Migrate from Backlog to Asana

Backlog Projects map directly to Asana Projects. The project name, description, and archived status transfer. Backlog project-level settings (notification preferences, project type) have no direct Asana equivalent and are noted in the migration inventory. Projects are created before any task or subtask import to satisfy parent-record dependencies.

Backlog Issues map to Asana Tasks. The Backlog issue type (Bug, Task, Story, custom) is preserved as a custom field issue_type__c on the Asana task since Asana has a single native task type. Issue priority maps to Asana priority level (urgent, high, medium, low, none). The Backlog issue key (e.g., PROJ-123) is stored in a custom field backlog_key__c for reference. Description HTML from Backlog migrates as rich text to the Asana task Notes field.

Backlog Subtasks map to Asana Subtasks nested under the parent Task. The parent-child relationship is resolved at migration time by matching the subtask's parent_issue_id to the migrated Issue key stored in backlog_key__c on the Asana task. Subtask status, assignee, and due date preserve. Asana allows unlimited subtask nesting depth; Backlog allows one level. Multi-level Backlog subtask hierarchies (if any) flatten to two levels in Asana.

Backlog Versions (called Milestones in the UI) group issues by release. Asana has no native milestone object — releases are typically modeled as Sections within a project, as a custom field (e.g., release_version__c), or as Asana Goals (Business tier only). During scoping, the customer chooses the strategy. We preserve the version name, planned completion date, and issue associations.

Backlog Categories group issues within a project (e.g., Frontend, Backend, Design). These map to Asana Sections within the corresponding project. Section names transfer directly. If a Backlog issue has multiple categories, we assign it to the first category and flag the additional categories for manual review.

Backlog Tags are flat free-form labels applied to Issues. Tags migrate to Asana Tags with the same name. Asana Tags are workspace-level and can be applied to any task across projects. Tag colors from Backlog do not transfer; Asana does not support per-tag color assignment.

Backlog Custom Fields exist only on Premium and Enterprise plans. We detect the plan tier during discovery and skip custom field mapping if the source is on Free, Starter, or Standard. For Premium+ accounts, we map Backlog custom field types (text, numeric, date, dropdown, checkbox, radio) to Asana custom field types (text, number, date, enum, checkbox). Dropdown options from Backlog become Asana enum options. Custom fields are created in Asana before any task import.

Backlog space users map to Asana workspace members. We match by email address. If a Backlog user is inactive or disabled, we create the corresponding Asana user as inactive. Backlog role assignments (Project Admin, Reporter, Guest) do not map directly to Asana roles; we note the roles in the migration inventory for manual reassignment in Asana workspace settings.

Backlog Teams are groups of users that can be assigned to issues. Teams migrate to Asana Teams. Team memberships transfer. Asana Teams have a member list and a team inbox; Backlog team assignments on issues translate to the Asana task assignee being set to the team rather than an individual, or the task is assigned to the first team member depending on the customer's preference.

Backlog Wikis have no direct Asana equivalent. Asana Docs is a separate product with different structure. We extract wiki page content, convert Backlog markup to plain text with headings and lists preserved, and deliver a structured document inventory with page titles, hierarchy, and content for the customer to recreate manually in Asana Docs, Confluence, or another documentation tool. Complex Backlog macros with no plain-text equivalent are flagged in the inventory.

Backlog pull request metadata (title, description, reviewers, status, comments) migrates as structured data attached to the linked Asana task via custom fields (pr_url__c, pr_status__c, pr_reviewers__c). The actual code diff, file changes, and commit history do not migrate. The PR title is stored as a task subtask or as a custom field for traceability.

File attachments on Backlog issues migrate to Asana task attachments by URL reference. We validate that attachment URLs are accessible at migration time and copy the file content into Asana's attachment storage. Backlog's file storage limits (100 MB Free, 1 GB Starter, 30 GB Standard, 100 GB Premium) are checked during discovery; Asana's per-file limit is 100 MB. Files exceeding 100 MB are flagged for the customer to store externally and link in the task description.

Backlog Gantt charts are derived from issue start dates, end dates, and dependencies. We migrate the underlying issue dates as Asana task Start Date and Due Date fields. Backlog issue dependencies (blocks, blocked by, relates to) map to Asana dependencies (follows, blocked by) where the Asana dependency types are enabled on the project. Backlog's Gantt visualization itself does not migrate.

Backlog burndown charts are computed from issue completion rates against a milestone or sprint timeline. We migrate the underlying issue completion events and dates as Asana task completed_at timestamps. The burndown chart visualization does not transfer. If Backlog milestones have custom start and end dates, we preserve these as task dates in Asana for the customer to rebuild charts in Asana Dashboards or a BI tool.