/private flag preserved.

Freshservice Agents map to Zendesk end-users with agent roles. We extract agent records by email, map the Freshservice role (Agent, Service Manager, Full Administrator) to the nearest Zendesk role (agent, admin), and resolve group memberships to Zendesk group membership. Agents without a matching Zendesk user account enter a reconciliation queue for the customer's Zendesk admin to provision before ticket import begins.

Freshservice Requesters map to Zendesk end-users who submit tickets. The Freshservice requester contact model (name, email, primary phone, organization) maps directly to Zendesk User fields. Requester organization membership in Freshservice maps to Zendesk Organization membership. Requesters are migrated before tickets so that the requester_id reference is satisfied at ticket insert time.

Freshservice Organizations map to Zendesk Organizations. Freshservice's domain-based auto-grouping logic is translated to Zendesk organization membership rules. Organization custom fields migrate as Zendesk organization fields. We use the organization name as the dedupe key during import to avoid creating duplicate organizations for the same entity.

Freshservice Assets (hardware, software, network items tracked in the CMDB) migrate to Zendesk as tagged ticket fields or as records in Zendesk's separate Asset Management workspace (available on Enterprise Suite). Freshservice asset type, serial number, vendor, and CI relationships map to Zendesk custom asset fields. Large CMDB hierarchies with parent-child relationships are stored as text fields on the related Zendesk ticket with a flat export for the customer's asset management team to reconstruct post-migration.

Freshservice Changes track planned IT environment modifications with risk level, approval workflow, and associated CIs. Zendesk has no native ITIL Change object, so we map Changes to Zendesk Tickets with a custom field 'fs_change_type' capturing the original Freshservice change type (Normal, Standard, Emergency) and 'fs_risk_level' preserving the risk assessment. The approval status migrates as a dropdown field. Customers who need formal Change management post-migration use Zendesk's Change Management product as a separate tier.

Freshservice Problems track root-cause analysis behind one or more incidents. Zendesk has no native Problem object, so we map Problems to Zendesk Tickets with a custom field 'fs_problem_id' and a 'fs_related_incidents' text field listing related Freshservice ticket IDs. The linkage to related incidents is preserved as a comma-separated reference list for the customer's admins to rebuild as Zendesk macro or topic associations post-migration.

Freshservice Releases group Changes and Assets into deployable units with scheduled dates and approval workflows. Zendesk has no native Release object, so we map Releases to Zendesk Tickets with a custom field 'fs_release_date' and 'fs_release_status' preserving the release state. The associated asset and change references migrate as tagged text fields.

Freshservice SLA policies (response time and resolution time targets tied to ticket priority or type) map to Zendesk SLA Policies which are available on Support Team and above. We map Freshservice SLA policy assignments to Zendesk SLA policy assignments on a per-ticket basis. Freshservice's business-hours calendar configuration maps to Zendesk's business hours settings, which the customer configures in their Zendesk admin panel before migration.

Freshservice ticket conversation threads — agent replies, requester replies, and internal notes — map to Zendesk ticket comments. The public/internal flag is preserved: Freshservice public notes map to Zendesk public comments; Freshservice internal notes map to Zendesk private comments. HTML-formatted content is sanitized during import. Inline images hosted on Freshservice's file servers are re-hosted to Zendesk's attachments API with URL rewriting applied to preserve display in the ticket thread.

Freshservice ticket attachments migrate to Zendesk ticket attachments via the Zendesk attachments API. File size limits on Zendesk apply (25 MB per attachment); files exceeding the limit are flagged in the migration report with a recommendation to archive to an external storage link stored as a custom field on the ticket.

Freshservice Custom Objects exist on Forest and Enterprise plans only and do not support associations to native objects. Since Zendesk has no equivalent custom object model, we migrate Custom Object records as Zendesk ticket custom fields with the original Freshservice record ID stored as a text reference. The association gap (Custom Object records with no native Zendesk link) is documented in the migration report with a recommendation to store the relationship in a custom text field or a separate lookup table in Zendesk Explore.

Freshservice Locations and Departments are organizational metadata used for ticket routing and asset assignment. These migrate as Zendesk Organization custom fields (location, department) and User custom fields, preserving the hierarchical relationship where Freshservice associates locations with departments. The customer configures routing rules in Zendesk based on these fields post-migration.