Migrate from OpenText Service Manager to Freshdesk

Service Manager Incident records map to Freshdesk Tickets with Ticket Type set to 'Incident' and a custom 'sm_record_type' field carrying the original Service Manager record ID. Priority, status, and description fields map directly. The Incident number becomes the Freshdesk ticket subject prefix and is preserved in a custom field for cross-system reference during the reconciliation window.

Service Manager Requests map to Freshdesk Tickets with Ticket Type set to 'Request'. The service catalog item association from Service Manager maps to Freshdesk Ticket Type plus a tag for the original catalog category. Request fulfillment notes migrate as ticket description updates in chronological order.

Service Manager Problem records map to Freshdesk Tickets with Ticket Type set to 'Problem' and a tag 'problem-investigation'. Linked Incidents from the Service Manager Problem-Incident relationship migrate as Freshdesk ticket tags referencing the original incident ticket numbers. The problem description and known error workaround text migrate into the Freshdesk ticket description and internal notes respectively.

Service Manager Change records map to Freshdesk Tickets with Ticket Type set to 'Change' and a tag 'change-record'. The Change Risk Rating, Approval Status, and Implementation Plan fields from Service Manager map to Freshdesk custom fields. CAB signoff comments migrate as internal notes on the Freshdesk ticket.

Service Manager Knowledge Articles export with title, body (HTML/RTF), author, publish date, and status. We strip RTF formatting to clean HTML for Freshdesk's article editor, preserving internal and public article visibility flags as Freshdesk article category permissions. Published articles re-import as Freshdesk articles in the mapped category; draft and archived articles import with status preserved for manual review.

Service Manager User and Contact records map to Freshdesk Contacts. Email, name, department, phone, and group membership fields migrate directly. Service Manager roles and permission levels do not map to Freshdesk agent roles because the permission models are structurally different; we flag the role mapping for the customer's admin to configure post-migration.

Service Manager CI records represent managed infrastructure assets without a native Freshdesk equivalent. We map CI records to Freshdesk Companies using the CI's logical name or assigned business service as the Company name, and store CI-specific attributes (CI type, serial number, assigned location, status) as Freshdesk company custom fields. Relationship records between CIs migrate as company tags. This is a best-effort structural mapping, not a native CMDB replication.

Attachments on Incidents, Requests, Problems, Changes, and Knowledge Articles export as binary files with their association metadata (parent record type, parent record ID, file name, MIME type). We re-import attachments into Freshdesk by resolving the target ticket ID and attaching the file with the original file name and MIME type preserved. Attachments on Knowledge Articles re-attach to the migrated Freshdesk article.

Service Manager custom fields on Incidents, Requests, Problems, and Changes are extracted during discovery with name, data type, and picklist values. We reproduce the equivalent custom fields in Freshdesk before ticket migration begins, using the closest Freshdesk field type (text, number, date, dropdown, checkbox, or multi-select). The field display order and section placement are preserved as configuration metadata for the admin to implement.

Service Manager SLA rules define response and resolution time targets by priority and service category. Freshdesk SLA Policies are configured separately from tickets. We map Service Manager SLA names and time thresholds to Freshdesk SLA Policy definitions (First Response Time and Resolution Time) and document which Freshdesk Ticket Types and priorities they apply to. SLA triggers and escalation timers are not migrated because Freshdesk SLA policies use a different action model.