Migrate from Web+Center to Zoho Desk

Web+Center Incidents map directly to Zoho Desk Tickets. We extract all standard Incident fields (IncidentID, Subject, Description, Status, Priority, Category, AssignedAgent, CreatedDate, ModifiedDate) plus any custom Incident fields defined in the deployment. Conversation threads (Customer responses and Agent replies) migrate as Ticket Threads in Zoho Desk with author attribution preserved where the author email resolves to a Zoho Desk Contact or Agent. We resolve the Web+Center AssignedAgent to the corresponding Zoho Desk Agent by email lookup during migration.

Web+Center Customer records (contact name, email, phone, company association) map to Zoho Desk Contacts. We use the Customer email address as the dedupe key. If the Customer has an associated Company in Web+Center, we resolve the AccountId on the Contact during migration. Customer portal preferences and custom fields migrate as custom Contact fields in Zoho Desk. Any Customer record without an email address receives a placeholder email formatted as temp_import_[CustomerID]@placeholder for import validation.

Web+Center Companies map to Zoho Desk Accounts. Company Name becomes Account Name; Company Phone, Website, and Address fields migrate directly. The Company-to-Customer linkage is preserved as Contact-to-Account lookups in Zoho Desk, allowing agents to see all Contacts associated with an Account from the Account page. If the source Web+Center deployment has duplicate Company names, we flag these for the customer to resolve before migration to avoid Account deduplication conflicts.

Web+Center Assets (hardware and software inventory with serial numbers, purchase dates, assignment, and custom classification fields) map to Zoho Desk Assets. Custom asset fields in Web+Center vary significantly between deployments, so we inventory every custom field during discovery and create equivalent custom fields in Zoho Desk before migration. If the customer requires full CMDB functionality beyond Zoho Desk's built-in Asset module, we recommend Zoho Inventory as a parallel engagement for asset lifecycle management.

Web+Center allows administrators to define custom fields on Incidents beyond the standard set. These vary per deployment (one installation may have 5 custom fields, another may have 47). We inventory all custom fields during discovery, identify equivalent Zoho Desk field types (single-line text, multi-line text, picklist, date, number, checkbox), and create the custom fields in Zoho Desk layouts before migration. Multi-select picklists in Web+Center map to multi-select picklists or tag fields in Zoho Desk. Any custom field with a lookup table dependency is flagged for the customer to map to a Zoho Desk picklist value set.

Web+Center Categories, Subcategories, and Priority levels are stored as lookup tables with active and inactive values. We extract the full taxonomy and map each active value to a Zoho Desk field value. Priority levels (e.g., Critical, High, Medium, Low) map to Zoho Desk Priority field values. Categories and Subcategories map to a combination of Zoho Desk Department-level layouts and custom picklist fields, depending on how the customer organizes tickets. We flag any inactive Web+Center values for the customer to decide whether to include or exclude from migration.

Web+Center stores ticket attachments as files on the server filesystem with references stored in the database. We resolve the file path references, extract the binary content, and re-upload to Zoho Desk attachment storage, preserving the original filename and MIME type. We run a pre-migration path validation step to identify broken attachment references (orphaned files where the database path no longer matches the filesystem location) and report these to the customer before the migration window opens. Large attachment volumes may extend migration timeline due to file extraction and upload time.

Web+Center maintains its own agent and administrator directory. We export user records (name, email, role) and map them to Zoho Desk Agents by email lookup. Password hashes cannot be migrated for security reasons, so agents receive instructions to reset passwords at go-live. Any Web+Center user without a matching Zoho Desk Agent is held in a reconciliation queue for the customer's admin to provision before record import. Inactive Web+Center users can be imported as inactive Zoho Desk Agents for historical record association.

Web+Center KB articles use a proprietary content format. We extract the text content and any inline images or file attachments, then convert to Zoho Desk article schema with title, content body, and category assignment. HTML formatting in Web+Center articles may require post-migration HTML cleanup due to differences in rendering between platforms. Knowledge Base article dates are preserved as article metadata where supported by Zoho Desk; otherwise they are set to the migration date.

Web+Center calculates SLA breach timestamps based on priority level and configured business hours. SLA timer state is not migrated because Zoho Desk recalculates SLA deadlines using its own SLA policies and business hours configuration. We preserve the Incident creation timestamp and original priority so that Zoho Desk can recompute SLA deadlines on import. Customers should review and configure SLA policies in Zoho Desk before go-live.

Web+Center stores ticket conversation history as threads linked to the Incident. We migrate threads as Zoho Desk Ticket Threads with thread direction (Incoming/Outgoing) preserved where the source data supports it. Author attribution migrates by resolving the customer or agent email to a Zoho Desk Contact or Agent record. If the author email does not resolve in Zoho Desk, the thread is imported with the author name as plain text. Thread timestamps preserve the original activity ordering.

Web+Center Companies can be associated with multiple Customers and multiple Incidents. We preserve the Company-to-Customer linkage by importing Companies first as Accounts, then resolving AccountId on each Contact during the Contact import phase. Incidents that reference both a Customer and a Company receive the resolved AccountId on the corresponding Zoho Desk Ticket. This linkage enables the Account hierarchy view in Zoho Desk where agents can see all related Contacts and Tickets from a single Account page.