Migrate from HelpDeskZ to Freshdesk

HelpDeskZ tickets map to Freshdesk Ticket records. We extract the ticket id, subject, priority code, status code, created timestamp, and updated timestamp directly from the source MySQL table. The flat ticket-to-reply thread is reconstructed by ordering all replies by their timestamp column within each ticket. Status integer codes from HelpDeskZ (e.g., 1=Open, 2=Pending, 3=Resolved, 4=Closed) are mapped to Freshdesk ticket_status values (2=Open, 3=Pending, 4=Resolved, 5=Closed). Priority codes (low, medium, high, urgent) map to Freshdesk priority values (1=Low, 2=Medium, 3=High, 4=Urgent). Tickets are inserted after contacts so that the requester_id lookup succeeds.

HelpDeskZ stores each ticket reply as a separate row in the replies table with a ticket_id foreign key, an author type (customer or agent), body text, and a timestamp. We group these by ticket_id and insert them in ascending timestamp order as Freshdesk Conversation records attached to the corresponding Freshdesk Ticket. The user_type field determines whether the conversation is incoming (customer) or outgoing (agent). Email threading Message-ID and In-Reply-To references are not transferred; Freshdesk assigns its own thread identifiers.

HelpDeskZ users with role=client map to Freshdesk Contact records. We extract name, email, and created_at. HelpDeskZ user id is preserved in a custom field hd_user_id__c for cross-reference. Users with role=admin or role=agent map to Freshdesk Agent records, created before any ticket import so that ticket assignment by agent id can be resolved at insert time. If a HelpDeskZ user appears as both a ticket requester and an agent, the Contact takes precedence and a separate Agent record is created with the same email.

HelpDeskZ users with role=admin or role=agent are extracted and mapped to Freshdesk Agent profiles. We use the Freshdesk Agents API to provision agents with the same email, name, and role designation (admin=group_admin, agent=agent). If the Freshdesk destination account has fewer agent seats than the number of HelpDeskZ agent records, we flag the overage before migration begins so the customer can adjust their Freshdesk plan or deactivate unused accounts.

HelpDeskZ departments are stored as a simple id-name lookup table. We map each department to a Freshdesk Group via the Groups API. Department assignment on HelpDeskZ tickets is preserved by setting the Freshdesk group_id on the migrated Ticket. HelpDeskZ does not support nested departments, so there are no hierarchical relationships to resolve.

HelpDeskZ stores uploaded files on disk in the uploads/ directory with only the filename stored in the tickets and replies tables. We read the hd_ticket_attachments table to get the full path, verify each file exists, and upload to Freshdesk via the /tickets/{id}/attachments endpoint. Files are associated with the correct conversation entry by matching the parent ticket_id and reply_id foreign keys. Missing files are logged as warnings and skipped so that the migration completes without blocking on a single lost attachment.

HelpDeskZ stores custom field values as a PHP serialized string in a single column on the tickets table. We detect the PHP version on the source server, unserialize the column using the appropriate method, and extract each key-value pair. Before migration begins, we ask the customer to pre-create matching custom fields in Freshdesk Admin > Ticket Fields so that field IDs are available for the mapping. Unsupported field types (binary blobs, PHP objects) are skipped and logged. Custom field values are inserted as part of the ticket creation payload.

HelpDeskZ email-to-ticket stores the source POP3/IMAP server settings in the database. We extract the mailbox host, port, username, and email address but do not transfer these credentials because they are not portable and the destination Freshdesk account will have its own email routing configuration. We flag whether the HelpDeskZ instance used email-to-ticket and note this in the delivered inventory so the admin knows to configure a Freshdesk email mailbox at the same domain post-migration. Email threading Message-ID and In-Reply-To headers stored in HelpDeskZ are not migrated.