Migrate from Cerebro to Microsoft Project

Cerebro Projects map to Microsoft Project plans. We migrate project name, description, status (Active/Completed/On Hold), start date, finish date, and tags. The project-level metadata transfers directly. If the destination is Project Online, the project becomes a Project Web App (PWA) project; if the destination is desktop MS Project, it becomes an MPP file or XML import.

Cerebro Tasks map to Microsoft Project Task records. We preserve task name, description, start date, finish date, duration, and percent complete. Cerebro's unlimited nesting depth is preserved by creating Microsoft Project Summary Tasks (outline level 1-9) and Subtasks (outline level 10+). Note that the MS Project desktop application imposes an outline level limit; we validate deep hierarchies (10+ levels) in a test file before production import and flag any structure that exceeds the limit.

Cerebro Subtasks are a specific object type in Cerebro's hierarchy. We map them to Microsoft Project subtasks and preserve assignment, status, and dates. In MS Project, subtasks inherit scheduling from their parent summary task unless the parent is set to Manual Scheduling mode. We configure the appropriate scheduling mode per task group during migration to match the original Cerebro behavior.

Cerebro exposes Gantt chart dependencies between tasks. We export these as explicit dependency edges (Finish-to-Start, Start-to-Start, Finish-to-Finish, Start-to-Finish) and recreate them in Microsoft Project as predecessor links on the successor task. We extract the dependency type and lag time and map them to the predecessor field format (e.g., 'FS+2d' for a Finish-to-Start with two-day lag). Circular dependencies detected in Cerebro are flagged for manual resolution before import.

Cerebro uses tags to categorize any project element. We extract all tags per task and map them to MS Project custom text fields (Text1-30) or flag fields. If the customer uses a consistent tag taxonomy (e.g., Department, Priority, Work Type), we configure named lookup tables in the destination custom fields. Duplicate tag naming across different contexts (a tag called 'Review' on tasks and also on projects) is preserved as-is but noted in the migration report for the customer to disambiguate post-migration.

Cerebro Comments on tasks migrate to Microsoft Project Task Notes (the Notes field on each task). Author attribution is preserved in the Notes header. Inline media references in Cerebro comments (images or video links) are converted to SharePoint or OneDrive URLs pointing to the re-uploaded attachment. Cerebro's built-in translator UI artifact strings are stripped during comment normalization.

Cerebro stores media files on its own distributed server infrastructure. We extract all attachment URLs from the Cerebro export, download each file individually, and re-upload to the destination SharePoint document library or OneDrive location. The MS Project task is updated with a hyperlink pointing to the re-uploaded file. Audiovisual commentaries are treated as linked media assets; thumbnail previews do not migrate. Re-upload failures are flagged in the migration report for manual resolution.

Cerebro's team and individual calendars aggregate task assignments and deadlines. We map calendar entries to Microsoft Project Resource Calendars. Working time exceptions (holidays, non-standard hours) from Cerebro calendars are translated to Resource Calendar exceptions in MS Project. Note that Cerebro's all-day vs partial-day semantics differ from MS Project's calendar granularity; we preserve the assignment date but note any scheduling difference introduced by calendar translation.

Cerebro Users map to Microsoft Project Resources. We extract all users and map them to Resources by email match. Resource type (Work, Material, Cost) is set based on the original user's assignment pattern in Cerebro. Cerebro's permission groups are extracted separately (see Users and Permissions mapping). Users without a matching entry in the destination are held in a reconciliation queue for the customer's admin to provision before record import resumes.

Cerebro uses permission groups for access control. Microsoft Project desktop has no native permission model (file-level security is handled by SharePoint or file system permissions); Project Online uses RBAC through PWA settings. We extract all permission group memberships and map them to the closest matching Resource Group in the destination. Groups with no direct equivalent are flagged as requiring manual post-migration permission review in Project Online PWA settings.

Gantt views in Cerebro are generated from task dates and dependencies. We extract the timeline data (start, finish, duration, dependencies) and reconstruct the Gantt layout in Microsoft Project using its native chart engine. The column configuration (which fields appear on the Gantt chart) is documented separately for the customer's admin to configure in MS Project or PWA after migration.

Cerebro project templates enable consistent workflow cloning across recurring engagements. Microsoft Project templates (MTP files or PWA template projects) serve the same function but have different structure. We do not migrate Cerebro templates as reusable MS Project templates. We deliver a written inventory of template structure (task hierarchy, default fields, standard duration values, default resource assignments) for the customer's admin to rebuild as an MS Project template or PWA template project.