From Project Online to Planner: Navigating Microsoft’s PPM Shift
Microsoft Is Retiring Project Online: What That Means—and Where to Go Next
If you’ve been running portfolios in Project Online for years, this one hits close to home.
Microsoft has announced the retirement of Project Online, with support ending as Microsoft shifts investment toward the modern work management stack inside Microsoft Planner and Planner Premium (powered by Project for the web). Translation? The future of project management in Microsoft 365 is simplified, unified—and more tightly integrated with Teams and the broader M365 ecosystem.
But here’s the real question I’m hearing from clients:
“Can Planner (and Planner Premium) actually replace Project Online for us?”
Short answer: For many organizations—yes.
Long answer: It depends on how deep your PPM maturity goes.
Let’s break it down.
Why Project Online Is Going Away
Microsoft’s strategy is clear: fewer fragmented tools, more unified experiences inside Microsoft 365.
Project Online was built on SharePoint-based architecture, separate admin models, and legacy scheduling engines. Meanwhile, Microsoft has heavily invested in:
Modern scheduling via Project for the web
Power Platform extensibility
Deep integration with Teams
Simplified licensing and governance
Maintaining two enterprise PPM platforms doesn’t make sense long-term. So Microsoft is consolidating around Planner and Planner Premium.
If you want the official timeline and retirement details, see Microsoft’s announcement on the Project Online retirement roadmap (Microsoft Learn).
Now let’s talk replacements.
Option 1: Microsoft Planner (Core)
What It Is
Microsoft Planner is Microsoft 365’s lightweight, Kanban-style task management app. It’s deeply embedded in Microsoft Teams, and included in most Microsoft 365 licenses.
Think:
Buckets (Kanban boards)
Task assignments
Due dates
Checklists
Basic reporting
Loop-based collaborative updates
Planner is ideal for team-level execution.
Why It Matters
For many organizations, Project Online was overkill for day-to-day work. Teams needed something:
Faster to create
Easier to adopt
Native inside Teams
Less “PMO-heavy”
Planner delivers that simplicity.
In one client rollout I supported, moving 40+ departmental “mini-projects” from Project Online to Planner reduced training time by 60% and increased active task updates week-over-week. Why? Lower friction.
Planner shines for:
Marketing campaigns
IT sprint tracking
Department initiatives
Operational work management
And because it lives inside Teams, adoption tends to stick.
How to Get Started
Create a new plan directly inside Teams.
Standardize bucket structures across departments.
Use labels consistently (e.g., Risk, Blocked, High Priority).
Build a Power BI dashboard for cross-plan reporting if needed.
Define governance: Who creates plans? Naming conventions? Archival rules?
👉 Official documentation: Microsoft Learn – Planner overview
What’s Missing Compared to Project Online
Let’s be honest.
Planner does not provide:
Portfolio-level resource management
Enterprise timesheets
Detailed baselining
Advanced critical path analysis
Stage-gate workflow automation
If your PMO relies heavily on those capabilities, Planner alone won’t cut it.
Option 2: Planner Premium (Project for the Web)
What It Is
Planner Premium (formerly Project for the web) builds on Planner but adds structured scheduling capabilities using the modern Power Platform foundation.
It includes:
Timeline (Gantt) view
Dependencies
Effort tracking
Task hierarchy
Roadmap aggregation
Dataverse-based architecture
It’s Microsoft’s modern successor to Project Online.
Why It Matters
Planner Premium bridges the gap between simplicity and structure.
You get:
True scheduling logic (dependencies)
Resource assignment with effort fields
Portfolio visibility via Roadmaps
Extensibility with Power Apps & Power Automate
In a recent migration project, a PMO managing 120+ active projects reduced custom SharePoint workflows by 75% after moving to Planner Premium + Power Platform automation. The architecture is simply more flexible.
And because it’s built on Dataverse, integration options are far stronger than the legacy Project Online model.
How to Get Started
Assess your current Project Online configurations (custom fields, workflows, timesheets).
Map required capabilities to Planner Premium features.
Rebuild critical workflows using Power Automate.
Pilot with 5–10 live projects before broad migration.
Train PMs on scheduling differences (it’s not the desktop Project engine).
👉 Official documentation: Microsoft Learn – Project for the web overview
What’s Still Missing vs. Project Online
Here’s where we need to set expectations.
Planner Premium does not yet fully replicate:
Enterprise resource capacity planning across portfolios
Advanced earned value management
Deep financial cost tracking models
Mature stage-gate portfolio approval modules
Fully featured enterprise timesheet system
For mature, compliance-heavy PMOs, some of these gaps matter.
Workarounds often involve:
Power BI for financial reporting
Power Apps for intake & stage gates
Third-party add-ons
But it’s not a 1:1 lift-and-shift.
The Big Picture: Shift from Tool Complexity to Platform Flexibility
Project Online was a monolithic PPM system.
Planner + Planner Premium is a modular platform approach:
Planner for team work
Planner Premium for structured projects
Power Platform for custom governance
Power BI for analytics
Teams as the collaboration hub
It’s less “all-in-one,” more “assemble what you need.”
For many organizations, that flexibility is a win.
For highly mature enterprise PMOs? It may require rethinking processes—not just migrating tools.
Rollout & Next Steps
Here’s how I’d approach this transition:
Audit your current Project Online usage (features actually used vs. licensed)
Segment projects into “team work” (Planner) vs. “structured PM” (Planner Premium)
Pilot both tools with real-world scenarios before committing
Rebuild essential governance using Power Platform
Train project managers on modern scheduling differences
Retire unused Project Online customizations instead of rebuilding everything
This is a modernization opportunity—not just a migration.
Conclusion: Simplify Where You Can. Elevate Where You Must.
Project Online had a great run. It powered enterprise PMOs for over a decade.
But Microsoft’s direction is clear: work management lives inside Microsoft 365 now. Unified. Integrated. Platform-driven.
For many organizations, Planner and Planner Premium won’t just replace Project Online—they’ll increase adoption and reduce friction.
For others, especially those with advanced PPM maturity, the transition will require thoughtful redesign.
Either way, now is the time to assess, plan, and pilot.
If you’re considering a migration and want to sanity-check your roadmap, start small. Pick five live projects. Test both tools. Measure adoption and reporting gaps.
And stay tuned—next month I’ll break down a side-by-side capability comparison matrix you can use with your PMO leadership team.
Grab a coffee. This one’s worth planning carefully.