Microsoft launches Planner, a project-management and team-scheduling tool

Microsoft has launched a project-management app called Planner. It has been released for free as a part of the existing Office 365 suite. If you already have a valid subscription to Office 365, you will automatically find the Planner tile in the app. Microsoft took to its  blog  to talk about the new service in detail. “The addition of Planner to the Office 365 lineup introduces a new and improved way for businesses, schools and organizations to structure teamwork easily and get more done. With Planner, teams can create new plans; organize, assign and collaborate on tasks; set due dates; update statuses and share files, while visual dashboards and email notifications keep everyone informed on progress.” Each new plan created in Planner automatically creates a new Office 365 group that allows its members to communicate effectively. “Microsoft Planner and Microsoft Project are very different solutions aimed at very different sets of end users,” a Microsoft spokesperson told VentureBeat. “While Office 365 Planner is a Work Management solution that helps teams of Information workers better organize and manage teamwork visually, Microsoft Project is an industry leading PPM (Project Portfolio Management) offering that helps companies manage a complex portfolio of projects and programs. Microsoft Project has a lot of unique PPM capabilities such as Program and Portfolio Management, Resource Capacity Management, Financial Management, Timesheeting and Schedule Management.” Though the concept is not new in itself, it has been well received by its customers. Microsoft’s blog post takes the example of the Câmara Municipal de Cascais which has been governing Cascais, a town in Portugal for 650 years. This long history of service received a boost after it transitioned to Office 365. More than 1,000 employees have quickly adopted Planner to better organize their teamwork and expedite the completion times for various government initiatives.