Technical readiness checklist

<div class="col-md-9">
<div class="body">
<p class="p">
Use this checklist to review the technical and operational
requirements for migrating
from Zendesk Chat to messaging. As you work through each
section, identify settings,
integrations, workflows, and reporting requirements you need
to preserve, replace, or
redesign before launch.
</p>
<p class="p">This article includes the following topics:</p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_technical_readiness_checklist__ul_readiness_topics">
<li class="li">
<a class="xref" href="#topic_reviewing_current_chat_implementation">Assessment 1: Reviewing your current Chat implementation</a>
</li>
<li class="li">
<a class="xref" href="#topic_reviewing_agent_workflow_changes">Assessment 2: Reviewing agent workflow changes</a>
</li>
<li class="li">
<a class="xref" href="#topic_reviewing_integrations_customizations">Assessment 3: Reviewing integrations and customizations</a>
</li>
<li class="li">
<a class="xref" href="#topic_reviewing_reporting_data_requirements">Assessment 4: Reviewing reporting and data requirements</a>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title2" class="topic nested1" id="topic_reviewing_current_chat_implementation">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title2">Assessment 1: Reviewing your current Chat implementation</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">
Review how you currently use Chat on the web and mobile,
and identify the settings and customizations you need
to recreate in messaging.
</p>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title3" class="topic nested2" id="topic_live_chat_widget_to_messaging_web_widget">
<h3 class="title topictitle3" id="ariaid-title3">Moving from a live chat widget to the messaging Web Widget</h3>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">
Admins should audit and prepare the Chat settings
they use before migrating. Some Chat settings are
not accessible after you turn on messaging for your
account, so recording them will make it easier to
confirm that the migration was successful and your
messaging experience is working as expected.
</p>
<p class="p">
Before you migrate, document the Chat settings you
currently use. Some Chat settings are no longer accessible
after you turn on messaging, so recording them now
can help you validate your new configuration later.
</p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_live_chat_widget_to_messaging_web_widget__ul_live_chat_widget_checks">
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Active Chat triggers</strong>:
<a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/8554265015322-Editing-and-managing-chat-triggers" target="_blank">Remove or deactivate</a>
any unnecessary triggers, and clean up the rest.
Note whether each remaining trigger will
<a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/9435865466906-Migrating-your-live-chat-widget-to-the-messaging-Web-Widget#topic_rms_lfz_x3c" target="_blank">become a messaging trigger, a Support ticket trigger, or a proactive messaging trigger</a>.
</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Goals</strong>: Review
<a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408886086042-Measuring-business-goals-with-conversion-tracking" target="_blank">chat goals</a>
and remove duplicates, redundancies, or goals
you no longer need.
</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Chat tags</strong>: Special
characters and capitalized letters aren’t allowed
in messaging tags, and will be replaced with
an underscore. Review your existing tags and
clean them up if needed. See
<a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408844177050-Setting-up-chat-tags" target="_blank">Setting up chat tags</a>.
</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Operating hours</strong>:
Check your current
<a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408822398106-Creating-a-schedule-with-operating-hours" target="_blank">operating hours</a>
setup so you can confirm they convert correctly
to a Support schedule during migration. If you
have more than one set of operating hours for
a department, they’ll be merged into a single
schedule.
</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Banned IP addresses</strong>:
Make sure your
<a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408824467098-Banning-visitors-from-accessing-Chat" target="_blank">Banned Visitors</a>
list is current so unwanted visitors can’t access
your new messaging channel.
</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Widget customizations</strong>:
Document any branding, launcher behavior, authentication,
or custom widget behavior you need to recreate
in the messaging Web Widget.
</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Routing and automation</strong>:
Identify any routing logic, departments, or business
rules that depend on your current Chat configuration.
</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title4" class="topic nested2" id="topic_chat_mobile_to_mobile_sdk">
<h3 class="title topictitle3" id="ariaid-title4">Moving from Zendesk Chat for mobile to the mobile SDK</h3>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">
Document the Chat mobile settings you currently use,
and consider the following:
</p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_chat_mobile_to_mobile_sdk__ul_mobile_sdk_checks">
<li class="li">
What customizations have you implemented in your
Chat setup?
</li>
<li class="li">
Are you using any Chat APIs or webhooks that
will need to be migrated?
</li>
<li class="li">
Do you have any compliance or security requirements
specific to your industry?
</li>
<li class="li">
Are you using a customized mobile chat experience
that must be rebuilt with the messaging SDK?
</li>
<li class="li">
Do you pass customer identity, authentication,
or metadata into the mobile experience?
</li>
<li class="li">
Do you rely on any mobile-specific workflows
or integrations that need to be recreated?
</li>
<li class="li">
Have you identified the engineering work required
to replace Chat SDK functionality with messaging
SDK functionality?
</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title5" class="topic nested1" id="topic_reviewing_agent_workflow_changes">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title5">Assessment 2: Reviewing agent workflow changes</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">
Messaging changes how agents receive, manage, and close
conversations. Review your current workflows and identify
any training or process changes needed before launch.
</p>
<p class="p">Consider the following questions:</p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_reviewing_agent_workflow_changes__ul_agent_workflow_questions">
<li class="li">
Are your agents currently using the Agent Workspace
or the Chat dashboard?
</li>
<li class="li">
Do your agents need training on the Agent Workspace
for messaging?
</li>
<li class="li">How are incoming chats currently routed to agents?</li>
<li class="li">How do agents currently handle conversation handoffs?</li>
<li class="li">What tools do agents use alongside Chat?</li>
<li class="li">
Do agents need updated macros, workflows, or internal
guidance for messaging?
</li>
<li class="li">
Do agents understand the differences between live
chat and asynchronous messaging?
</li>
<li class="li">
Have you planned time for agents to test messaging
before launch?
</li>
</ul>
<p class="p">
For more information, see
<a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408821905434" target="_blank">Agent Workspace for messaging</a>,
<a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408824482586" target="_blank">Managing conversation handoff and handback</a>,
and
<a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408832500506" target="_blank">Understanding live conversation translation</a>.
</p>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title6" class="topic nested1" id="topic_reviewing_integrations_customizations">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title6">Assessment 3: Reviewing integrations and customizations</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">
Document any external tools, custom integrations, and
automation used with Chat, and confirm whether they’re
compatible with messaging or need to be replaced.
</p>
<p class="p">Review the following:</p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_reviewing_integrations_customizations__ul_integrations_customizations">
<li class="li">CRM systems</li>
<li class="li">Knowledge base integrations</li>
<li class="li">Ticketing system integrations</li>
<li class="li">Analytics platforms</li>
<li class="li">Third-party bots/automation</li>
<li class="li">Workflow automation tools</li>
<li class="li">Chat APIs, webhooks, or custom code</li>
<li class="li">
Any integrations that depend on Chat-specific events,
tags, departments, or routing behavior
</li>
<li class="li">
Any integrations that can be replaced by native messaging
features
</li>
</ul>
<p class="p">
Also consider how customer context is shared between
Chat and other systems today, and whether that behavior
needs to change for messaging.
</p>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title7" class="topic nested1" id="topic_reviewing_reporting_data_requirements">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title7">Assessment 4: Reviewing reporting and data requirements</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">
Before you migrate, review your reporting requirements.
Some Chat metrics have
different names in messaging, and
<a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/11033323119258-Migrating-from-Chat-analytics-to-messaging-reporting#topic_comparing_chat_analytics_and_messaging_reporting" target="_blank">some Chat reporting concepts don’t map directly
to messaging</a>.
Because messaging supports different conversation and
routing patterns, you may need to update your dashboards,
reporting expectations,
and service level targets.
</p>
<p class="p">Consider the following questions:</p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_reviewing_reporting_data_requirements__ul_reporting_data_questions">
<li class="li">What key metrics do you track for Chat performance?</li>
<li class="li">
Do you have custom reports or dashboards built on
Chat data?
</li>
<li class="li">How do you segment your chat data for analysis?</li>
<li class="li">What are your SLA requirements for chat responses?</li>
<li class="li">
Which reports or dashboards need to be updated after
migration?
</li>
<li class="li">
Do stakeholders understand that messaging reporting
differs from Chat reporting?
</li>
<li class="li">
Do you need to preserve historical Chat data for
ongoing analysis?
</li>
</ul>
<p class="p">
For more information, see
<a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/11033323119258" target="_blank">Migrating from Chat analytics to messaging
reporting</a>.
</p>
</div>
</div>
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