Migrate from Copper Project to Asana

Copper Project records map directly to Asana Projects. The Copper project name, description, status, start date, and end date map to the equivalent Asana fields. We preserve the original project creation timestamp as a custom field since Asana's project-level created_at is not surfaced in all views. Projects are created in Asana before any tasks are imported so that the project reference is satisfied at task insert time.

Copper Tasks map to Asana Tasks within their parent Project. We map task name, description (migrated as rich text), status (Copper's custom statuses map to Asana's Sections or completion state), due dates, assignees, and priority. Copper's custom task statuses are recreated as Sections inside each Asana project. The task created_at and updated_at timestamps migrate as Notes or custom fields for audit purposes.

Copper subtasks map to Asana subtasks using the tasks/subtasks sub-object in the Asana API. We preserve the nesting depth and parent task reference by resolving the Copper parent_task_id to the Asana gid after parent tasks are inserted. Subtask assignees, due dates, and completion status map directly to the subtask record.

Copper Task Timers represent stopwatch-style time tracking linked to a specific task and user. Asana does not have a native stopwatch timer as a record type but does support a Time Tracking field on tasks where users log hours manually. We map Copper timer duration to an Asana task Time Tracking entry with the duration in hours, the user as the assignee, and the original start date. If the customer requires historical timer data for billing, we export it as a structured CSV alongside the migration.

Copper files are stored via a three-step S3 signed-URL process: fetch the URL, upload the binary, then relate the file to the entity. We replicate this in reverse by fetching files from Copper via the API, staging them locally, and uploading each file to the corresponding Asana task using the Asana Attachments API. File name, type, and size migrate as metadata. Files attached at the project level attach to the Asana project directly. This multi-step process adds time for migrations with large file counts.

Copper users with name, email, and role map to Asana users by email address as the dedupe key. We import active users and flag inactive Copper users in a reconciliation report for the admin to review before assigning work in Asana. Asana workspaces require explicit invitation of members; we generate the list of email addresses to invite as part of the migration handoff.

Copper stores custom field definitions as metadata separate from record data. Before mapping any values, we query the Copper Custom Field Definitions API to enumerate every active custom field per entity type and map them to Asana custom field types: text to Text, date to Date, dropdown to Enum, number to Numeric. Custom fields must be created in Asana before migration begins because the Asana API requires the custom field gid at insert time. We re-run the discovery step immediately before extraction to catch schema changes made after scoping.

Asana does not have a native invoice or billing object. Copper invoice records (line items, amounts, status) do not have a direct Asana equivalent. We export all Copper Invoice records to a structured CSV with field labels and values, and we recommend recreating invoices in the customer's preferred billing tool (Bill.com, QuickBooks, Stripe, or a custom spreadsheet) post-migration. The invoice CSV is included in the migration handoff package.

Copper timesheet records represent logged hours by user separate from task-level timers. They include user, date, hours, and project association. We map these to Asana Time Tracking entries on the corresponding project or task. Note that timesheet export requires coordination with Copper Support for activity-level records not available via self-service export; we request this data on the customer's behalf during the discovery phase before migration begins.

Copper's Related Items feature creates explicit relational links between entities such as task-to-task or task-to-project associations. Asana has a native Dependencies API that links tasks via Dependency records (predecessor and successor). We export Copper's Related Items as explicit associations during discovery and recreate them in Asana using the Asana Dependencies endpoint. The mapping requires that both the source and destination tasks exist before the dependency link can be created, so we run dependency creation as a post-processing step after all tasks are imported.

Copper Project includes native invoicing with line items, amounts, and status. Asana has no native invoice, billing, or payment object. We do not migrate invoice records as functional records in Asana because no equivalent exists. We provide a written inventory of every Copper Invoice with field labels and values so that the customer's finance team can recreate them in their preferred billing platform post-migration.

Copper Project field layouts control which fields are visible per entity type in the Copper UI. These are workspace-level display preferences with no data content. We do not migrate layouts as they are display-level configurations that do not transfer data and have no equivalent in Asana's permission and display model.