From an article originally published on Microsoft.com on October 29, 2019, titled “The new Microsoft Project rolls out to customers worldwide” by Jared Spataro, Corporate Vice President for Microsoft 365.
With Microsoft 365, the world’s productivity cloud, we’re using the power of the cloud to help people and organizations achieve more. Last year, we shared our new vision for work management designed specifically to help teams collaborate on projects more efficiently and achieve more together. Today, we’re announcing a major step toward achieving this vision with the general availability of the new Microsoft Project along with a new subscription plan!
Collaborating in teams and projects has become an integral part of our work experience. Businesses increasingly rely on project teams to advance strategic initiatives, drive change, and solve tough problems. But keeping projects on track isn’t easy, especially when teams are working on multiple workstreams to achieve aggressive goals on tight deadlines.
The new Project is designed to be both simple and powerful, so anyone can get started quickly and take control of any project right away.
A fresh new experience
The project offers a redesigned user experience that is simple and intuitive. Teams can quickly add new members and set up tasks, and then easily switch between grids, boards, or timeline (Gantt) charts to track progress. And because Project is part of the Microsoft 365 family, project teams can save time and do more with built-in connections to familiar apps like Microsoft Teams and Office.
Collaboration made easy
Designed to do much more than just track progress, Project works with Teams to support collaboration and make it easy to manage all aspects of a team project, including file sharing, chats, meetings, and much more. Team members in scattered locations can even edit tasks simultaneously, so they can get more done together, no matter where they are. To help teams stay on track, Project offers an automated scheduling engine based on effort, duration, and resources.
Project with Teams.
Coauthoring in Project.
Insights at your fingertips
The new Project provides greater visibility into your projects and powerful tools to help you anticipate future needs. Create stunning interactive dashboards in Power BI, so you can visualize every aspect of each project at a glance. Get the big picture view of all your projects across your organization with the visual, interactive Roadmap feature.
Project data in a Power BI dashboard.
Extensible platform
Built on the Microsoft Power Platform, Project enables you to quickly connect to the apps and services you already use, and to create custom desktop and mobile experiences to meet the specific needs of every project team. Easy to use tools make it simple to create automated workflow processes that streamlines compliance and increases efficiency. Do all this and more with the confidence that comes with knowing you are building on the powerful security and compliance capabilities of Azure—the world’s most trusted enterprise cloud.
Introducing a new Microsoft Project plan for all users
As part of this launch, we’re also excited to announce a new subscription plan: Project Plan 1.
Project Plan 1 is for teams that need the essential capabilities of managing task-oriented projects like assigning tasks and dependencies and scheduling and tracking project work using lists, boards, and timelines. At just $10 per user per month, this subscription is an ideal way to get started with Project.
Project Plan 1 joins our current subscription offerings, Project Online Professional and Project Online Premium, now renamed to Project Plan 3 and Project Plan 5 respectively. Customers using Project Online can continue to do so with confidence knowing that we’re committed to your success no matter which Project service you choose.
The rollout of the new Project began in mid-October. If you already have a Project subscription plan, you should receive a notification inviting you to try the new Project experience. If you don’t have a Project subscription yet, we invite you to either learn more or try out Project Plan 1 today!*
What’s next?
Looking forward, we will release more exciting capabilities in the new Project, including resource management, budget analysis, and time and expense tracking. These powerful features will enable you to streamline more complex initiatives and help your business maximize ROI.
As we continue to innovate with the new Project, we rely on customers, like you, to help shape the direction of future releases. You can reach us via the Feedback button in the new Project UserVoice or through your Microsoft representative, to share your feedback and ideas on how Project meets your needs today and into the future.
Visit the Project blog on Tech Community and follow Microsoft 365 on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook for our latest news.
Microsoft Project
Streamline project, resource, and portfolio management with Microsoft Project to help you keep track of projects successfully. See products and pricing
Frequently asked questions
Q. How does new Project compare to Microsoft Planner?
A. Planner remains the starting point for individuals and teams to collaborate on tasks. Many teams find that they need more power—like tracking task dependencies and scheduling—and the new Project is the right step up for them. Planner and the new Project have a similar look and feel, so that teams can move between both tools easily.
Q. Can I continue to use Project desktop app?
A. Absolutely, you can continue to rely on the full power of the Project desktop app.
Q. Does Project Plan 3 and Project Plan 5 include Project Plan 1 capabilities?
A. Yes, both Project Plan 3 and Project Plan 5 will include the Project Plan 1 capabilities.
*Plan 1 is available for purchase starting October 29, 2019 in the U.S. and select international markets. It will be available for purchase starting mid-November in other international markets (except for France and South Korea).
Used with permission from Microsoft.