Migrate from TimeLog to Microsoft Project

TimeLog Projects map to Microsoft Project files or Project Online Project entities. We migrate project name, status (Active/On Hold/Completed), planned start and end dates, and customer association as a text field or custom field. The project hierarchy (Projects containing Activities) becomes the top-level project in MS Project with Activities mapped as Tasks below it. Project-level custom fields migrate where field types are compatible with MS Project custom field data types (text, number, date, flag, outline code).

TimeLog Activities map to MS Project Tasks. Each Activity's name becomes the Task Name, planned hours map to the Task field Baseline Work, and the Activity status maps to the Task Percent Complete or Status field. Activities with a fixed billing method retain that metadata as a custom Task field because MS Project has no native billing method attribute. The project-activity parent-child relationship is preserved as a Summary Task (MS Project) with child Activities as subordinate Tasks in the same project file.

TimeLog Time Entries aggregate by Activity and Employee. For each Activity (now a Task), we roll up all billable and non-billable time entries by date and map the sum to the Assignment's Actual Work field in MS Project, grouped by the assigned resource. The billable/non-billable flag from TimeLog is stored as a custom Assignment field or task-level flag. Historical timestamps are preserved so the time-phased distribution of actual work matches the original TimeLog data. MS Project requires a Resource assignment to exist before Actual Work can be logged, so we sequence the Employee-to-Resource migration before time-entry migration.

TimeLog Employees map to MS Project Resources. We migrate employee name, email, role, and department. The department maps to a Resource Group in MS Project, and the role maps to a custom Resource field. Employee billing rates from TimeLog do not map directly to MS Project resource cost rates because MS Project uses cost-rate tables for generic resource costing rather than customer-specific or activity-specific pricing; we store the original rate as a custom Resource field for reference and flag this for PMO reconciliation.

TimeLog Customers have no direct equivalent in Microsoft Project's schema. We map the customer name as a custom Project-level Text field (e.g., Custom Text1 = Customer Name) and store the customer ID as a lookup or outline code for reference. If the customer has a rate agreement that affects project billing, we note this in the billing reconciliation document for the customer's PMO to handle in a downstream finance system.

TimeLog Invoices and Invoice Lines have no equivalent schema in Microsoft Project. MS Project does not support billing, invoicing, or accounts receivable tracking. We do not migrate Invoice records. We export a written summary of each Project's invoiced amount, payment status, and invoice number for the customer to reference outside MS Project, typically in a financial system or spreadsheet that the PMO maintains alongside the project schedule.

TimeLog Expense records map to MS Project Task Actual Cost where the expense is tied to a specific Activity. Expense amount, date, category, and billable flag migrate as a custom Task field (e.g., Custom Cost 1 = Billable Expense Total). Expenses not tied to a specific Activity are summarized at the Project level and stored as a Project-level custom cost field. MS Project's Actual Cost field calculates from resource rates and actual work; expense data from TimeLog that represents direct non-labor costs does not feed into this calculation automatically and requires manual reconciliation.

TimeLog resource allocations (employee assignments to projects by hours or percentage) map to MS Project Assignment records. Each allocation's planned hours or percentage becomes the Assignment's Planned Work or Units field. If the allocation is a percentage-based booking in TimeLog, we convert to hours using the project's defined work hours before mapping to MS Project's Assignment Units. We flag any TimeLog allocations that use percentage-based booking without a defined project duration because MS Project Assignment Units require a schedule context to resolve.

TimeLog maintains employee rates, activity rates, and customer-specific pricing tiers. MS Project Resource cost rate tables (Cost Rate A through E) store resource per-hour costs, but they do not support customer-specific or activity-specific rate overrides at the project level. We migrate employee rate data into the MS Project Resource Cost Rate Table (Cost Rate A) as the default rate, and we document the activity-specific and customer-specific rate structures in the billing reconciliation inventory for the customer to handle in their finance system or Power BI reporting layer.

Salary Administration is a tier-gated feature in TimeLog (Professional and Enterprise tiers only). Salary data, compensation history, and effective dates have no equivalent in Microsoft Project. We do not migrate salary records. If the customer is on a TimeLog tier that includes Salary Administration and wants to preserve this data, we confirm during scoping whether it should be exported to a separate HR system or financial system rather than the project schedule.