Migrate from IT Care Center to Zoho Desk

IT Care Center Requests and Incidents both map to Zoho Desk Tickets. We extract the channel source (portal, email, BOT, Slack, WhatsApp, MS Teams) from each conversation entry and use it to set the Ticket's Original Channel field in Zoho Desk. Multi-channel message threads per ticket are consolidated into a single chronological conversation by sorting on timestamp and tagging entries with their channel source so agents see the full context in one view. Status, Priority, and Assignee map directly. IT Care Center's request type field (Incident vs Service Request) maps to a Zoho Desk custom picklist field request_type__c to preserve the distinction without losing meaning.

IT Care Center's Change Management module tracks change requests with approval workflows linked to associated tickets and assets. Zoho Desk has no native Change Management module. We do not migrate Change records as a first-class object. Instead, we extract every Change record with its linked ticket IDs, linked asset IDs, approval status, and change owner, and deliver a Change Inventory CSV with a recommended Zoho Desk workaround: either a custom Tickets extension (using custom fields change_id__c, change_type__c, change_impact__c, change_approval_status__c) or a Zoho Creator application if the customer requires the full approval workflow structure. The customer's admin rebuilds the approval routing in Zoho Desk's Blueprint or via Zoho Flow.

IT Care Center's Problem Management module stores root-cause analysis records linked to multiple incidents. Zoho Desk has no native Problem Management module. We extract every Problem record with its linked incident ticket IDs, root cause description, known error status, and resolution notes, and deliver a Problem Inventory CSV with a recommended Zoho Desk implementation: a custom Tickets extension with fields problem_id__c, root_cause__c, known_error__c, and linked_incidents__c (multi-line text). The customer's admin rebuilds the problem-to-incident linking in Zoho Desk after migration. We preserve the Problem-to-Incident linkages as text references since Zoho Desk does not natively support a many-to-many ticket relationship.

IT Care Center's Asset Management module holds Configuration Item records including hardware, software, and licences. Zoho Desk's native Product module covers software products and licences, but hardware CI records have no native equivalent. We map IT Care Center Assets to Zoho Desk Products for software and licences, and add a Zoho Desk custom fields extension on the Product module for hardware-specific fields (serial_number__c, location__c, assigned_to__c, warranty_expiry__c, ci_type__c as hardware/software/ licence picklist). Custom fields on Assets vary by organisation configuration and require field-level mapping during scoping. We request the full list of active custom fields from IT Care Center during discovery before setting the migration field map.

IT Care Center Knowledge Management articles migrate to Zoho Desk Knowledge Base Articles. The article body, author, created date, and last-modified date transfer. IT Care Center's Category structure maps to Zoho Desk Categories, and any sub-categories map to Sections. However, IT Care Center articles can be linked to specific services or products, and Zoho Desk has no native service-link model. We flag every article with an active service link during scoping, present them as a separate KB Relinking Inventory, and advise the customer to review and re-link articles to the new Product records in Zoho Desk post-migration. Articles in draft or archived status are imported as draft or archived in Zoho Desk respectively.

IT Care Center end-user and agent accounts map to Zoho Desk Agents. We count all active and inactive accounts during scoping because IT Care Center's per-user pricing means accurate seat count is critical for Zoho Desk tier selection. We flag any inactive or duplicate accounts during scoping for the customer to review before import. Zoho Desk's department hierarchy requires a department assignment for each agent; we map IT Care Center's team or role grouping to a Zoho Desk Department or create one during schema setup. Per-user pricing on the source means we confirm the exact billable seat count against IT Care Center's billing breakdown before migration begins.

IT Care Center Project Management module stores projects with tasks, assignments, and due dates. Zoho Desk does not have a native Project module. We extract project-task relationships and migrate them as Zoho Desk Tasks with a custom project_reference__c field linking tasks to their originating project. Projects with no tasks are imported as a parent Task record with no due date and a project_flag__c checkbox set to true. The customer rebuilds the project hierarchy in Zoho Desk's Task grouping or in Zoho Projects if they license it separately.

IT Care Center tags applied to tickets and knowledge articles migrate as Zoho Desk Tags. Tag names are preserved verbatim. Zoho Desk tags are applied at the record level and do not support hierarchy. We flag during scoping any IT Care Center tags used as a pseudo-categorisation system (as opposed to loose labels) and advise the customer to consider Zoho Desk's custom picklist fields or a department-based taxonomy as a replacement. Tag deduplication is performed during import to merge identical tag names that may have been entered inconsistently in IT Care Center.

IT Care Center SLA configurations (response time, resolution time, escalation rules by priority) have no direct export mechanism and do not migrate as code. We audit the active SLA policies during scoping, document each SLA's trigger conditions, first-response target, resolution target, and escalation path, and deliver an SLA Inventory with a recommended Zoho Desk SLA Centre configuration. The customer's admin implements SLAs in Zoho Desk's SLA Centre post-migration. We do not migrate SLA logs or breach history.

IT Care Center conversation entries (internal notes, public replies, status changes) migrate to Zoho Desk Ticket Comments. Each comment carries its author, timestamp, visibility (public vs internal), and the channel source. We consolidate multi-channel message threads by sorting all entries per ticket on timestamp before inserting, preserving the chronological conversation order. Attachments on comments migrate as Zoho Desk file attachments linked to the comment record.

IT Care Center end-user contact records (the submitter of a ticket) map to Zoho Desk Contacts. Name, email address, phone, and organisation map directly. If IT Care Center stores Organisation as a separate field, we map it to Zoho Desk Account lookup. Contacts without an email address are flagged during scoping for the customer to review before import, as Zoho Desk requires a contact identifier.

IT Care Center organisations (company-level records linked to contacts and assets) map to Zoho Desk Accounts. The organisation name maps to Account Name, domain maps to Website, and any custom fields map to Account-level custom fields. Account is created before any Contact import so that the Account-Contact lookup is satisfied at the moment of Contact insert.