Migrate from Hiver to Zoho Desk

Each Hiver Shared Inbox maps to a Zoho Desk Department. Hiver's inbox name becomes the Department name, and inbox membership maps to Zoho Desk agent assignments by department. Zoho Desk supports sub-departments, which we use if the Hiver account has nested inbox structures or shared inboxes scoped to specific product lines. Department-level SLA policies from Hiver carry forward as Zoho Desk SLA configurations attached to the corresponding department.

Hiver Conversations map to Zoho Desk Tickets. The conversation subject becomes Ticket Subject, conversation status (open/pending/closed) maps to Zoho Ticket Status values (Open, Pending, On Hold, Solved), and the conversation assignee maps to Zoho Desk Agent via email lookup. Thread history (all messages in the conversation) migrates as Ticket Threads and Ticket Comments in Zoho Desk's structure. We use Zoho Desk's assisted migration format (Tickets_XX.csv with Threads_XX.csv and Comments_XX.csv in a single ZIP) to preserve message ordering and direction (inbound/outbound) at import.

Hiver exports Contacts as a discrete data type independent of conversation-linked contacts. We extract both sources, deduplicate on email address, and import into Zoho Desk Contacts. If the Hiver account has organizational data (company name on a contact record), we extract it as a Zoho Desk Account and link the Contact to it via AccountExtId. Zoho Desk requires Last Name as a required field; any Hiver contact without a Last Name gets a placeholder 'Contact' value with the original first name preserved.

Hiver's flat conversation tags map directly to Zoho Desk Tags. We extract the full tag taxonomy and reapply each tag to the corresponding Ticket at import. Zoho Desk's tag system uses the Tickets_ModuleFields API endpoint to write tags as part of the ticket record. If tags carry routing or priority semantics in Hiver (e.g., urgent-flagged or team-assigned tags), we note these during scoping and advise the customer on whether to rebuild them as Zoho Desk Ticket Fields or preserve them purely as labels.

Hiver Shared Notes are internal comments visible to all team members on a conversation. We export them and write them as Zoho Desk Internal Comments on the corresponding Ticket. We confirm with the customer during scoping whether any Shared Note should instead map to a public Ticket Comment based on the intended audience. Zoho Desk distinguishes internal notes from public replies via the isPublic flag on the comment record, which we set during the import transform based on the customer's visibility matrix.

Hiver Email Templates migrate as Zoho Desk Templates. We preserve template body, subject variables, and conditional logic where the variable syntax is transferable. Zoho Desk's template engine uses its own variable syntax (e.g., ticket.id, contact.lastName), which differs from Hiver's Gmail-variable model. We flag any template with Hiver-specific variable references for manual review post-migration. Shared Drafts are exported as draft records; Zoho Desk does not have a native draft template import path, so we convert Shared Drafts to Zoho Desk Templates with draft status noted for the admin to review.

Hiver agent records (name, email, assignment permissions) map to Zoho Desk Agents. We extract the full user roster and match by email against Zoho Desk agents. Any Hiver agent without a matching Zoho Desk agent goes to a reconciliation queue for the customer to provision before ticket import, since OwnerId references on Tickets require a valid Zoho Desk Agent. Role-based permissions from Hiver map to Zoho Desk permission profiles during scoping.

Hiver SLA policies define business hours and response/resolution deadlines per Shared Inbox. We extract the SLA configuration and map it to Zoho Desk SLA Rules, which support first response and next response SLAs, business hours, and escalation actions. Hiver's Growth tier includes SLA management; Pro adds advanced SLA tracking with business hours. We confirm the customer's active SLA tier during scoping to ensure all SLA fields are included in the migration scope.

Hiver custom fields on conversations (e.g., order ID captured via AI Extract, product category, case type) map to Zoho Desk custom fields on the Ticket module. Zoho Desk allows string, decimal, integer, currency, checkbox, date, and multi-select field types per department. We extract the Hiver custom field schema during scoping, map each to a compatible Zoho Desk field type, and pre-create the fields in Zoho Desk before ticket import so that values populate on insertion.

Hiver CSAT survey responses tied to resolved conversations migrate to Zoho Desk Happiness records. We export the response data and aggregate scores and write them to Zoho Desk's Happiness module linked to the corresponding Ticket. Survey configuration (question text, rating scale) migrates as written notes since both platforms use different survey configuration models.

Hiver Analytics Reports are exported as CSV with forward-looking data only. Historical SLA, CSAT, and volume reports prior to the export date are not back-filled. We extract all available analytics and note during scoping that historical reporting begins from the migration date in Zoho Desk. We recommend the customer download any historical analytics they need from Hiver before the migration window.

Hiver Automations are not exposed via any bulk export or API. We perform a pre-migration audit to document every active automation rule — trigger type, conditions, actions, and any AI Extract steps — in a written inventory. This inventory is delivered to the customer with a Zoho Desk Blueprint template mapping for each rule to rebuild in Zoho Desk's Blueprint editor or workflow rules. The rebuild is outside migration scope and performed by the customer's admin or a Zoho implementation partner.