Help Desk Migration Service - Teamwork Desk Support

What	Transfer data from other third-party help desk apps to Teamwork Desk.
Why	Seamlessly import data from your previous knowledge base tool to Teamwork Desk. Preserve critical records (ex. tickets, knowledge base articles).
Who	Site admins can import data from other platforms to Teamwork Desk.
When	You are moving from another help desk platform and need to import your existing data.

What	Transfer data from other third-party help desk apps to Teamwork Desk.
Why	Smoothly transition from your previous knowledge base tool to Teamwork Desk. Preserve critical records (ex. tickets, knowledge base articles).
Who	Site admins can import data from other platforms to Teamwork Desk.
When	You are moving from another help desk platform and need to import your existing data.

Before you start

Help Desk Migration Service charges its own migration fees independent of your Teamwork Desk subscription.

Step 1: Import preparation

Current platform

Choose a date: Select a date for the migration to take place.

Keep in mind that the migration duration can vary based on the volume and quality of records being imported. We recommend scheduling it towards the end of a workday to minimize disruption.

Clean up: Tidy up your current platform's data.

Clear out any old data (ex. duplicates, invalid emails, or unassigned ticket conversations). This helps to streamline the migration process and maintain data storage efficiency.

Consider the source platform peculiarities: Be aware of any peculiarities or limitations of your current platform that may affect the migration process. Keep in mind that while Help Desk Migration can handle most records, there are some exceptions when migrating to Teamwork Desk.

Ex. organizations, groups, inline images, ticket and comments creation dates, comment authors, and ticket CCs.
📧 If you need to migrate any of these records, contact the support team to request a custom migration to tailor the process to your specific needs.

Teamwork Desk

Create agent profiles: Create agents in your Teamwork Desk site to map corresponding data from your current platform.

Match email addresses: Agents' email addresses must match in both your current platform and Teamwork Desk in order to accurately map corresponding data during the migration process.
Activate agents: Make sure that agents whose tickets you intend to migrate are active in the Teamwork Desk so that assigned tickets are correctly attributed and managed once the migration is complete.
Send invitations: Agents in the Teamwork Desk who are newly added or matched during the migration will receive invitations to create passwords for their accounts. This step ensures they have access to their profiles and can seamlessly transition to using Teamwork Desk.

Set up custom fields: If you have custom fields in your current platform, create corresponding custom fields in Teamwork Desk so that you can map that data during migration. Custom fields are available on Premium and Enterprise Teamwork Desk subscriptions.
Turn off notifications: It is recommended that agents in Teamwork Desk to turn off their profile notifications before migration to avoid receiving numerous alerts.
Switch off triggers: To prevent triggers from affecting imported tickets, consider temporarily disabling them on your Teamwork Desk account until the migration is complete.
📝 Alternatively, add a custom tag to migrated tickets and set up specific rules for your triggers so they do not run on the tickets with the added tag.
Consider which records to import: Help Desk Migration supports importing a variety of records (ex. tickets, attachments, internal notes, custom fields, tags, customers, agents, and Help Docs articles). Customize which records are most relevant to migrate.

Step 2: Demo migration

Once the migration preparation is complete, set up a free demo migration to test the migration wizard and better understand how it works.

The demo migration is a free trial that usually takes around five minutes. During the demo, 20 random tickets and 20 help articles are imported from your current platform to Teamwork Desk. You can repeat the process as many times as you need to.

Go to the Help Desk Migration website.
Sign up for a free trial or log in to an existing account.
Click the Migrate from field and select your current platform as the source.
Fill out the associated credential fields (ex. site URL, API key, login, or password). The credential authorization flow will vary depending on the selected tool.
Click the Migrate to field and select Teamwork Desk as the target destination.
Enter your Teamwork.com site URL (ex. https://yourcompany.teamwork.com).
Click Sign in with Teamwork and enter your Teamwork login credentials. You also need to grant permission for Help Desk Migration Service to access your data.
Configure the Teamwork Desk connection:

Click the Mailbox field and select an existing Teamwork Desk inbox. This is the inbox all migrated tickets will be imported to.
Click the Site field and select an existing Teamwork Desk Help Docs site. This is the site all migrated articles will be imported to.

Click Continue.
Select objects — check the box on the left of each data object you want to import:

Help Desk objects: agents, customers, tickets. Once you choose an object, you can customize how it's imported (ex. add tags to imported tickets).
Knowledge Base objects: top level categories, second level (sub) categories, articles.

Agents: Click Match items to map users — match source users to their agent counterparts in Teamwork Desk. If a user's email address is the same on both platforms, it matches automatically.
💡 You can set a default agent to assign deleted/unassigned users' tickets to.
Click Save matching.
Tickets: Click Map fields in the objects screen to map ticket fields, then choose how ticket properties are synced. System fields are matched automatically.
Articles: Click Map fields in the objects screen to map articles, then choose how knowledge base articles are imported (ex. article status).
Click Continue.

The migration process begins and a progress preview is displayed.

Once the demo migration is complete, a list of the migrated items and number of migrated records is shown in the migration tool.

The mapped data is populated in your Teamwork Desk site (ex. tickets, articles).

You can proceed with the full migration. Select your payment method in the Help Desk Migration wizard before proceeding with the migration.

Tips

Avoid potential data sync issues: Don't make changes in either platform while the migration is in progress.
Review results: Once the migration is complete, it's important to review the results and ensure the migration was successful (or catch any issues early on).

Open up the reports for migrated, skipped, and failed records.
Check whether all data was imported correctly.
Contact the Help Desk Migration team if you need to make any changes.

Restore notifications and triggers: Teamwork Desk agents can re-enable notifications and you can also turn triggers back on.
Review and update article links: Embedded links in articles may need to be updated to the newly imported URLs.