This agenda belongs to the helpdesk migration guide. The partner playbook explains when to raise the topic; this page is for running the meeting itself.
Who to invite, and who to leave out
Invite four people and keep the meeting small. A larger group drifts into project detail.
| Role | Why they are there | Blocks they answer |
|---|---|---|
| COO, VP of support or CEO | Owns the decision about the old instance and any licensing discussion | 1, 4, 5 |
| Zendesk administrator | Knows the export route, archive settings and data volumes | 2, 3 |
| Support operations lead | Knows how escalations and resolutions are written down | 4 |
| Migration project lead (often you) | Knows what the new helpdesk will import | 1, 2 |
ZendeskLeave out the vendor of the new helpdesk and any outsourced support provider. Their presence turns the meeting into a scoping session, and an outsourcer's role is better noted for the rights review than debated in the room.
Send the invite with one line of purpose: "Thirty minutes on the support history in the old instance before it is canceled. Descriptions only, no exports." People answer more plainly when they know nothing will be pulled.
The agenda at a glance
Illustrative. A Zendesk partner is moving a fictional 260-person property management software company to a new helpdesk. Its Zendesk instance holds tickets back to 2015.
| Time | Block | Question for the block | Who answers |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-4 min | Dates | When does the new helpdesk go live, and when is the old instance canceled? | Project lead and owner |
| 4-11 min | Export route | Will the export retain full ticket threads and documented outcomes? | Zendesk administrator |
| 11-17 min | Closed history | How many years of closed tickets exist, and are archived tickets included? | Zendesk administrator |
| 17-23 min | Outcomes and owner | Where are resolutions and escalations recorded, and who decides about the old instance? | Support operations lead and owner |
| 23-30 min | Disclosure and decision | Would the company like to hear how licensing of approved business data works, and who would lead it? | Owner |
Ask the project lead to keep time. Take notes in four columns: block, answer, who gave it, open item.
What a good answer sounds like, block by block
0-4 minutes: dates
Good answer: "Go-live is set for the end of next quarter. The old contract runs three months past that, and the admin keeps access until then." What you need is the cancellation date, because that is the real end of the window. If nobody knows it, the first open item is to find it.
4-11 minutes: export route
Good answer: "The migration tool pulls tickets through the API with comments. We have not checked tickets over 1 MB." This is where Zendesk's documentation matters. A CSV export leaves out ticket comments and descriptions, so a history exported that way shows that a ticket was solved but not what was said. A JSON export includes comments, but on any ticket over 1 MB the comments are removed and the ticket is listed in an error file. Full data exports are off by default and must be enabled by the account owner through Zendesk support. If the answer is "we're exporting to CSV", say plainly that comment threads will not be in it.
11-17 minutes: closed history
Good answer: "About nine years of closed tickets. The admin will confirm archived ones are in the API pull." Zendesk usually archives tickets 120 days after they close. Archived tickets disappear from views but stay reachable through search and the API, so a migration planned from views can leave years behind without anyone deciding to.
17-23 minutes: outcomes and owner
Good answer: "Escalations go to a tier 2 group and engineering, and the fix is in an internal note. Solved reasons are a required field since 2019. The COO decides what happens to the old instance." Listen for whether outcomes live in fields or only in comments; both are fine, but the second makes the export route in block two decisive. Note any outsourced support provider that wrote tickets.
23-30 minutes: disclosure and decision
Before you ask for a decision, say three things. SourceX licenses approved business data directly from companies for AI training and evaluation, and manages agreement, rights review, data preparation, delivery and payout. You are a SourceX referral partner and may receive a reward if a qualifying license completes; SourceX funds it separately and it never reduces what the company would receive. The migration work does not depend on the answer.
Answers that should end the meeting early
Some answers make the rest of the agenda unnecessary. Close politely and record why.
| What you hear | What it means | What to record |
|---|---|---|
| "The old instance was canceled last month." | The window has closed | Closed; no follow-up |
| "Our support is fully outsourced and the provider owns the tickets." | Rights may sit with a third party | Note the provider; stop here |
| "We're well under 50 staff." | Below the size baseline | Closed |
| "We don't want to discuss this." | The owner has declined | Closed; project continues unchanged |
The decision this meeting produces
The meeting ends with one of three outcomes, written down with a name beside it.
| Outcome | When it fits | What happens next |
|---|---|---|
| Introduce now | Threads and outcomes survive or can be kept, the owner is clear and opts in | Send the annotated introduction email |
| Revisit by a date | The export route or archive scope is still open | Follow up before the documented cancellation date |
| Stop | The owner declines, or ownership or size rules it out | Record the reason and close |
For "introduce now", fit matters: 50+ full-time employees at peak (contractors excluded), a documented operating history, rights to license and an authorized contact. Companies in the U.S., Canada and the EU qualify, as do companies in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, India, Singapore, South Africa, Latin America, the UAE and Saudi Arabia when at least 70% of the data is in English. What stays unknown until SourceX reviews it: the rights review result, de-identification of customer details, SourceX's current data needs and any offer.
Sign the Channel Partner Agreement before submitting. Attribution goes to the first valid introduction within the 90-day window, credited when the company submits a verified application, with one partner per company. Illustrative only: if a qualifying license paid the company $400,000 as Actual Supplier Payout, the default reward would be $70,000. The rewards page lists every condition. Record the answers in the helpdesk migration handoff checklist, and let the owner complete the Zendesk inventory template if they want to. The annual client advisory agenda shows the same question in a yearly review.
Next step
Refer a company. No cap on rewards. Default reward on a company's first qualifying transaction: the greater of $50,000 plus 5% and 15% of Actual Supplier Payout, with no cap; further qualifying transactions first agreed within 12 months of the first Closing pay 15%. Eligibility and payment conditions apply, including the USD 100,000 Minimum Transaction, and a signed Schedule A or addendum can differ. A lead, meeting or signature alone does not trigger payment.
If the meeting closed on "introduce now", register as a partner, confirm the company against who qualifies and read the program terms before you send the introduction.