Migrate from Productive to Trello

Productive Projects map directly to Trello Boards. We extract project name, status (active, on hold, archived), start and due dates, description, and custom field values. Board visibility defaults to Workspace Visible on Standard+ plans. Projects without a clear scope boundary are mapped one-to-one; if a customer used Productive Projects as clients and sub-projects as work packages, we discuss whether to flatten to one board or split into separate boards during scoping.

Productive Lists inside a Project map to Trello Lists (columns) within the corresponding Board. List names and column ordering transfer directly. If a Productive workspace uses Lists as workflow stages (To Do, In Progress, Review, Done), we replicate that column order in Trello so team members recognize the workflow immediately after cutover.

Productive Tasks map to Trello Cards. We extract task name, description, status, assignee (mapped to Board member), due date, start date, time estimate, and custom field values. Sub-tasks in Productive map to Checklist items on the parent Card. If the Productive workspace has more than three levels of sub-task nesting, we flatten beyond the first level into Checklist items to stay within Trello's structural limits.

Productive Milestones do not have a native Trello equivalent. We create a milestone Label on the destination Board (label name matching the Milestone name) and apply it to all Cards with that Milestone association. The Milestone date is preserved in the Card description as a formatted date note. If the customer requires stricter milestone tracking, we document this as a Trello Power-Up recommendation (such as Card Hierarchy by Stiltsoft) during the handoff.

Productive Members map to Trello Board members. We extract name, email address, and role. Trello boards have per-board member limits (1,520 per board at warning threshold) and no account-level team capacity view. If the customer's Productive workspace has members across multiple Projects, we scope Board member lists per-board. Members without an email match in the Trello workspace go to a reconciliation queue for admin provisioning before Card assignment import.

Productive account-level custom fields migrate to Trello Power-Up custom fields on each Board. This requires the destination Trello workspace to be on Standard plan or above to enable the Custom Fields Power-Up. We map Productive field types (text, number, date, dropdown) to Trello custom field types (text, number, date, single-select). If the customer has more than 20 custom field definitions across their workspace, we prioritize the fields actively used on tasks and defer rarely-used fields to a secondary migration pass.

Productive time entries have no Trello equivalent. Trello does not support a native time tracking object or time-linked billing. We extract all time entry records (user, date, duration, billable flag, task association, notes) as a structured CSV export and flag this as a financial record requiring manual handling or a separate tool (Harvest, Toggl, Clockify) post-migration. Billable time entries that are recognized in Productive invoices are flagged as a pre-cutover concern because those invoices cannot migrate.

Productive recurring and one-time budgets tied to Projects or Clients have no Trello equivalent. We extract budget amounts, types, and the periods they cover and deliver them as a structured data export. Budget versus actual reporting is a Productive-native capability. Post-migration, the customer handles budget tracking in a spreadsheet, a dedicated financial tool, or a Trello Power-Up with third-party time-tracking integration.

Productive invoices generated from tracked time and expenses do not migrate. We extract invoice headers, line item totals, payment status, and outstanding balances as a structured export for the customer's accounting team to close out before cutover. Unrecognized time entries—billable time not yet attached to an invoice—are flagged as a pre-migration concern because these represent open revenue that Productive alone currently manages.

Productive expense records (amount, date, description, category, billable flag, project association) have no Trello equivalent. We extract all expense records as a structured CSV export. Billable expenses are flagged separately so the customer can decide whether to process them as invoices before cutover or carry them into a separate expense management tool post-migration.

Productive rate cards (per-role or per-person billing rates tied to tracked time) do not migrate to Trello. We extract rate card definitions and deliver them as a structured data export. If the customer uses Trello in combination with a separate billing or time-tracking tool, the rate card data is provided as a reference import for that system.

Productive Teams (Professional+ feature grouping members for resource planning) have no Trello equivalent. Trello has board-level membership but no cross-board team resource management. We extract team memberships and team-level assignments and deliver them as a mapping table so the customer can recreate team-based groupings in Trello via Labels, Workspace member groups, or a third-party resource management Power-Up.

Productive Skills (Ultimate-tier member competency tags for resource matching) do not have a Trello equivalent. We convert Skills to Trello Labels on member Cards or deliver them as a structured member attribute export. If the customer relies on skill-based resource matching for project assignments, we recommend a dedicated resource management tool post-migration.

Productive task attachments migrate to Card attachments in Trello. We transfer attachment URLs and filenames. Trello enforces response size limits on card queries, so large card batches with many attachments require chunked API calls. We handle attachment import in the same batch as the parent Card to maintain referential integrity within Trello's API constraints.