Microsoft Planner & Automate: The Perfect Duo
Power Automate & Planner In a world of ever-increasing deadlines, content management, or a campaign for outreach. Sending emails tracking Todo's and keeping track of deliverables can be a daunting task. In a previous blog we talked about Microsoft Loop, a great tool for real-time collaboration and project management. Planner’s ease of use and intuitive design gives you many ways to view your project called a plan. You can build it from scratch or use many of the templates for the most relevant scenario. Power Automate is a cloud-based platform that allows you to run, schedule and create your own automated workflows. This can be very helpful if you need to see reminders, emails, notifications, and much more. Power Automate works seamlessly with Microsoft and third-party applications. Some flows are very easy to use. We will follow a scenario to learn how we can use a scheduled flow. Scenario An editor at Contoso. is responsible for managing the publication of blog posts. To streamline the process, they use Microsoft Planner to track the progress of each blog post and Power Automate to send scheduled summary emails. Creating The Planner Board Navigate to Microsoft 365 login at https://m365.cloud.microsoft.com. Sign in with your user credentials and authenticate with the Microsoft Authentication App. While you are signed in, navigate to the top-left corner of the App launcher (Grid icon), then select the planner app or use the search bar by typing “Planner.” Navigate to the bottom-left corner of the screen and click “New plan” then select “Basic.” The editor creates a new plan in Microsoft Planner called "Marketing Blog" or whatever you would like. Select the desired group from the dropdown menu, then click "Save" button. In the top left-hand menu, select "board" for the kanban view. Create buckets for different stages of the publication process by typing in the "Add a new bucket" area. Create the following buckets. "Backlog," "Final Draft," "Review," and "Published." Each blog post is added as a task in the relevant bucket. For example, a new blog post idea is added to the "Final Draft" bucket. Tasks to Accomplish Now that we have created the planner, let's assume the role of the editor. The editor must closely monitor the blog editorial calendar, which is represented by our Planner board. To streamline the process of tracking outstanding items and blockers, the editor should receive a scheduled summary of each bucket we have created. The editor will need to perform the following tasks The editor assigns tasks to team members responsible for drafting, editing, and reviewing the blog posts. The editor regularly updates the status of each task, moving them to the appropriate bucket as they progress through the stages. Lastly, the editor will receive a summary every Monday at 9:00 AM before the teams Morning standup meeting. You can tailor the time to your needs. Using Power Automate for Scheduled Summary Emails You can access Power Automate from the Microsoft 365 App Launcher, or directly by going to https://make.powerautomate.com/enviroments. Once you’re logged in: Click “Templates” on the left-hand panel. In the search bar above, type “Create a daily summary of Planner tasks by bucket.” Click on the corresponding card. The editor sets up a Power Automate flow to send a weekly summary email to the team. They create a scheduled cloud flow in Power Automate, specifying the start date, time, and frequency (e.g., every Monday at 9:00 AM). Scroll to the bottom of the page and sign into your “Planner” and “Office 365 Outlook” account then press the “continue” button. In the top tab click on the “Reoccurrence” card. Add the following information “Interval,” “Frequency,” “Time zone,” and “Start time.” For the time portion please use military time and the (Year-Month- 24T- 00:00) change the relevant time. Next add the “List buckets” by clicking on the corresponding card and entering the plan you created under “Parameters,” PlanId “Marketing Blog.” Next add the “List Tasks” add the PlanId again under the parameters. Then add your username or email address to the last card “Send an email.” Lastly save your flow. Testing the Flow It is recommended that you first test your flow. This is beneficial to flag any issues and the process and see how best to troubleshoot the flow. Note: Trigger: The event that starts automation. Actions: What happens after the trigger (e.g., creating or updating a Planner task). Next, click on the top-right ribbon and select the test button. You will see two options. However, the automatically test will be greyed out because there is no initial test. Click “Manually.” The flow is now listening for a trigger to perform an action. Just like the one we set up. Go to your Outlook email and see if you received the email. It may take some time to run. However, if an issue has occurred see if there is an issue with the flow. If the flow was successful, you should see an email like the one below. The Reviewing and Collaborating The editor reviews the summary email to ensure all tasks are on track and deadlines are met. They use the summary to identify any bottlenecks or tasks that require additional resources. The editor collaborates with the team to address any issues and ensure a smooth publication process. In Conclusion Automating tasks in Microsoft Planner with Power Automate can significantly reduce manual overhead and enhance team productivity. By leveraging triggers, conditions, and planned actions, you ensure tasks are created, tracked, and completed more efficiently. Whether it’s converting emails into tasks, updating task statuses, or sending reminders for approaching deadlines, harnessing the power of automation in Planner can transform the way you manage work. Hyperlinks Microsoft Planner for admins - Microsoft Planner | Microsoft Learn Templates | Microsoft Power Platform Power Automate Documentation Planner Templates on Power AutomateCreating A Plan for Success with Microsoft Planner
Leadership Demands Planning As a leader, you know the struggle of juggling many hats. Fundraisers, signatures, event planning, and grant deadlines can creep up on you. More importantly, making sure your team accomplishes the goal is critical. Your community needs you, having the tools you need to make the important decisions ensures things get done. Microsoft Planner keeps your team doing what they do best. Stay organized, keep track of priorities by tracking objectives and goals. Keep your team up to date with a centralized location with a user-friendly interface that integrates into the apps you know and love. You can use checklists to mark off important Todo's, use labels to categorize you most crucial areas like across departments or specific initiative. Add important files for your team to have access to anytime anywhere. Key Features and Capabilities Multiple Views: Visualize tasks in various formats, including Board, List, and Timeline (Gantt) views, to suit different project management styles. Task Details: Enrich tasks with descriptions, checklists, attachments, and labels to ensure clarity and context. Progress Tracking: Monitor task statuses and overall plan progress through visual dashboards and charts. Collaboration: Integrate seamlessly with Microsoft Teams to discuss tasks, share updates, and collaborate in real-time. Advanced Features: For organizations seeking more robust project management tools, premium plans offer capabilities such as task dependencies, sprints for agile planning, custom fields, and resource management. Life constantly keeps you on the go, stay prepared for anything. Whether you are catching a flight or grabbing an uber. Planner is right at your fingertips on your mobile phone on both iOS and Android respectively. Creating Your First Plan Log into your Microsoft 365 account Click on the app launcher located on the top left-hand corner (Grid Icon). Navigate to the Planner application. If you don’t see the planner icon, then click on more apps. Scroll down and select Planner. Inside the planner, click on "New Plan" located on the bottom-left of the screen. Choosing Between Basic or Templates Choose between "Basic" and “Basic and Premium templates.” You can click on “see all templates” for more templates. If you use a template, select the template you would like to use, then click “use template.” Otherwise click on “basic”. You will then be prompted to “Create a basic plan from scratch.” You can click on the “Add to my pinned plans” for easier access in the pinned panel in Planner. In the dropdown menu select the Microsoft group or Microsoft Teams group. Then select “Create.” Adding Team Members: By default, all members of the group will have access to the newly created plan. In the top-right corner, click on the avatar icon to open the invite member interface. Add members by searching with your organization and then clicking invite. Organize Tasks: Create tasks by clicking "+ Add task." Assign tasks to team members, set due dates, and add relevant details such as descriptions, checklists, attachments, and labels for categorization. Structure with Buckets: Use "Buckets" to categorize tasks into different stages or categories, such as "To Do," "In Progress," and "Completed," to visualize the workflow. Integrations Microsoft Planner integrates seamlessly with various Microsoft 365 applications to provide a cohesive work management experience: Microsoft Teams: Cocreate to-do lists and make plans based on meetings and conversations. Microsoft Loop: Track your team's plans alongside other online planner content in one workspace. Microsoft Outlook: Check assignments from flagged emails without leaving Planner. Microsoft Viva Goals: Integrate with Planner to automatically update key results and initiatives, ensuring that task progress aligns with strategic objectives Conclusion The new Microsoft Planner is a powerful tool for nonprofit organizations aiming to enhance task management and team collaboration. By leveraging its intuitive interface, robust features, and seamless integrations, your organization can streamline workflows, improve productivity, and stay focused on achieving your mission. For more information and to explore how Microsoft Planner can benefit your organization, visit the official Microsoft Planner page. Please see references below for a deeper dive. Hyperlinks Microsoft Planner | Daily Task and Work Management Microsoft Planner Integration | Microsoft Learn Get started with Microsoft Planner - Microsoft Support Plan an event in Microsoft Planner - Microsoft Support Microsoft Planner on the App Store Microsoft Planner - Apps on Google Play
