Project Management migration
Field-level mapping, validation, and rollback between TeamWork Live and Asana. We move data and schema; workflows are rebuilt natively in Asana.
TeamWork Live
Source
Asana
Destination
Compatibility
8 of 12
objects map 1:1 between TeamWork Live and Asana.
Complexity
BStandard
Timeline
3-5 weeks
Overview
Moving from TeamWork Live to Asana is a structural migration that requires resolving differences in how each platform organizes work. TeamWork Live groups Tasks inside Task Lists within Projects, while Asana organizes Tasks in Projects with optional Sections and Rows; there is no Task List equivalent in Asana, so we convert Task Lists to a Section-based structure with a task-order sequence field applied on ingest. Milestone dates migrate as Asana Start Date and Due Date fields on the parent Task, preserving the original target date and completion status. Time entries from TeamWork Live present a tier-availability challenge because native time tracking is gated behind Asana Business and Enterprise; we migrate time-entry records as a numeric custom field on the corresponding Task and flag the Asana plan requirement for built-in timesheets. Custom fields on TeamWork Live are gated behind the per-user Premium plan, so we verify custom field existence at scan time and only map definitions that are present in the API response. Workflows, automations, and client access permissions do not migrate; we deliver a written inventory of every active automation requiring rebuild in Asana's Rules builder.
Every standard and custom field arrives verified.
AI proposes the map; you confirm before any record moves.
Parent–child, lookups, and ownership stay linked.
Calls, emails, meetings — with original timestamps.
Documents, uploads, and inline notes move with the record.
Why teams make this switch
Leaving
What's pushing teams away
Choosing
What's pulling them in
Object mapping
Each row shows how a TeamWork Live object lands in Asana, including any object-level transformations, lookup resolution, or schema-design dependencies.
Typical mapping — final map is confirmed during the sample migration step.
TeamWork Live
Project
Asana
Project
1:1TeamWork Live Projects map directly to Asana Projects. Project name, description, status (active/archived), start date, and due date migrate as-is. Client linkage in TeamWork Live (company associated with a project for access control) has no direct Asana equivalent; we store the client company name in a custom field on the Asana Project and flag the project access permissions for manual verification post-migration.
TeamWork Live
Task List
Asana
Section
lossyTeamWork Live Task Lists have no direct Asana equivalent. We convert each Task List to an Asana Section within the target Project. The Task List name becomes the Section name. Task sequence within the list is preserved as an ordinal rank field on each Task, and Asana sorts by that field within the Section on ingest.
TeamWork Live
Task
Asana
Task
1:1Standard task fields map directly: title, description, status (TeamWork task status values map to Asana completion state), priority, assignee, due date, and estimated time. Subtasks in TeamWork Live become subtasks in Asana via the parent_task_gid relationship. Task-level tags migrate to Asana tags with a tag-rename check against reserved names in the destination org.
TeamWork Live
Milestone
Asana
Task with milestone flag
1:1TeamWork Live Milestones are standalone date markers linked to projects. Asana has a native Milestone type on Tasks. We map milestone name to task name, target date to start date, and mark the record with the Asana Milestone enum. Completed milestones carry their completion date; incomplete milestones carry the target date. Milestones without a linked task are created as standalone milestone Tasks within the parent Project.
TeamWork Live
User and Team Member
Asana
User
1:1TeamWork Live Users (internal team members) map to Asana Users by email address match. Guest or client-level users in TeamWork Live map to Asana Guest membership, which is provisioned per Project during migration. We verify each migrated user has an active Asana account before assigning task ownership; users without a destination account are placed in a reconciliation queue for the customer's admin to provision.
TeamWork Live
Time Entry
Asana
Custom numeric field on Task
1:manyTeamWork Live time entries linked to tasks migrate as a numeric custom field on each corresponding Asana Task, storing hours logged as a decimal value. Native Asana time tracking requires Business or Enterprise; for accounts on lower tiers, we store hours in a custom field and flag the plan requirement in the migration report. Billable/non-billable flags from TeamWork Live are stored in a separate multi-select custom field for manual tagging or third-party integration post-migration.
TeamWork Live
Comment
Asana
Story on Task
1:1TeamWork Live task comments migrate as Stories on the corresponding Asana Task. Author, timestamp, and body text transfer. HTML-heavy formatting may not round-trip cleanly; we flag HTML-stripped comments for manual review post-migration. Rich-text images embedded in comments are stored as attachment URLs for manual re-upload since Asana Stories do not natively support inline image hosting.
TeamWork Live
File and Attachment
Asana
Attachment
1:1Files attached to tasks or projects in TeamWork Live are referenced by URL in the API. We retrieve attachment metadata (filename, MIME type, size, source URL) and re-upload the file to the corresponding Asana Task or Project as a native Attachment. If the source URL is no longer accessible, we flag the attachment as missing and include it in the manual-recovery inventory.
TeamWork Live
Custom Field
Asana
Custom Field
1:1TeamWork Live task-level and project-level custom fields (text, number, dropdown types) migrate to Asana Custom Fields of the corresponding type. Dropdown option lists from TeamWork Live are recreated as Asana Custom Field options during migration; any option values that conflict with Asana reserved names are renamed with a prefix. Custom fields gated behind the TeamWork Live Premium plan are detected at scan time; if the source account is on a lower tier, no custom field data exists to migrate.
TeamWork Live
Tag and Label
Asana
Tag
1:1Tags applied to tasks or projects in TeamWork Live migrate to Asana Tags. We perform a reserved-name check against the destination Asana org; any tags with restricted names (Asana system names, field names, etc.) are renamed with a twl_ prefix. Tags stored as simple string arrays in TeamWork Live map directly to Asana tag names with no transform required.
TeamWork Live
Company and Client
Asana
Team
many:1TeamWork Live Companies linked to projects for client access and billing tracking map to Asana Teams, which serve as the organizational unit for projects and members. Multiple TeamWork Live companies associated with a single client organization are merged into one Asana Team during migration. Company contact details are stored in a custom field on the Team for reference.
TeamWork Live
Workflow and Automation
Asana
Rules (inventory only)
lossyTeamWork Live Workflows and Rules automations do not migrate as code. We extract a full inventory of active automations from the TeamWork Live API including trigger, conditions, and actions, and deliver it as a structured document with recommended Asana Rules equivalents. The customer's admin rebuilds automations in Asana's Rules builder post-migration. Automation rebuild is outside standard migration scope and is a separate engagement or internal admin task.
| TeamWork Live | Asana | Compatibility | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Project | Project1:1 | Fully supported | |
| Task List | Sectionlossy | Fully supported | |
| Task | Task1:1 | Fully supported | |
| Milestone | Task with milestone flag1:1 | Fully supported | |
| User and Team Member | User1:1 | Fully supported | |
| Time Entry | Custom numeric field on Task1:many | Fully supported | |
| Comment | Story on Task1:1 | Fully supported | |
| File and Attachment | Attachment1:1 | Fully supported | |
| Custom Field | Custom Field1:1 | Fully supported | |
| Tag and Label | Tag1:1 | Fully supported | |
| Company and Client | Teammany:1 | Fully supported | |
| Workflow and Automation | Rules (inventory only)lossy | Fully supported |
Gotchas + challenges
Platform-specific issues from each side, plus the pair-specific challenges that don't show up on either platform's page on its own.
TeamWork Live gotchas
Task ordering is not a first-class API field
Custom fields gated behind paid tiers
No bulk export endpoint for time entries
Asana gotchas
Automation rules have no export representation
API rate limits cap bulk migration throughput
Portfolios are view-only objects that do not hold data
Custom field enum options cannot be updated via API
Subtasks do not appear in project views by default
Pair-specific challenges
Migration approach
Discovery and scan
We authenticate to the TeamWork Live REST API and extract a full object inventory: Projects, Task Lists, Tasks, Milestones, Users, Time Entries, Comments, Attachments, Custom Field definitions, Tags, and Companies. We verify the source account tier to confirm custom field availability, record task list and task counts per project, and flag any archived or inactive records. The scan output is a written migration scope with record counts, a custom field gap report, and a time-entry volume estimate for API chunking planning.
Schema design and custom field provisioning
We create the destination structure in Asana before any data moves. This includes provisioning Projects, Sections (mapped from TeamWork Live Task Lists), Custom Fields (typed to match TeamWork Live definitions), Tags, and Teams. For each Project, we configure the member list and guest access settings based on the TeamWork Live user and client-level permissions inventory. Custom field dropdown option lists are recreated in Asana during this phase. The schema is validated in an Asana test project before production deployment.
Owner and user reconciliation
We extract every distinct TeamWork Live user and guest referenced across Projects, Tasks, Time Entries, and Comments, and match by email against the Asana destination org's user list. Any user without a matching Asana account is held in a reconciliation queue. The customer's admin provisions missing Asana users and confirms active/inactive status before record migration proceeds. Guest-level users from TeamWork Live are provisioned as Asana Guests and assigned to the relevant Projects.
Sandbox migration and reconciliation
We run a full migration into an Asana Sandbox or secondary workspace using production-equivalent data volume. The customer reconciles record counts (Projects, Tasks, Milestones, Sections, Time Entries, Comments), spot-checks 20-30 random task records against the TeamWork Live source, and validates milestone date accuracy. Any mapping corrections, custom field type mismatches, or Section-to-Task-List conversion issues are resolved here before production migration begins.
Production migration in dependency order
We run production migration in record-dependency sequence: Users (manual provisioning validated), Teams (from Companies), Projects (with start/due dates and client linkage), Sections (from Task Lists), Milestones, Tasks (with assignees, due dates, subtasks, and custom field values), Tags, Time Entries (as custom numeric fields, iterated in chunks against TeamWork Live rate limits with retry logic), Comments (as Task Stories), and Attachments (re-uploaded with URL retrieval). Each phase emits a reconciliation row-count report before the next phase begins.
Cutover, validation, and automation handoff
We freeze writes to the TeamWork Live account during cutover, run a final delta migration of any records modified during the migration window, then enable Asana as the system of record. We deliver the Workflow and Rules inventory document to the customer's admin team with Asana Rules equivalents for each migrated automation. We support a one-week hypercare window for reconciliation issues raised by the team. Automation rebuild in Asana's Rules builder is outside standard migration scope and is handled separately by the customer's admin or a dedicated automation engagement.
Platform deep dives
TeamWork Live
Source
Strengths
Weaknesses
Asana
Destination
Strengths
Weaknesses
Complexity grading
Standard Project Management migration. 3 of 8 objects need a mapping; the rest are 1:1.
Overall complexity
Standard migration
Derived from compatibility, mapping clarity, API constraints, and data volume across TeamWork Live and Asana.
Object compatibility
3 of 8 objects need a mapping; the rest are 1:1.
Field mapping clarity
Field mapping is derived from defaults — final spec confirmed during the sample migration.
Timeline complexity
8-object category — typical timelines run 2–7 days end-to-end.
API constraints
TeamWork Live: 6,000 requests per hour per user account. Exceeding the limit returns 503 Service Unavailable with a Retry-After header indicating when to resume. Higher limits available on request to [email protected]..
Data volume sensitivity
TeamWork Live doesn't expose a bulk API — REST + parallelization used for high-volume runs.
Estimator
Rule-based pricing — no per-record fees, no manual quotes. Migrations over 2M records are scoped individually.
Step 1
Pick a category, then your source and destination platforms.
Category
FAQ
Answers to the questions buyers ask most during TeamWork Live to Asana migration scoping. Not seeing yours? Book a call.
Walk through your TeamWork Live to Asana migration with a real engineer — 30 minutes, free, written quote within 24 hours.
Book a free 30 minute consultationAdjacent paths
Other ways to leave TeamWork Live
Other ways to arrive at Asana
Same-Project Management migrations
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