Migrating from Autotask Projects to a modern PM tool

Why teams outgrow Autotask Projects

Autotask Projects is mature, billing-native, and woven deep into the PSA your business already runs on. That is exactly why most MSPs never think to change it, and also why delivery work quietly suffers. As of 2026, per vendor documentation, Autotask task dependencies are finish-to-start only, there is no native critical-path engine (you add Moovila or TopLeft for that), and there is no Gantt or interactive dependency map a project manager can actually plan against. The Kaseya-era UI keeps improving, but scheduling, milestones, and a clean client-facing view were never the module's job. It was built to bill, not to deliver.

The instinct is to rip it out. Don't. Autotask is where your contracts, invoices, and financial records live, and it should stay there. What you are actually missing is a delivery layer, and you can add one without disrupting a thing on the billing side.

You don't have to leave Autotask

Current runs alongside your PSA, not instead of it. Autotask stays the billing source of truth; Current owns scheduling, dependencies, the critical path, and the partner-facing view. Time your engineers log in Current flows back to Autotask for billing, so nobody double-enters and no invoice changes. That is the whole point of this migration: you are adding capability, not swapping systems. There is no financial cutover date and no billing risk, which is what makes it safe to start on a single project tomorrow.

What stays in Autotask

• Time-to-billing, contracts, invoicing, and every financial field. Autotask remains the record of truth.
• Ticketing and service-desk workflows your team already relies on.
• Billing codes, work types, and the approval chain your accounting depends on.
• Historical financial reporting. Nothing about your books moves.

What moves to the delivery layer

• Scheduling: dependency-aware planning that respects PTO and availability, with back-scheduling from a deadline.
• A native critical-path engine with cycle detection. No add-on license required.
• Kanban boards, a Gantt/timeline, and an interactive dependency map you can actually drag and reason about.
• Milestones, a portfolio view across every project, and what-if scenarios.
• A partner/client portal with database-level financial isolation. Partners see progress and timeline, never dollars.

Two ways to connect

You choose the mode per project. Autotask-synced keeps Autotask as the billing source of truth while Current owns start and end dates, criticality, and milestones. That is ideal for client-billable engagements. Current-native makes no PSA calls at all and treats Current as the source of truth, which is ideal for internal or cross-department work you don't bill through Autotask. You can run both side by side, so you don't have to decide the whole company's approach on day one.

A phased plan that never risks an invoice

Don't migrate everything at once. Pick one active project, connect it in Autotask-synced mode, and verify a single time entry flows to billing before you scale. Here is the sequence we recommend, in order.

What actually needs to move

Less than people expect, and the distinction matters for scoping. Autotask remains your system of record for time, contracts, and billing, and Current runs alongside it rather than replacing it. So this is not a data migration in the usual sense; it is a change in where scheduling happens. Your companies, contacts, projects, phases, tasks, and time entries sync in automatically once connected.

What you are really adding is the dependency structure, because Autotask has never held it in a form worth migrating. Finish-to-start relationships without offsets do not carry much information forward, so most MSPs rebuild sequencing for active projects as they go rather than attempting a transfer.

Run it read-only first

Two-way push is a tenant setting that starts off. Leave it off for the first few weeks: Current reads Autotask, you build plans and see computed schedules, and nothing is written back. This lets you validate that the dates Current computes are ones you would actually commit to, before a single write touches your PSA. Turn push on once you trust the output.

A realistic sequence

• Connect Autotask and let the initial sync complete, then verify companies and projects look right.
• Pick one active project and build its real dependency structure in Current.
• Compare Current's computed dates against what the team actually believes. Where they disagree, the plan is usually wrong rather than the engine.
• Turn push on for that one project and confirm dates land in Autotask as expected.
• Expand to new projects, leaving finished work where it is.

Expect the first plan to look pessimistic

A common and healthy surprise: the first properly-sequenced plan often shows a later finish date than the team had been assuming. That is usually the engine being right rather than wrong. Finish-to-start-only planning tends to hide the real length of dependent chains, and seeing the honest number for the first time is uncomfortable and useful.

Step by step

1. Step 1
   Audit and pick a pilot

   Choose one active, mid-flight project with real dependencies. Avoid your most billing-sensitive account for the first run so any surprise is low-stakes.

2. Step 2
   Connect in Autotask-synced mode

   Link the project so Autotask stays the billing source of truth and Current owns the schedule. Nothing on the financial side changes.

3. Step 3
   Rebuild the schedule

   Add dependencies, set milestones, and let the critical-path engine recast dates. This is where the gap you felt in Autotask actually closes.

4. Step 4
   Verify one time entry end-to-end

   Log time in Current and confirm it lands in Autotask billing exactly as before. Treat this as your billing-safety checkpoint before going wider.

5. Step 5
   Invite partners to the portal

   Give the client read-only visibility, then confirm at the data layer that they see timeline and progress but no financials.

6. Step 6
   Roll out by team

   Move projects in waves. Use Current-native mode for internal work that shouldn't touch the PSA at all, and keep billable work Autotask-synced.