Migrate from Tender Support to Zendesk

Tender Support Tickets map directly to Zendesk Tickets. The ticket subject becomes the Zendesk subject field, body maps to the initial comment, status maps to the corresponding Zendesk status (open, pending, solved, closed), and priority maps from Tender Support priority to Zendesk priority. We preserve the original Tender Support ticket ID as an external_id field in Zendesk so agents can reference legacy ticket references in customer communications. Open and closed tickets migrate in full with their full conversation timeline.

Tender Support Customer records map to Zendesk End User records. The customer email address serves as the primary identifier and dedupe key during import. First name and last name map to Zendesk user fields; any customer metadata custom fields map to Zendesk user custom fields. If the customer has opted to use Zendesk Organizations, we match customer domain names to organization records and link users accordingly during import.

Tender Support Agent accounts map to Zendesk Agent records. We resolve by email match against the destination Zendesk user table. Any Tender Support agent without a matching Zendesk user goes to a reconciliation queue for the customer's admin to provision before import resumes. Note that Zendesk Suite Team requires a minimum of 5 agents; Suite Growth and above allow smaller starting seats. The customer's admin configures agent roles (admin, agent, light agent) in Zendesk before migration.

Tender Support's flat label list maps to Zendesk Tags. We deduplicate and normalize the label set during the mapping phase, grouping semantically identical or overlapping labels into a single Zendesk Tag and documenting the mapping so the customer can audit which labels were merged. Zendesk auto-assigns tags from custom field dropdown options; we configure this behavior during schema setup so future tickets inherit tags from field selections. Any label with no equivalent in Zendesk is flagged as unmapped with a recommendation for manual tag creation or discard.

File attachments on Tender Support ticket messages are referenced by URL in the export. We download each attachment to local storage during migration, preserving original filenames and MIME content types, then re-upload to the corresponding Zendesk ticket comment via the Zendesk Attachments API. Attachments over Zendesk's file size limits (20 MB per file on most tiers) are flagged for the customer to handle as external links or file-server storage.

Tender Support custom ticket fields map to Zendesk ticket custom fields where field types are compatible. Text fields map to text, number fields to integer, date fields to date, and dropdown fields to Zendesk dropdown or tag fields. We discover all active custom fields during discovery, validate their types against Zendesk's supported field type list, and flag any unsupported type (such as Tender Support-specific field types with no Zendesk equivalent) for manual field creation in Zendesk before the migration runs. Zendesk's field key naming convention requires lowercase alphanumeric characters with underscores; we transform source field keys to comply.

Tender Support messages marked as internal notes map to Zendesk private comments. We inspect the message_type or status column in the Tender Support export to identify internal notes and apply the public=false flag during import. If the export format omits this signal and internal notes appear as regular message rows, we flag those records for manual review before committing the import. The original internal note author and timestamp are preserved on the Zendesk private comment.

Tender Support does not have a native SLA policy object or first-response and resolution-time tracking feature. No SLA data exists to migrate. If the customer requires SLA policies in Zendesk, these must be configured fresh post-migration. We deliver a written inventory of recommended SLA Policy conditions, metrics, and targets based on the customer's stated SLA commitments so the Zendesk admin can implement them without relearning requirements.

Tender Support does not expose a workflow automation engine via its API. Any rule-based ticket routing, auto-assignment, or triggered actions configured in Tender Support are not exportable and are not migrated. We do not rebuild these as Zendesk Triggers or Automations within the migration scope. We deliver a written inventory of any Tender Support routing rules or auto-assignments the customer describes during discovery, with recommended Zendesk Trigger or Automation equivalents for the customer's admin to implement post-migration.

The Tender Support product does not include a built-in knowledge base or self-service portal. No knowledge base content exists in standard Tender Support ticket exports to migrate. If the customer has external KB content (wikis, documentation sites, FAQ pages) they wish to import, we handle those as separate content migration work outside the ticket migration scope. Zendesk Guide must be activated by the account owner before article import; we confirm Guide activation status before the import phase.