Migrate from Help On Task to Zendesk

Help On Task Tickets map to Zendesk Tickets as the primary record. We map ticket ID, subject, description (initial comment), status, priority, requester email, assignee email, created_at, updated_at, and any tags. Zendesk Ticket status accepts open, pending, hold, solved, and closed; we map Help On Task's status vocabulary to the nearest Zendesk equivalent during transform. The requester maps to a Zendesk User (end-user role) by email lookup; assignee maps to a Zendesk Agent or Admin by email lookup.

Help On Task Customer profiles (name, email, phone, company) map to Zendesk end-user accounts. We use email as the unique dedupe key. Customers without email addresses go to a manual resolution queue because Zendesk requires a valid email for end-user provisioning via the API. Phone and company fields map to Zendesk user.phone and user.organization_id where organization records have been created.

Help On Task Agent accounts map to Zendesk Users with agent or admin roles. We map email, name, and current active/suspended status. Agents without email addresses are flagged for manual resolution because Zendesk requires email on all user records. Role assignment (agent vs admin) in Zendesk is set based on the Help On Task role indicator or admin note field; we default to agent role if the role is unspecified.

Help On Task tags migrate as Zendesk tags. Tag names transfer verbatim. Zendesk imposes a limit of 200 tags per ticket; Help On Task does not impose a documented limit. If any ticket exceeds 200 tags, we truncate to the first 199 and append _truncated flag, then document the overflow in the reconciliation report. Tag associations are stored in Zendesk's tag API rather than as a field on the Ticket object.

Help On Task custom field values export as flat CSV columns without schema metadata (field type, required flag, options list, visibility). We request customers provide a screenshot or manual list of their custom field definitions before migration. We create equivalent Zendesk ticket fields (text, integer, decimal, date, dropdown, multiselect, checkbox, regexp) in the Zendesk Admin Center before importing data, then map CSV column values to the correct field IDs by name lookup. Without schema documentation, custom fields land as plain text notes and the customer recreates the schema manually post-migration.

Help On Task conversation entries within a ticket map to Zendesk Ticket Comments. We preserve author (agent or end-user), body, timestamp, and internal/public visibility. Public comments (visible to the customer) map to public=true; internal notes map to public=false. Comment ordering is preserved by setting the Zendesk created_at timestamp to the original Help On Task message timestamp. Attachments embedded in conversation messages are extracted separately and re-uploaded to Zendesk with comments.

Help On Task stores attachments as signed or time-limited URLs that expire when the source account is closed. We download all attachments from Help On Task to a FlitStack AI temporary blob store before the source account is deactivated, then upload them to Zendesk's file API and attach them to the corresponding Ticket Comment records. File names, sizes, and MIME types are preserved. The relinking to Zendesk Comment IDs happens after the comment import phase completes.

Help On Task knowledge base articles (if present) map to Zendesk Guide articles. We export article title, body content (HTML), section/category assignment, publication status, author name, and tags. Articles map to Zendesk Help Center sections and categories that we create during the pre-migration schema build. Publication status (draft vs published) translates directly. Unpublished articles are imported as drafts and documented for the customer's admin to review before publishing. Zendesk Guide requires a Suite Team plan or above.

Help On Task tagging patterns often represent the workaround for the absence of macros or saved replies. We document the top-20 most-used tag patterns as a written inventory of suggested Zendesk Macro equivalents, mapped by tag name to a recommended macro subject and body template. This is an inventory deliverable, not a migration of macro records, because Help On Task does not store macro definitions in a structured format accessible to export.

All Help On Task timestamps (created, updated, last interaction) are preserved in Zendesk Ticket fields by setting the API-side created_at and updated_at attributes during import. Zendesk allows setting created_at on ticket creation but restricts updated_at to specific conditions; we document any timestamp that cannot be preserved programmatically in the reconciliation report. Timezone settings are aligned during scoping so that timestamps display consistently in the destination timezone.