Project Online Retirement: What It Means, and How We Can Help You Modernize

Today, Microsoft officially announced the retirement of Project Online, effective September 30, 2026. (see here). For many organisations, this news will feel like the end of an era (certainly does for us at Power Framework!).  Project Online has been a faithful companion in the world of project and portfolio management for over a decade, helping PMOs deliver control, governance, and visibility at scale.

If your organisation relies on Microsoft Project Online, you will have been aware that its days as a cutting-edge solution were numbered.  As with all technology, change is inevitable. Microsoft is now placing its innovation energy into Planner, Copilot, and the broader Microsoft 365 platform. For some teams, this opens exciting new opportunities. For others — especially those who rely on the power of Microsoft Project Desktop for complex scheduling — the announcement will raise concerns.

 "Project Online will officially retire on September 30, 2026.” 

Microsoft

The Challenge: Life After Project Online

Project Online has always been more than just a storage place for .mpp files. It provided:

• Enterprise project registers
• Governance workflows
• Portfolio-level reporting
• Resource management capabilities
• A central repository for MS Project schedules

With retirement on the horizon, organizations must plan now to avoid disruption. The risk is real: losing centralized control, fragmenting data across SharePoint folders, and breaking the governance structures PMOs rely on.

The Good News: Power Framework PPM

At Power Framework, we’ve anticipated this moment. Our Power Framework PPM solution has already helped organizations modernize beyond Project Online, migrating their registers, documents, workflows, and reporting into the Dataverse and Microsoft Power Platform.

• Proven capability: Power Framework PPM is in production today with customers across industries.
• Future-proof: Built entirely on Microsoft’s modern Power Platform, it aligns with Microsoft’s innovation roadmap.
• Governed and connected: All project data is captured in one enterprise database for reporting, quality checks, and AI insights.

Power Framework PPM doesn't just match Project Online's capabilities; it significantly surpasses them. Here's a glimpse of what moving to a modern solution like this offers:

• True Program & Project Portfolio Management: Unlike Project Online, which categorises everything as a project, Power Framework PPM has distinct, fully-fledged capabilities for programs and portfolios, allowing for hierarchical budgeting, risk management, reporting, and more. 
• Flexible Work Management: Use the scheduling tools that best fit your teams, whether it's the new Planner Premium, the traditional Microsoft Project desktop client, Jira, Azure DevOps, or others, all integrated within the PPM framework.
• Enhanced Strategic Alignment: Robust features for portfolio balancing, 'what-if' scenario modelling, and ensuring projects align with strategic objectives.
• Advanced Capabilities: Sophisticated modules for resource capacity planning, financial management (beyond what Project Online offered), and benefits realisation tracking.
• Superior Flexibility and Integration: Built on Dataverse, the Power Platform's database, it is vastly more configurable and extensible than Project Online. Seamless integration with tools like Power BI for reporting, Power Automate for workflows, Teams for collaboration, and even Excel for bulk data updates creates a more unified and efficient experience.
• Modern User Experience: Intuitive navigation, role-based security at the field level, built-in audit history, and configurable project lifecycle stages enhance user adoption and data quality.
• Future-Proofing with AI: Leverage and make use of Microsoft Co-pilot's advanced AI capabilities – something simply not feasible within the aging Project Online architecture.

And What About MS Project Desktop?

Some organisations aren’t ready to give up MS Project Desktop — and they don’t have to. Power Framework PPM can be the integrator, by storing .mpp files securely with full governance. Planning data is extracted into Dataverse tables for data analytics and AI processing, thereby performing the enterprise data aggregation function previously performed by Project Online.

In short: even after Project Online is gone, you can keep using MS Project in a connected, enterprise-ready way.

Let’s Talk Modernization Together

This transition doesn’t need to be daunting. In fact, it’s an opportunity to refresh and modernize your project management ecosystem.

To help you navigate this journey, we’ll be hosting a webinar:

👉 Modernizing Microsoft Project Online with Power Framework PPM

We’ll share practical migration strategies, customer stories, and a closer look at how Power Framework PPM can carry you confidently into the future.

Don't let legacy tools hold back your organisation's potential. Take the next step towards a more efficient, integrated, and strategically aligned future for your Project Portfolio Management (PPM).

Or click this link now to Book a demo tailored to your organisation's needs and see first hand how it surpasses Project Online.