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Pilot: Microsoft Planner for the web

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The new Microsoft Planner (MS Planner) is now available. The new web-based application is being rolled out by Microsoft everywhere. Here is what you need to know about this app and how to start using it.

What is Planner?

Microsoft Planner is a task management and team collaboration tool that's part of the Microsoft 365 suite. It's designed to help individuals and teams organize work visually and efficiently.

Here's a quick overview of what it offers.

Key Features of Microsoft Planner

  • Boards and Buckets: Tasks are organized on a board, similar to a Kanban board, with customizable columns (called "buckets") to represent different stages or categories.
  • Tasks and Assignments: You can create tasks, assign them to team members, set due dates, add checklists, attach files, and leave comments.
  • Progress Tracking: Tasks can be marked as "Not started," "In progress," or "Completed," and you can view overall progress for a plan.
  • Integration with Microsoft 365: Seamlessly integrates with tools like Teams, Outlook, To Do, and SharePoint, making it easy to collaborate and stay updated.
  • Charts and Reporting: Built-in visual dashboards show task status, assignments, and deadlines to help monitor progress.

Who is its target audience?

  • Project managers for lightweight project tracking.
  • Teams for organizing collaborative work.
  • Individuals for personal task management within a team context.

There are two plans in Planner. The Basic and the Premium plan.

The Basic plan

With this plan, users can create a “Simple Plan” from scratch. The layout will look very familiar as it resembles the previous Tasks by Planner. You can set up tasks, assign them to team members, add a start and due date, highlight progress, and assign a priority level. You can also organise your tasks in various buckets, for example, organise your tasks by types of work or internal departments.

The basic plan includes various templates, such as Project Management, Commercial Construction, Software Development, Business Plan, Employee Onboarding.

In resume, Planner in Microsoft 365 includes the following features.

  • Real-time collaboration, commenting, and sharing using the Planner app in Microsoft Teams or the Planner web app
  • Creation and management of content-rich tasks with features including files, checklists, and labels
  • Tasks organized by My Day, My Tasks, and Assigned to me
  • Basic plan templates
  • Ability to view reports and dashboards2
  • Grid, Board, Schedule, and Charts views
  • Ability to view task dependencies
  • Security, compliance, data privacy, accessibility, and Microsoft 365 customer support

The Premium plan

It builds on the basic Planner with advanced features like Gantt charts, task dependencies, custom fields, and AI-powered assistance through Microsoft Copilot.

Key Features of Planner Premium

  • Task Management: Gantt charts, task dependencies, and sprint planning tools.
  • Collaboration: Real-time updates, external user access, and workload balancing.
  • AI Integration: Copilot for intelligent task suggestions and automation.
  • Advanced Analytics: Track progress, manage budgets, and optimize resources.

An additional license is required to access Premium features.

For complex Project management, CERN recommends to use JIRA which is fully supported.

How to access MS Planner?

Through a web browser

  • Click Open MS Planner and if you're not already signed in, select Sign in (with your work or school account).

Through the Microsoft 365 home page

  1. Go to your Microsoft 365 home page and sign in with your work or school account.
  2. Select the app launcher at the top of the browser window.
  3. Choose the Planner tile in the app launcher.

Tip: If you don't see the Planner option, select More apps, and then All apps to find it.

Through the MS Teams apps

Access Planner through the left navigation bar on MS Teams and get started by creating a new plan or using one of the pre-built templates.

Can I use Planner on a Mac?

Yes, you can use Microsoft Planner on a Mac. While there isn't a dedicated desktop app for Planner on Mac, you can access it through the web browser or the Microsoft Planner app for iOS. You can simply open Planner in your web browser (like Safari, Chrome, or Firefox) by going to Planner website and signing in with your work or school account.

Which browsers work with Planner ?

Use the most recent versions of the following browsers.

  • Windows 10/11: Edge, Firefox, or Chrome
  • MacOS: Edge, Safari 10 and higher, or Chrome
  • Linux: Edge, Firefox or Chrome on Linux, but some features may not be available.

Where are the files kept in Planner?

Plans in Planner are associated with Microsoft 365 Groups, and the files for Microsoft 365 Groups are stored in an associated SharePoint document library. To find your Planner files, select the three dots to the right of the plan name (...), then select Files.

Is my data in Planner secure and private?

Information you share in Planner is stored in Dataverse and Azure (The Microsoft cloud computing platform). The safekeeping of your data in these services adheres to Microsoft's standards for data security and privacy.

Additionally, you can control your personal settings for security and privacy in your Account.

FAQ and Known issues with Planner

Creating Microsoft 365 Groups in Planner

  • I want to create a group to share My Plan with others people but I receive the following warning message:

This behavior is expected. Currently, The CERN Global Admin has disabled the ability to create Office 365 groups, which prevents you from adding individual members to private plans. To solve the problem, please open a SNOW Ticket explaining your issue.

What will happen when a user who started a project in Planner leaves CERN and his account is deleted? What will happen to that project data?

When an owner of a Microsoft Planner leaves the group or the company, the plan itself generally remains active, but the ownership must be transferred to another person. The IT department or a M365 administrator can manage this transfer by modifying the underlying M365 group's ownership.

More details

  • Ownership Transfer: Planner is connected to a M365 group, and the owner of that group is also the owner of the Planner plan. If the owner leaves, the IT department can change the ownership of the M365 group, thereby transferring ownership of the Planner plan.
  • Plan Remains Active: The Planner plan itself will not be deleted or become inactive. It will still be accessible by members of the M365 group.
  • No Impact on Data: The data within the Planner plan (such as tasks, conversations, etc.) remains intact and is not deleted when the owner leaves.
  • How to Transfer Ownership: In the M365 Admin Centre, under Group Management, change the owner of the group.
  • Best Practices: To avoid potential issues, it's recommended to have multiple owners for a Planner plan or M365 group.

How to recover a plan or a task accidentally deleted ?

No Recycle Bin in Planner. If you delete something, it is immediately purged

  • Deleting a plan is permanent and you won't be able to retrieve it.
  • There is no way to recover a deleted task. If you accidentally delete a task, you'll need to recreate it from scratch.

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