To those who pass the baton after Project Online
Project Online will be retiredon September 30, 2026 andsales of new season tickets are closedfrom 1 October 2025. For many Italian PMOs the question is already on the table: migrate to Planner Premium, the path that Microsoft has indicated for the transition, or look elsewhere? The answer doesn't lie in the name of the product: it lies in five concrete checks.
What is Planner Premium, with the facts
The new Microsoft Planner is a unified work management experience: it combines the simplicity of To Do, the collaboration of Planner, the power of Project and the intelligence of Copilot, as described indocumentation for administrators. Two levels coexist within this experience: the basic plans, included in the standard Microsoft 365 licenses and with four views (Grid, Board, Planning, Charts), and the premium plans, which are the evolution of Project for the web.
To create premium plans you need the Planner Plan 1 license. Advanced features are unlocked with Planner & Project Plan 3 or Plan 5 and include, according to Microsoft documentation: report creation, timeline view (Gantt), task dependencies, sprints, custom fields, team workload and goal management. TheMicrosoft support pageadds details: dependencies of all four types (FS, SS, SF, FF), critical path, milestones, custom calendars, People view, Assignments view, up to ten custom fields, and conditional coloring. For those coming from Project Online, the point of attention is precisely this: the distance between what Project Online did and what the premium plan documents.
For those who make sense Planner Premium
Planner Premium makes sense for those who plan with not too complex Gantts, work in distributed teams within Microsoft Teams, use sprints and boards and don't need a sophisticated costing engine. It's the natural choice for those who were already on Project for the web and for those who want to stay in the Microsoft 365 ecosystem with minimal friction. In both cases, the choice is decided on the numbers, not on the brochures. For a PMO that governs a portfolio with costs, contractual baselines and EVM, however, verification is mandatory: this is where Planner Premium must be put to the test before any migration promise.
The five checks before migrating
| Check | Concrete question | What Microsoft sources say |
|---|---|---|
| Budgeting | Do I manage costs, budgets and variances like in Project Online? | Costing does not appear in the official list of premium features: it must be tested with a trial before deciding |
| Reporting | Do my reports come out with the same detail? | Reporting is an advanced feature, linked to Plan 3/5 licenses |
| EVM | Calculating BCWS, BCWP and ACWP? | The EVM is not listed among the features: it must be rebuilt or placed alongside something else |
| Licenses | How much do licenses cost for my team? | Planner Plan 1 to create premium plans; Plan 3/5 for advanced features |
| Existing data | What migrates from Project Online and what doesn't? | The data must be exported before September 30, 2026: check what is recreated and what is lost |
The most important check is the first. In my opinion, a PMO that today lives on budgets and cost variances should not migrate to Planner Premium without first having recreated, on a test project, the complete cycle: baseline, costs, variance, reports. If the cycle doesn't return, it's not the instrument's fault: it's that you're looking for a function that isn't its job.
When to consider other options
- Project Operations (Dynamics 365). It is the Microsoft solution for project-based companies: theofficial documentationhe describes it as the application that connects sales, resourcing, project management and finance. It makes sense when the project is the business: orders, invoicing, margins.
- Excel. For small teams and simple plans, the fastest and least expensive tool remains: thefree toolsfor the progress report they start from there.
- ControlRoom Free is an option to evaluate for individual control of plans, tasks, budget and costs, with AI reviews and exports within quota. It does not currently meet requirements for EVM, EAC, Project Online imports or multi-user collaboration. Future plans must not be evaluated as purchasable features.
Frequently asked questions
Does Planner Premium replace Project Online one-to-one?
No. It is the path that Microsoft has indicated for the transition, but it is not a clone of Project Online: some functions need to be checked, in particular budgeting and EVM. The test table above is designed exactly for this.
What license is needed for premium plans?
Planner Plan 1 to create premium plans and access additional views such as Timeline, People and Goals. Advanced features (reports, dependencies, sprints, custom fields, team load) require Planner & Project Plan 3 or Plan 5.
Is EVM available in Planner Premium?
It is not listed among the features documented by Microsoft. If the EVM is a requirement, it must be rebuilt with dedicated tools or supported with external calculations: theEVM guideexplains what it takes to do this.
Do I have to decide right away?
The platform's deadline is September 30, 2026, but the data export must be done before, while the service is still active. The decision on the tool can follow, as long as you do not leave the data in Project Online.
The next step
The choice between Planner Premium and the alternatives is not made at a table: it is made with a field test. If you are comparing options after Project Online, theControlRoom comparison pageexplains honestly what the tool replaces and what it doesn't, and thefree demoshows you the environment with example data.