Migrate from BrightWork to Asana

BrightWork Projects map 1:1 to Asana Projects. We extract the project name, description, start date, end date, assigned Project Manager (as Project Members), and project status, and write them to Asana Projects via the POST /projects endpoint. Project Area subsites are not independently created in Asana; their content becomes part of the parent Project. Program membership (Projects belonging to a Program) maps to Asana Portfolios with the project added as a member.

BrightWork Programs map to Asana Portfolios. We extract the Program name, description, and child project list, then create Asana Portfolio records with all member Projects added via the /portfolios/{portfolio_gid}/addProject endpoint. Portfolio-level Status Reports from BrightWork do not have a direct Asana equivalent; we create a summary task within one of the child Projects or add a custom text field capturing the last report date and status summary.

BrightWork Tasks map directly to Asana Tasks. We preserve name, start date, due date, percent complete, priority (mapped to Asana Custom Field of enum type), assigned owner (mapped to Asana assignee via User lookup by email), and predecessor links. Parent-child task hierarchy maps to Asana subitems (available on Asana Business) or section nesting. Predecessor relationships map to Asana dependencies using the /tasks/{task_gid}/addDependencies endpoint.

BrightWork custom fields are SharePoint list columns defined per Project Area, meaning the same column name can have different data types across projects. We export every Project Area's column schema, build a unified field map, and create Asana Custom Fields with the most permissive compatible type (text if any project uses text, enum if all projects use a common choice set, number if all projects use numeric). Type conflicts (same name, different types across projects) are surfaced for customer resolution before import. Asana Custom Fields are created at the workspace level and then added to relevant Projects.

BrightWork Risks map to Asana Tasks in a dedicated 'Risks' Section within the parent Project. We extract the Risk title, description, severity (mapped to an enum Custom Field with values Low/Medium/High/Critical), owner (assignee), status (Open/Closed/Accepted), and creation date. The RAID risk-specific fields (probability, impact, mitigation plan) migrate to Asana custom fields or task descriptions depending on the number of fields.

BrightWork Issues map to Asana Tasks in a dedicated 'Issues' Section. Issue fields (title, description, priority, owner, status, raised date, resolution date) map to Asana Task fields and custom fields. Open Issues migrate as open Tasks; resolved Issues migrate with a completion date and resolution notes in the task description.

BrightWork Assumptions map to Asana Tasks in a dedicated 'Assumptions' Section. Assumption-specific fields (assumption text, owner, validation date, validation status) migrate to Asana Task fields and custom fields. Unvalidated assumptions migrate as open tasks with a due date matching the validation target date.

BrightWork Dependencies (D in RAID) map to Asana Task dependencies. We extract the source task, target task, and dependency type (finish-to-start by default), then create Asana dependency links via the /tasks/{task_gid}/addDependencies endpoint. Note: Asana's dependency handling has known issues with date propagation on complex dependency chains (red arrow behavior); we document this limitation and recommend customer testing of the dependency chain in the Asana destination post-migration.

BrightWork attachments live in SharePoint document libraries within each Project Area. We extract the binary files, map them to the corresponding Asana Project or Task via the /attachments endpoint, and preserve the original filename. Large file sets (>500 files per project) are chunked and uploaded with rate-limit handling. Folder structure is preserved in the attachment name prefix for traceability.

BrightWork time entries logged against Tasks map to an Asana Custom Field of number type (Hours Logged) on the Task, plus a completion note capturing the date and user. Asana does not have a native time-tracking object, so the time entry data is stored as a custom field value rather than a separate record. If the customer requires granular time tracking, we recommend pairing with a time-tracking integration (Harvest, Toggl) post-migration.

SharePoint document libraries within a BrightWork Project Area are exported as file sets and uploaded to the corresponding Asana Project as attachments. We preserve the document library folder hierarchy in the attachment naming convention (e.g., /ProjectCharter/2024-Budget.xlsx) so the document organization is visible in Asana's attachment list.

BrightWork aggregates project status into portfolio-level Status Reports. We extract the report date, overall status (green/amber/red), key achievements, risks summary, and next steps, and write them as a custom field set on the Asana Portfolio (using Portfolio Custom Fields if available) or as a summary Task pinned to the Portfolio dashboard. The report attachment (PDF or SharePoint page) migrates as a Portfolio attachment.