Forum Discussion
Is Planner in Beta testing?
Hi all
I've been using Planner for a few weeks, and the KANBAN style 'Board' is FANTASTIC for a particular part of our work, that involves managing complex work packets through our process.
I've also browsed this forum a few times, and we have access to the premium Planner version, but I've found the basic has features that premium doesn't.
I'm evaluating Planner for use in our dept and organisation, and I'm not sure how stable it will be if we commit to using it right now. The posts on this forum show that features come and go, and reliability is not always good. I'm realistic and dont expect it to be perfect, but there is a minimum level required for us to commit and rely on it.
What should people expect over the next few mths and yrs? I've read that there is a "Roadmap", but is that also something that could be scrapped/re-written?
What is the level of Microsoft's commitment to Planner, and that "Roadmap"?
We want to use it for full project Gantts, not just the KANBAN style 'Board' I mentioned above. But it seems that "Project Online" and the desktop MS Project, are the only way right now for a reliable system for managing multiple projects that have fairly substantial Gantts?
Even though Planner is not a new thing, its appears to not have moved far down the development path?
Kind regards
Re: Roadmap
The term Roadmap strongly implies there is a plan that stretches out into the coming mths and yrs. The info currently available on that Roadmap shows only a short horizon, 2-3 mths.
As a organisation that needs to commit fully to a single tool for all our projects i.e. a collection of projects that form a program, we want to see a much longer term Roadmap that shows there is a very strong and clear picture about what Planner will be in the future and when it will be there.Without a longer term plan is gives the impression that this is being made up as MS go along. There is talk of the much broader aim to integrate Office 365 Apps, which is great. But, we need much more clarity on the Project and Program management tools, mainly the replacement for "MS Project".
Is there a publicly available decision by MS to end "MS Project" and "Project Online"?Microsoft has been making lots of changes to Planner over the last year or so (which leads me to believe that they are committing to it as an app) - including a full revamp to bring the online version more in line with the Teams app. They have also improved the integration with other applications such as Loop and SharePoint, with more still to come. It appears they are listening to community requests as well, such as restoring the option to add a background to Plans, making them more accessible overall.
The new Microsoft Planner: A unified experience bringing together to-dos, tasks, plans and projects | Microsoft Community Hub. My understanding of this is that Planner Premium is replacing MS Project so that all projects, plans and tasks are together in one place, with the core difference being that you have to have the premium licence to access Project features.
The main risk that I have found with Planner at the moment, is that at the moment, there is no way of recovering deleted tasks or plans. Having a recycle bin would vastly improve the trust that most organisations can put into an app such as this when relying on such an app to manage workloads and projects.
It is clear that Microsoft is focused on developing Planner vs. Project Online (sometimes referred to as Project Web App or PWA).
There is no date to limit the functionality of Project Online at this time, but we encourage customers to plan their transition [to Planner] as soon as possible. We know that many of you depend on Project Online. Therefore, any decision on the date to limit functionality will be carefully made taking into account customer feedback and usage data on Project for the web to help ensure your business continuity and success.
Going forward, all innovation will occur in Project for the web. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/project-for-the-web-and-project-online-6569170c-5c8e-474e-a7f0-642872f62f8a
Great comment, sending thanks from me.
We have assessed Planner Premium and its not ready for us to commit. We are heavy users of MS Project as dedicated Project Managers, and the Planner App looks great for small low complexity projects, but not for larger and higher value projects.... yet, and there is some way to go before it is in our opinion.
Its disappointing there is not a pinned post here to direct active users to the key web page....https://feedbackportal.microsoft.com/feedback/forum/a1a93b69-2f1c-ec11-b6e7-0022481f8472
....for adding user feedback to direct, what appears to be, their Agile approach to App development. Its great that they are following user feedback, but not great for us at the moment, because the development plan horizon is only 2-3 mths. There is no clear picture of the destination or the route they will take. A 'Roadmap' is referred to in MS publications, BUT, that Roadmap extends currently to only 3 features over the next 2-3 mths. In 2024 they added ~24 features, but can they please publish a fully plan?
Ironically we need to all see Microsoft's plan for the development of Planner!
But because they seem to be applying an Agile approach, the route will not be known. And the history of all this has shown that MS can change their plan mid project:
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/project-planner-replacing-project-professional/44288ed3-79e8-4bd6-a523-520a02789c84
Default functionality in Planner (available to anyone with a Microsoft 365 work account) includes To Do (for the management of individual workloads that span private tasks and assignments) and the ability to create Basic plans (thought to serve department and team-based, small-scale initiatives).
Premium Plans are the closest to what is achieved using Microsoft Project Standard or Professional (the desktop client that integrates with Project Server or Project Online). What comes to mind are Gannt charts, dependencies, critical paths, the assignment view, etc. (With Premium Plans you have built in Backlog and Sprint capabilities - bonus for us agile practitioners.)
Premium Plans include the Project for the web features and functionality, but the availability of those features depends on whether or not you hold Planner Plan 1 or Planner and Project Plan 3 licensing. (See the lower half of this page https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/planner/microsoft-planner-plans-and-pricing?msockid=0053a8ff691c6dcb308ebdbb68ec6cc4 and be advised in the Planner world there is no difference between Planner and Project Plan 3 vs. Planner and Project Plan 5.What Premium Plan management lacks in Planner (e.g., intake process, management of portfolios and programs, risk and issue management) can be gained by deploying a Power App based accelerator.
If you would like to learn more, feel free to message me.
