Migrate from Avaza to Microsoft Project

Avaza Projects map 1:1 to Microsoft Project files or Project Online project records. Each Avaza Project carries billing method, budget, cost rate, and billable rate inherited from the contact or timesheet category level. We migrate Project Name, start date, end date, status, and description. Budget and billing rate values transfer to custom fields in Microsoft Project because no native equivalent exists on the standard Project table. If the destination is Microsoft Project Online (Plan 3 or Plan 5 required for PWA), we provision the project via the REST API with enterprise project type and enterprise custom fields populated from Avaza project metadata.

Avaza Sections are grouping containers inside a Project used to organize Tasks. They carry display order but no independent metadata. We map each Section to a Microsoft Project Summary Task (a parent row at WBS level 1) with the section name as the task name and no duration. Child Tasks inherit the Summary Task as their parent. This preserves the grouping structure that Avaza users rely on for organizing work by phase or workstream.

Avaza Tasks map directly to Microsoft Project Tasks. We preserve task name, assignees, due dates, priorities, and flat-rate amounts (mapped to custom Cost fields in Microsoft Project). Milestone tasks in Avaza (tasks with zero duration) become Microsoft Project milestone tasks. Task dependencies in Avaza map to Predecessor links in Microsoft Project using FS, SS, SF, and FF dependency types determined by the task relationship context. If Avaza task-level custom fields are present, we map them to Project Online enterprise custom fields or MPP custom fields depending on the destination version.

Avaza users (Project Collaborators, Timesheet Users, Admin/Finance Users, Resource Schedulers) map to Microsoft Project Resources. We map display name to Resource Name, email to Resource Initials or email field, and default billable rate from the contact-level rate configuration. Microsoft Project distinguishes between Material Resources (consumables) and Work Resources (people), and supports Generic Resources for unassigned capacity. We default all Avaza users to Work Resources and set Max Units based on the user's Avaza timesheet category allocation where available.

Avaza Timesheet Categories define work types and carry default billable and cost rates that cascade into projects and timesheet entries. We map each category to a Microsoft Project Resource Cost Rate Table entry (Cost Rate A) so that when assignments are made in the destination, the correct rate applies. Multi-tier cost rates (A through E) in Microsoft Project map from Avaza's category-level rate tiers where they exist.

Avaza timesheet entries are linked to a project, section, task, user, and timesheet category, and carry the Billable Rate and Cost Rate frozen at entry time. We map each timesheet entry to a Microsoft Project Assignment on the matching task-resource pair with Actual Work set to the hours logged and Actual Cost calculated from the frozen rate. This preserves historical billing data inside the project schedule. Note: Microsoft Project desktop has no native timesheet UI; the Actual Work values are stored in the file and visible in the Task Usage and Resource Usage views.

Avaza Expenses carry amount, currency, category, billable flag, and receipt attachments linked to a project. Microsoft Project has no native expense module. We document the full expense inventory in a structured CSV delivered alongside the MPP file or Project Online migration, with project name, expense category, amount, currency, and billable flag. The customer assigns expenses to project cost baselines in Microsoft Project manually or via a separate expense tracking process. Receipt attachments migrate as file links where a reachable URL is present in the Avaza export.

Avaza Invoices can include free-form line items, uninvoiced timesheet blocks, uninvoiced expenses, and task fixed amounts, each referencing the customer. Microsoft Project has no invoice or billing module. We export invoice data as a structured document with project reference, line item breakdown, totals, currency, and payment status, delivered as a supplementary record set. The customer's finance team reconciles this against their accounting system post-migration. We use the Avaza Invoice Detail report to capture fully assembled invoice state rather than re-aggregating source records post-migration.

Avaza Customers (billing contacts) and External Contacts (collaborators and client portal users) carry billing and payment-term settings. Microsoft Project has no native contact management layer. If the destination is Microsoft Project Online with SharePoint, we export contacts to the associated SharePoint site contact list. If the organization uses Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales or Customer Service, we map Avaza contacts to the corresponding Dynamics records via the customer-provided integration. Standalone MPP file destinations receive a contact CSV as a supplementary deliverable.

Avaza Quotes are distinct from invoices with approval statuses and client-view links. Avaza can convert a quote to a project in one click, but the quote itself is not a sub-object of the project. We reconstruct quote line items as a structured CSV with project reference, client name, approval status, and total value. The quote-to-project conversion history is documented in the migration inventory for the customer's project manager to reference during project initiation in Microsoft Project.

Avaza custom fields on projects appear only in filtered report views and require the correct filter context to export. We map named custom fields to Microsoft Project Enterprise Custom Fields (for Project Online destinations) or text/number/date custom fields on the Project Summary Task (for MPP file destinations). Each field requires field-by-field review during scoping because Avaza surfaces project-level custom fields inconsistently across export views.

Avaza task-level custom fields migrate to Microsoft Project Task Custom Fields. We map text fields to Text fields, number fields to Number fields, and date fields to Date fields. Flag fields map to Flag custom fields. Task custom fields appear in the Task Details view in Project Online and in the Custom Fields column in desktop MPP.