Migrate from Cobalt Project Manager to Microsoft Project

Cobalt Projects map directly to Microsoft Project project plans. We extract the project name, start date, finish date, status, and any project-level custom fields and map them to the corresponding Project Online project entity fields or Project for the Web project record. Project-level permissions and sharing settings do not migrate; we document the source permission matrix for the customer's admin to reconfigure in PWA or the Microsoft 365 admin centre post-migration.

Cobalt Tasks map to Microsoft Project Task rows. The source task name, start date, finish date, duration, percent complete, priority, and any fixed-cost fields transfer to the corresponding MSP fields (Name, Start, Finish, Duration, PercentComplete, Priority, FixedCost). Outline level and WBS code structure migrate from Cobalt's parent-child hierarchy to MS Project's outline indentation. Task-level dependencies (Finish-to-Start, Start-to-Start, etc.) migrate to MS Project Predessor fields as task name references.

Cobalt Subtasks are child records under a parent Task. MS Project supports unlimited outline levels within a single task hierarchy, so each Cobalt subtask inserts as a child row beneath its parent task in the outline. The parent Task ID resolves at migration time from the Cobalt task_id foreign key stored on each subtask record. We validate the hierarchy count post-load to confirm no subtask is orphaned from a parent Task.

Cobalt Milestone records map to Microsoft Project Task rows with Duration set to zero and the Mark Task as Milestone checkbox enabled. The milestone name, scheduled date, and any milestone-level custom fields transfer. If the destination is Project Online PWA, we create a Milestone Enterprise Custom Field flag to preserve the milestone classification in the enterprise field schema alongside the native MS Project milestone marker.

Cobalt Time Entries associate a user with a task and a duration. MS Project does not have a native time-entry object — instead, hours are tracked as Assignment Work on a Resource- Task combination. We split each Cobalt Time Entry into an MS Project Assignment record with the resource (from the Cobalt resource lookup), the task (from the Cobalt task lookup), and Work hours set to the duration value. Assignment remaining work and assignment actual work are set to reflect the logged hours. If the customer requires explicit timesheet records, we recommend a separate SharePoint-based timesheet list or a Power Apps timesheet app post-migration.

Cobalt Resources (users assigned to tasks) map to MS Project Resources. We extract resource name, email, type (material vs work), max units, cost rate, and calendar availability. For Project Online PWA destinations, we provision resources in the Enterprise Resource Pool; for Project for the Web destinations, resources are scoped per project. Resource custom fields (department, skill, cost centre) migrate to MS Project Resource Custom Fields or to the corresponding PWA resource enterprise field.

Cobalt Task-Resource Assignment records (the junction between a task and an assigned resource) map to MS Project Assignment records on the relevant task row. The assignment units, assignment work, and assignment start/finish dates transfer to the MS Project Assignment fields. If the source Cobalt assignment has a percent allocation (e.g., 50% on two concurrent tasks), we set the Assignment Units field to the decimal equivalent (e.g., 0.5).

Cobalt project-level custom fields map to MS Project Enterprise Custom Fields scoped at the Project level. We create the custom field in PWA settings (Project level, text, number, date, or lookup table type depending on the source data type), then populate the values during the project import phase. For Project for the Web, custom fields are defined in the Power Platform Dataverse project table and populated via the Microsoft Graph API during migration.

Cobalt task-level custom fields map to MS Project Task Enterprise Custom Fields. We configure the field type in PWA (Task level, matching the source data type), add the field to the project enterprise template PDP (project detail page) or the Project for the Web task detail pane, then populate values during the task import batch. Note that PWA Enterprise Custom Fields require the PWA site to have Enterprise Features enabled — we confirm this during scoping.

Cobalt task dependencies (Finish-to-Start, Start-to-Start, Finish-to-Finish, Start-to-Finish) map to MS Project Predecessor fields on the dependent task row. We extract the predecessor task ID and the dependency type, resolve it to the task name in the destination project, and write the Predecessor field as a task name reference with the dependency type abbreviation (FS, SS, FF, SF). Circular dependency detection runs post-import against the migrated predecessor graph to flag any cycles introduced by the mapping.

Cobalt file attachments on projects and tasks migrate to the SharePoint document library attached to the destination project (Project Online) or to the Project for the Web document panel. We extract the file binary, upload it to the SharePoint site or OneDrive for Business location associated with the migrated project, and write a URL reference into a Project or Task custom field to preserve the attachment link in the destination system. Very large file attachments (over 250 MB) are flagged for manual re-upload by the customer.