Migrate from KANNA to Microsoft Project

KANNA Projects map directly to Microsoft Project projects. The project name, start date, target end date, and status migrate as-is. Project-level custom fields (property address, client name, project type) map to custom Text or Number fields in Microsoft Project. We preserve the project description as the Project Summary Task Name field or a custom field if the destination is Project for the web.

KANNA Tasks map to Microsoft Project tasks with the task name, start date, finish date, and status preserved. Assignee from KANNA maps to the Resource Names field in Microsoft Project. Task-level custom fields migrate to custom fields on the task row. Dependencies between tasks are reconstructed from the KANNA Sub-project grouping where the destination is Project desktop; Project for the web supports predecessor links for dependency modeling.

KANNA Sub-projects (available on Pro Plus) allow phased or multi-site work within a parent Project. Microsoft Project supports hierarchical Summary Tasks with child tasks indented under a summary row. We map each KANNA Sub-project to a Microsoft Project Summary Task, preserving the Sub-project name, date range, and status, and nesting all child Tasks under it. If the destination is Project for the web, Sub-projects map to phase Milestones or summary task rows.

KANNA custom fields are template-bound via Settings > Customize Settings and carry values on individual records. We extract both the field definition and the stored value. For each custom field, We create a corresponding custom field in Microsoft Project (Text, Number, Date, or Flag type depending on the value format) and map the value to the appropriate field. Template-level defaults are captured and applied to tasks created from that template. Any lookup table or multi-select custom fields in KANNA are remapped to flat Text fields in Microsoft Project since Microsoft Project does not support lookup tables at the task level.

KANNA's photo report feature is a named export category in the Data Import/Export feature. We extract each photo with its caption and timestamp and attach it to the corresponding Task or Project in Microsoft Project. In Project desktop, attachments are linked via the Task Inspector or Insert > Hyperlink. In Project for the web, attachments link to the associated SharePoint document library. Photo metadata (date taken, location) migrates as custom fields if the destination org uses them for reporting.

Documents attached to KANNA Projects and Tasks migrate as file attachments to the corresponding Microsoft Project records. We preserve the file name, original upload date, and association. The file content itself is transferred as-is; we do not extract or transform document content. If the destination Microsoft Project is connected to a SharePoint site, documents migrate to the SharePoint document library and linked from the Project.

KANNA's in-platform chat and reporting threads are a known gap in the Data Import/Export coverage. We extract comment threads where accessible, capturing the author name, timestamp, and text body. In Microsoft Project desktop, comments map to the Task Notes field (concatenated with author and timestamp prefix). In Project for the web, comments map to the task Comments feature. We flag any thread that cannot be extracted from the export as a manual archive step before migration begins.

KANNA's Data Import/Export separately exports customer information and property information. We map Client records to Microsoft Project Resources (as a Resource with the Type = Material and the client name as Resource Name) or to a custom Text field on the Project, depending on whether the destination team uses Resources for billing or reporting. Property records map to Project-level custom fields (property address, site ID, lot number) or to a separate SharePoint list linked via Power Automate.

KANNA displays work as a Gantt chart, but the underlying data is derived from task start dates, end dates, and grouping. We extract the task date fields and reconstruct the Gantt structure in Microsoft Project by setting the task Start and Finish dates, duration, and calendar. If KANNA records show predecessor relationships (e.g., Task B starts after Task A completes), We create predecessor links in Microsoft Project. Microsoft Project then recalculates the schedule forward and backward, producing the critical path.

KANNA Project and Task statuses are configurable per workspace. We capture the full status taxonomy from the source workspace and map each status value to the nearest Microsoft Project task status (Not Started, In Progress, Completed, On Hold, Cancelled) or to a custom Text field if the destination requires granular status matching. Status mappings are validated during the sandbox migration phase.