Trello to Pivotal

I love Trello for small projects. I love Pivotal Tracker for large projects.

I don't always migrate a small project that becomes a large project, from Trello to Pivotal Tracker, but when I do, I need it done right.

I am exporting a board from Trello, to import it into Pivotal Tracker. In order to get the full detail out of Trello, it's necessary to export as JSON. In order to import that detail into Pivotal Tracker .CSV, it's necessary to apply logic using some intermediary software:

• Descriptions include links to the original Trello card attachments, and links back to the original Trello tickets.
• Tasks based on the original Trello card checklists, and task status from the state of each original checklist item
• Labels based on the original Trello card labels
• Current State based on what list the original Trello card was in, e.g.:
  • Trello card was in "done" or "released" list -- Pivotal issue is Accepted
  • Trello card was in a closed list -- Pivotal issue is Accepted
  • Trello card was in "review" list -- Pivotal issue is Delivered
  • Trello card was in "active" list -- Pivotal issue is Started
  • Trello card was in "ready" list -- Pivotal issue is Unstarted
  • Trello card was in "backlog" or "icebox" list -- Pivotal issue is Unscheduled
  • Pivotal issue of type Chore can only have the following states: unscheduled, unstarted, started, accepted
• Created At / Accepted At based on the current state to interpret original Trello card date

Towards that end, this tiny piece of software is used to properly migrate a project from Trello (JSON export) to Pivotal Tracker (CSV import).

Clone this project to your computer. It's a NodeJS project. Before running, it's necessary to install Node packages:

npm install

Use it like this:

node main.js ~/Desktop/trello-xj-dev.json ~/Desktop/pivotal-tracker-xj-dev.csv

The file will be written to the target path, and the console will show info:

-=[ trello2pivotal ]=-

Did read 1551527 bytes from Trello .JSON file: /home/charney/Escritorio/trello-xj-dev.json

Did parse Trello board from JSON.

Trello Board Details:
  id: 584216b0f0e1aac6bff4cf36
  name: (xj) Dev
  desc: 
  idOrganization: 51cae57290af3e3e0b001662
  url: https://trello.com/b/qAcPeNUj/xj-dev
  memberships(2)
  shortLink: qAcPeNUj
  dateLastActivity: 2017-08-15T01:01:46.540Z
  dateLastView: 2017-08-15T02:00:55.013Z
  shortUrl: https://trello.com/b/qAcPeNUj
  actions(1000)
  cards(397)
  labels(8)
  lists(25)
  members(2)
  checklists(89)

Did cache 89 checklists.

Did cache 8 labels.

Did cache 25 lists.

Will allocate 31 Task/Status column pairs.

Will allocate 70 column names for CSV file.

Wrote 397 rows to CSV file.

Trello

Board

The Trello board output JSON contains these top-level keys:

id
name
desc 
idOrganization
url
memberships
shortLink
dateLastActivity
dateLastView
shortUrl
actions
cards
labels
lists
members
checklists

Checklists

Following is an (abbreviated, for relevance) member object of the checklists array:

{
  "id": "58421d010fddd404de7d274a",
  "name": "User Types",
  "checkItems": [
    {
      "state": "incomplete",
      "name": "**Admin** to administrate the platform.",
    },
    {
      "state": "incomplete",
      "name": "**Writer** to create content.",
    },
    {
      "state": "incomplete",
      "name": "**Viewer** by default.",
    },
    {
      "state": "incomplete",
      "name": "**Producer** to fabricate continuous music.",
    }
  ]
}

Checklists are cached, for reference later, to generate tasks.

Lists

Following is an (abbreviated, for relevance) member object of the lists array:

{
  "name": "Icebox",
  "closed": false,
},  

Labels

Following is an (abbreviated, for relevance) member object of the labels array:

{
  "id": "584216b084e677fd3697e7b9",
  "name": "Fire",
}    

Cards

Following is an (abbreviated, for relevance) member object of the cards array:

{
  "name": "Tooltips introduce users to features",
  "desc": "https://v4-alpha.getbootstrap.com/components/tooltips/",
  "closed": false,
  "dateLastActivity": "2017-07-29T23:15:51.850Z",
  "url": "https://trello.com/c/zE0ADNIG/251-tooltips-introduce-users-to-features",
  "attachments": [
    {
      "url": "https://trello-attachments.s3.amazonaws.com/584216b0f0e1aac6bff4cf36/592709c099c813d8035cf53c/56da9cbf0f05088e8b6bf51b241f606b/IMG_20170525_135441.jpg",
    }
  ],
  "idList": "59036b4f07cf3aa3ab5acb83",
  "idLabels": [
    "584216b084e677fd3697e7b8"
  ],
  "idChecklists": [
    "591dc98f304901c7a3866954"
  ]
},

The idLabels array references cached labels by id.

The idChecklists array references cached checklists by id.

Pivotal Tracker

Field Names for CSV Data

The main Pivotal Tracker CSV columns this program outputs are:

• Title
• Type
• Description
• Labels
• Current State
• Created at
• Accepted at
• Estimate

A pair of Task/Status columns are output for each task (up to the maximum number allocated for the whole board):

• Task1
• Task1 Status

The following columns are not output:

• Requested By
• Owned By
• Comment
• Deadline
• Blocker
• Blocker Status

Following is a table of details about all the available columns for import to Pivotal Tracker via CSV:

Column Header	Content	Possible values or restrictions
Title	The title of the story	There is a 5,000-character limit. This is the only required column (except when importing epics, in which case both the “Title” and “Type” columns are required).
Labels	Tags which you can associate to your stories	Separate multiple labels by comma. Epics may have only one label and the label must be unique.
Type	The type of story	Feature, bug, chore, epic, releaseIf empty or omitted, the story type will default to feature.
Estimate	The numerical point value to assign to the story	The story must be of type feature. The value must correspond to the selected point scale for the project. Note: A value of “-1” indicates an unestimated story. However, if an estimate of “-1” is assigned, the state must be compatible (i.e., a feature story can’t be in the accepted state without a point estimate). Epic and releases may not contain estimates. Bug and chores may contain estimates if the Bugs and Chores May Be Given Points setting is enabled in the destination project’s settings.
Current State	The current state of the story	unscheduled, unstarted, started, finished, delivered, accepted, rejected If empty or omitted, the state will default to unscheduled and the story will be placed in the Icebox.Stories of type Chore can only have the following states: unscheduled, unstarted, started, acceptedStories of type Release can only have the following states: unscheduled, unstarted, accepted
Created at	The date the story was created (i.e., “Nov 22, 2014” or “11/22/2014)	If empty or omitted, the created date defaults to today’s date. Future dates are not allowed.
Accepted at	The date the story was accepted (i.e., “Jan 15, 2015” or “01/15/2015”)	Current state must equal accepted. If empty or omitted, the accepted at date will default to today’s date. Must be empty for any state other than accepted. Future dates are not allowed.
Requested By	The name of the user who requested/created the story	If empty or omitted, the requester will be set to the user importing the CSV file. If specified, the name must match the Tracker username exactly to be linked properly. For example, if the user’s name in Tracker is “David Smith” and the CSV file contains “Dave Smith,” then Tracker will create an uninvited usernamed “Dave Smith.”
Description	The content that describes the story	There is a 20,000-character limit.
Owned By	The name(s) of the user(s) who own the story	You can assign up to three owners, but each must be comma separated. Again, names in your CSV file must match the user’s name in Tracker exactly.
Comment	Comments related to your story	There is a 20,000-character limit. You can add as many comments as you like, but each must be separated into its own column. You can specify an author and date using: comment text (project member name - date) e.g. Please see the attached. (Zoe Washburne - Apr 21, 2016)
Task	“To-do” items related to your story	There is a 1,000-character limit. Tasks can only be added with new stories (created in the same import file as their story). Tasks cannot be added via import to existing stories. You can add as many tasks as you like, but each must be separated into its own column. Each “Task” column must be paired with a “Task Status” column.
Task Status	The status of your task	Completed, not completed
Deadline	A deadline date that can be added to a story of type “release”	The story must be of type release. Future dates are allowed.
Blocker	Information about something blocking a story, can include a link to another story	For example: “blocked by #9999999”
Blocker Status	The current status of the blocker	“blocked” or “resolved”

Source: https://www.pivotaltracker.com/help/articles/csv_import_export/