Planner Plan 1 vs. Planner & Project Plan 3 + Integration b/w Lists and Project

Question

Hello,

I'm trying to migrate my customer from an Excel-based project planning process to using the more advanced features in Planner, Project, etc. I realize Planner is undergoing enhancements and my customer does not yet see the 'new' Planner so I'm trying to paint a picture for them and I'm not a very good artist :). I'm aware of this comparison from Microsoft but it leaves me with more questions. I'm trying to direct them to the correct version of Planner/Project (1 vs. 3).

The key features they can benefit from include:

• Custom fields on projects
• Advanced dependencies with lead and lag
• The People view to see tasks assigned to each person across a small team
• Tasks assigned in Project show up in Planner
• Tasks assigned in To Do show up in Planner
• Tasks in Outlook show up in Planner
• Ability to see multiple distinct project plans on the same timeline/Gantt (may be a pipe dream?)

Related to the above, is there a grid that shows assigned tasks or @mention tags from one application and whether they can be viewed in other apps? Something like this:

They will also use Microsoft Lists to track a master list of their projects for leadership visibility. Is there any integration capability between Lists and Project/Planner? I'm thinking about tracking each project's Go Live Date in Lists. If that date changes in the detailed project plan, I'd like to update the new go-live date in Lists. This is secondary to the topic above. Thanks in advance for any insights.

Answer 1

Dear AWalshGA,

Good day! Thank you for posting to Microsoft Community. We are happy to help you.

Here are some insights on migrating from your current Excel-based project planning process to using Microsoft Planner and Project. Hopefully, this will help with your project management and provide more advanced features.

From your issue description, I can safely say that Planner & Project Plan 3 is the best fit for your customer, as Planner 1 is not designed to handle project planning management at such a level. Additionally, services like Copilot in Planner will be available for generating plans and tracking status (currently in preview).

Integration of Microsoft Lists with Project and Planner to track project details and updates may be possible if Power Automate is added into the picture.

The new Microsoft Planner aims to bring together to-dos, tasks, plans, and projects into a unified experience. Tasks assigned in Project, To Do, and Outlook can be viewed in Planner, providing a unified task management experience. This helps in keeping track of all tasks across different applications in one place. The new Microsoft Planner: A unified experience bringing together to-dos, tasks, plans and projects - Microsoft Community Hub, Manage your tasks from Loop Task lists and Collaborative notes in Planner and To Do - Microsoft Support.

While there isn't a specific grid that shows assigned tasks or @mentions across all applications, the new Planner experience aims to bring together tasks from various sources into a single, familiar interface. This includes tasks from To Do, Planner, and Project.

We appreciate your understanding that sometimes the initial response may not resolve the problem immediately. However, we can work together to narrow down and resolve the situation. Please let me know if you have any further questions or if there are any misunderstandings.

We appreciate your patience and understanding and thank you for your time and cooperation.

Sincerely,

Ralph Chawatama | Microsoft Community Moderator