Migrate from SMART Project Control to Trello

SMART Programs act as top-level grouping containers for related Projects. Trello has no native Program object, but Workspace-level boards or a dedicated Program overview board with links to individual project boards serves as the equivalent. We preserve Program names and descriptions as board metadata and flag that rollup reporting across Programs requires a separate reporting layer.

SMART Projects map directly to Trello boards. Project name, description, planned start and finish dates, and status migrate as board metadata. We create one board per Project and apply the Project status as a board label or checklist. Any project-level custom fields from SMART map to board-level custom fields on the destination board.

The latest approved Baseline migrates as a separate read-only reference board with card names suffixed by [BASELINE] and planned dates frozen at the snapshot. Secondary Baselines migrate as attachments on each card referencing the SMART baseline name and snapshot timestamp. Baselines are stored as static records because Trello has no scheduling engine to recalculate them against a current schedule.

SMART Activities are the core scheduling unit and map directly to Trello cards. Activity name, planned start and finish dates, duration, calendar assignment, and WBS code migrate as card name, due date, description, and custom fields. Activity status (Not Started, In Progress, Completed, On Hold, Cancelled) maps to list names on the destination board. We preserve the original Activity ID from SMART as a custom field for traceability.

Work Breakdown Structure elements define hierarchical accountability in SMART. Trello has no WBS object, so we express the hierarchy through a card naming convention (WBS code as prefix, e.g., 1.2.3 Activity Name) and optionally use Labels for WBS level grouping. Any element-level custom properties from SMART migrate as card custom fields. Advanced WBS dependency or rollup logic cannot be rebuilt in Trello without a third-party Power-Up.

SMART Resources (labor, material, equipment) with roles, rates, and unit-of-measure migrate as Trello board members. Resource names and roles map to member display names; rates and cost-per-use store as custom fields on the member or as board-level reference fields. Trello has no native resource pool or capacity planning view, so resource leveling and utilization reporting from SMART do not migrate.

Activity-to-Resource assignments in SMART map to card assignees in Trello (for labor assignments) and to card custom fields for material and equipment references. Planned units and labor hours from SMART assignment records store as custom fields on each card. The assignment dates come from the parent Activity date range. Capacity planning and resource utilization percentages do not survive the migration.

SMART predecessor-successor logic (Finish-to-Start, Start-to-Start, Finish-to-Finish, Start-to-Finish, and lag) migrates as Trello card links (one card linked to another) and a custom field expressing the relationship type and lag days. Trello card links do not support Start-to-Start or Finish-to-Finish variants natively, so these are stored as custom fields with the relationship type noted.

SMART custom activity, project, and resource fields export with their current values and types. We map text to Trello text fields, dates to Trello date fields, numbers to Trello number fields, and picklists to Trello dropdown fields. Multi-select picklists map to Trello multi-select if the Standard or Premium tier is in use. Custom field mapping requires explicit instructions from the customer during scoping to ensure picklist values, date formats, and field ownership are preserved.

Document, image, and file attachments on SMART Activities, Projects, and Resources migrate as Trello card attachments stored in Trello's native attachment system. Standard plan attachments are limited to 250MB per file; customers on Standard or Premium must verify that no single SMART attachment exceeds this threshold before migration. Files exceeding the limit require a shared link or a separate document management system as the destination.

SMART Activity notes and stakeholder comments migrate as Trello card comments with the original author and timestamp preserved where the export provides this metadata. Long-form notes with structured content (tables, embedded images) flatten to card descriptions or checklist items with a note that formatting requires manual reformatting post-migration.

SMART critical path flags and float values are derived from the CPM calculation engine. Trello has no scheduling engine, so these values cannot be recalculated post-import. We preserve the critical path flag (Yes/No) and float days as static custom fields on each card. If the customer requires ongoing critical path tracking, we recommend a separate scheduling tool or a Trello Power-Up with CPM capability as a post-migration addition.

SMART cumulative S-curves and progress curves are time-phased data rows exported as tabular records. On import, we attach the source S-curve export as a CSV or PDF attachment to the project board or to a representative card, and convert key curve values (planned value at reporting date, earned value at reporting date) to custom fields where these can be expressed as single-point references. The graphical S-curve shape does not reproduce natively in Trello.

SMART Cost Breakdown Structure levels and cost accounts have no native Trello equivalent. We map CBS levels and cost account codes to Trello Labels (for categorical grouping) or to custom fields on each card, but time-phased cost distribution (weekly or monthly cost buckets) flattens to a single static value or attaches as a reference document. Budget tracking and cost variance reporting require a separate tool or spreadsheet post-migration.