Migrate from Zenkit to Microsoft Project

Zenkit Collections map to Microsoft Project .mpp files or Project Online projects. Each Collection becomes a standalone project in Project Online or a separate .mpp file for desktop. Tier-based Collection limits (Personal: 100, Plus: 1000, Business: 5000) have no equivalent ceiling in Microsoft Project desktop or Project Online, removing that migration blocker. Collection metadata (name, description, created date) maps to Project Summary fields.

Zenkit Lists inside a Collection map to Phase rows in the Microsoft Project plan or to a Summary Task that groups related tasks. Each List retains its schema of custom fields. If the customer has a single List per Collection (a common Zenkit pattern), the List-level schema maps directly to the Project-level custom fields. For multiple Lists, we create separate task groups or, if the Lists have different field schemas, we flag this as a configuration requirement for the customer's admin to set up Project Online Enterprise Custom Fields.

Zenkit Items map 1:1 to Microsoft Project tasks. Standard fields migrate: Item name becomes Task Name, assignees become Resource Names (with resource lookup from the Project resource pool), due date becomes Finish date (with Start date back-calculated from duration or set to Finish minus estimated duration if only a due date is present). Priority and status labels map to Text or Flag custom fields in Project.

Zenkit Sub-items nested inside an Item become child tasks under the parent Item-task in Microsoft Project. Sub-item fields map to the child task's fields, and the hierarchical indent transfers as Outline Level. If the destination uses Project Online, subtasks can also be Summary tasks with their own dependencies. We flatten more than three levels of nesting to avoid outline depth warnings.

Zenkit References connecting Items across Lists require the most transformation work. We extract the full reference graph from the JSON export, resolve each reference to a task-level predecessor-successor pair in Microsoft Project, and assign the dependency type (Finish-to-Start is the most common; we infer other types from the reference direction). Circular References are detected and collapsed to a single FS dependency. Cross-Collection References that resolve to a different Project file are flagged for the customer to create cross-project dependencies manually in Project Online.

Zenkit field types (text, number, date, checkbox, select, multi-select, formula) map to Microsoft Project Enterprise Custom Fields or Text/Number/Date/Flag/OutlineCode fields in .mpp files. Select and multi-select fields map to Outline Codes or Text fields with a lookup table. Formula fields in Zenkit do not have a direct Project equivalent; we preserve the formula output value as a read-only number or text field and document the formula for the customer to rebuild in Project Online calculated fields or Power Automate.

Zenkit Labels migrate as a Text custom field with semicolon-delimited label strings, or as Flag fields if the label set is binary (e.g., High Priority flag). Multi-select Labels with a consistent taxonomy can be mapped to Project Outline Codes. The customer chooses the label strategy during scoping based on how labels are used in reporting.

Zenkit Comments on Items migrate as Microsoft Project Task Notes. We preserve comment body, author name, and timestamp. Microsoft Project does not support threaded discussions on tasks, so the flat comment list appends chronologically into the Note field. If comments are extensive, we flag this as a SharePoint-based discussion board alternative for the customer's admin to configure.

Zenkit Checklist items convert to Project task notes with a checkbox-formatted list, or to child subtasks marked as Summary with the parent checkbox as the summary row. The checked/unchecked state maps to a Flag field. If the destination is Project Online, we recommend converting checklists to separate task rows with a Checklist parent link for better tracking.

Microsoft Project does not support direct file attachments on tasks. We extract Zenkit attachments to a local directory, create a SharePoint document library mapped to the Project Online site, upload files organized by task name, and populate a Text custom field (Attachment URL) on each task with the SharePoint link. Desktop .mpp migrations store attachment references in a Notes field pointing to a shared network path or OneDrive link.

Zenkit's multi-view architecture (Kanban, Table, Calendar, Mind Map) has no direct Microsoft Project equivalent. We migrate the task data and record the primary view type used for each List in a Text custom field (Original View). The customer's project manager recreates the relevant view in Project desktop or PWA. Kanban is not natively available in Project; if Kanban visualization is required, we recommend a separate board tool or a Power Apps canvas app as a post-migration add-on.