Airdrop

With DevRev's Airdrop, you can migrate data from various platforms or keep data in sync between DevRev and external sources. Whether you perform a one-time import, set up a one-way sync, or establish a two-way sync, Airdrop supports a flexible data migration or co-existence strategy.

Airdrop features

The Airdrop features available vary per external source but support one or more of these:

• 1-time import: Migrate data from an external source to DevRev.
• 1-way sync: Keep data in sync from an external source to DevRev.
• 2-way sync: Synchronize data bidirectionally between DevRev and an external source.
• Recipe manager: Select the types and fields you want to import or sync from an external source.

General process

Setting up a new import or sync

For source-specific instructions, see Available Sources.

Whether you want to perform only a one-time import or set up an ongoing sync, performing an initial import is required.

1. Navigate to Imports: Go to Settings > Imports and click Start Import or Import.

2. Choose Source: Select the external platform (for example, Jira, Zendesk) from which you want to import data.

3. Initiate the import process, which brings in enough data and metadata to allow you to configure the rest of the process.

4. Configure the Import: Configure the import settings, such as selecting specific objects and mapping fields.

Post-import options

After a successful import, you have several options to manage and sync your data:

• Sync to DevRev: Synchronize new items created and modifications made in the external source to corresponding items in DevRev.

• Sync to External Source: Synchronize new items created in DevRev and modifications made in DevRev to the external source.

• Periodic Sync: Enable automatic periodic sync to keep data updated between DevRev and the external source.

• View Report: Access detailed information about the initial import and subsequent syncs.

• Delete Import: Remove the import and associated items from DevRev.

• Edit Connection: Modify the connection settings for future actions. This can be used if the connection goes stale or the connection owner leaves the company.

Historical imports

You can view information about currently running and previous imports from various sources, providing insights into migration activities.

To view existing imports, follow these steps:

1. Go to Settings > Imports.

Dev user deduplication

When migrating data, ensuring the accuracy and consistency of the data is paramount. This section describes how Airdrop handles potential duplicates and the processes that can be used to clean up duplicates.

Dev users are team members, specifically, they're considered members of the DevRev organization. Examples of Airdrop-created dev users include engineers working on imported Jira issues, support agents who own imported Zendesk tickets, and account owners for imported Hubspot accounts.

When importing external dev users, the email address is used as a means of deduplication.

Dev user deduplication logic

User has no email or it's not accessible

A new dev user is created in DevRev. This user is marked as Shadow. Shadow users can't log in and have no access to DevRev. All work, comments, and assignments imported from the external source and associated with the external user are associated with the shadow DevRev user.

This user can be manually merged with an existing user.

User has an email but doesn't match any existing DevRev user email

A new dev user is created in DevRev. This user is marked as Unassigned. Unassigned users cannot log in and have no access to DevRev. All work, comments, and assignments imported from the external source and associated with the external user are associated with the unassigned DevRev user.

If a new user joins DevRev and that user's email matches the email of the unassigned user, the person joining assumes the existing unassigned user. The unassigned user is marked as active, is able to access DevRev, and all the work, comments, and assignments remain with the now active user.

This user can be manually merged with an existing user.

User has an email that matches an existing DevRev email

No new dev user is created in DevRev. All work, comments, and assignments imported from the external source are associated with the existing DevRev user with the matching email.

Manual dev user merging

There are cases where the automatic Airdrop dev user deduplication logic doesn't catch duplicates. This can happen when an imported user has no email address or the email address doesn't match that of an existing user in DevRev. In these cases, it's possible to manually resolve these duplicate entries after the Airdrop import.

To do this, you will need to:

1. Be a DevRev admin.
2. Find the duplicated Airdrop created user.
3. Merge the duplicated Airdrop created user with the desired active DevRev user.

Find duplicated Airdrop created user

You can find Airdrop created users that weren't deduplicated into an existing user with a few different methods:

• Perform a dev users search (CMD-K/Ctrl-K).
  • You can search by name or email and in some cases by unique external ID (such as Jira user ID).
• Select the user in imported records.
  • You can click on users on records, such as an imported issue they own.
• Find the user in the dev users list.
  • You can go to Settings -> User Management -> Users and filter by Unassigned and Shadow users.

Merge duplicated user

The merge dev user option is only available from Unassigned and Shadow users with Active users and must be performed by a DevRev admin. The merge option will move all records owned by the unassigned/shadow user to the active user. The unassigned/shadow user will be deactivated, and any future imported items will be assigned to the active user.

Timeline events, such as comments made or actions taken in existing records, aren't updated and continue to reference the now-deactivated user.

To perform a merge:

1. Open the list of Unassigned or Shadow users.
2. Select the action ⋮ menu.
3. Select Merge User.
4. Find the Active user you wish to merge with.

Account deduplication

DevRev accounts help you keep track of your customers. Airdop can import accounts from various external sources. Accounts from external sources can have varying names, such as companies in Hubspot, organizations in Zendesk, or accounts in Salesforce.

An Airdrop doesn't deduplicate imported accounts; rather, it modifies them so that new accounts don't violate DevRev constraints. These accounts can be merged after the import has completed. Since DevRev has several constraints on uniqueness of different DevRev account fields, Airdrop avoids breaking these constraints by following these rules when another account is already using the unique value:

Manual account merging

Accounts, whether natively created in DevRev or migrated via Airdrop, can be merged by a DevRev administrator.

To perform a merge:

1. Open the account you want to merge from.
   • This account will be the one that will be deleted.
2. Select the merge option from the account menu.
3. In the merge accounts dialog, select the account to merge to.
   • The from account, which was selected in step 1, and associated discussions will be deleted.
   • All associated users, conversations, tickets, and workspaces are preserved in the to account.
   • Any future items synced via Airdrop (such as new users or tickets) associated with the from account will be associated with the to account.
4. Select Merge.

Contact deduplication

DevRev contacts help you keep track of your customers. Contacts are the individual users, which may or may not be associated with an account. DevRev contacts aren't globally unique. The same user may have multiple contact records.

Airdrop imported contacts are deduplicated against existing contacts. The user email is used as the deduplication field. The deduplication happens at the account level. Contacts without an account are treated as being in the same pseudo-account. When a contact is deduplicated, the records and comments of the incoming contact are associated with the existing contact.

The following scenarios illustrate how this Airdrop contact deduplication mechanism works:

Work deduplication

Airdrop doesn't deduplicate work objects (issues, tickets, opportunities). Unlike identity objects (users, accounts), these objects do not typically have duplicates in other systems.

Available sources