What is Microsoft Planner and How to Use it

What is Microsoft Planner?

Step-by-step Process of Using Microsoft Planner

• To access Planner, go to the Planner websiteand log in with your O365 account details. If you’re already logged in, you can go straight to the application through the O365 app launcher.

• Planner opens in what’s called the “Planner Hub,” which shows you the plans you’ve created yourself or been added to by other people. If you’re using Planner with a personal O365 subscription, you’ll only ever see plans you’ve created yourself in the Planner Hub.
• Initially, the Planner Hub will be blank because you haven’t created any plans yet. To create a plan, click “New Plan” in the main menu in the left sidebar.

• Create a name, select whether it’s Public (this doesn’t mean public to the world, it means whether other people in your company can see the plan) or Private, and click “Create Plan.”
• Planner will create a new plan for you. You can now fill it with tasks by clicking “Add Task.”
• The new task panel will open. Enter a name for the task, a due date, and who it’s assigned to (assigning a task to someone is more useful for organizations, rather than personal O365 subscriptions). Click the “Add Task” button to create the task.

• Your task will appear under the “Add Task” window.

• If you’re wondering why the “Add task” window is still open, it’s so you can add lots of tasks in quick succession without having to constantly click “Add Task.” If you click away from the “Add Task” window, it will instantly disappear.
• To open your new task, just click it. The Task window will open up with a lot of options to add information.

• There are options to add a status, a priority, a due date, notes, checklists, attachments, and more. You can assign labels to color-code your tasks to the right of the item.

• One important point is that there is no “Save” button. Once you’ve made a change to a task, just close it using the “X” in the top-right corner—all changes are saved automatically.

• Once you’ve finished a task, set the Progress to “Completed” and then the task will be filtered in your bucket so it’s less visible.

The Bucket Feature

Pros And Cons Of Using Microsoft Planner

Advantages Of Microsoft Planner

• You can get started fast thanks to an easy-to-use interface. It makes onboarding your team simple.
• Email notifications in the Microsoft planner app let you stay on top of your task list and never get surprised by unexpected deadlines.
• All the information you need to complete, manage and collaborate on your tasks is in one place, with a task description window, checklist, labels and comments.
• The calendar view lets you set deadlines how you want.
• You can generate reports on tasks, progress and more to stay on schedule with the Planner Hub.
• See all of your team’s assignments to better manage their workload and stay updated on their progress.
• Get a unique Outlook email for communications with each plan and better organize your project work.
• The Microsoft planner app fully integrates with Office 365.

Disadvantages Of Microsoft Planner

• The absence of a Gantt chart makes it impossible to link dependent tasks, set milestones and view all your tasks chronologically on a timeline.
• No way to set recurring tasks, which adds busy work and slows you down.
• There is no risk management feature, which makes it difficult to identify and manage any issues that might arise.
• Reduced time tracking, which makes it difficult to stay on schedule and monitor your team’s progress.
• The lack of in-app notifications means you have to leave the tool to get updates, which takes you away from your work.
• No access to dashboards outside of the project team, which takes away a valuable tool when updating stakeholders.
• There aren’t multiple checklists per task.
• No way to see team workload and reallocate data from the same page.
• The lack of portfolio management, portfolio roadmaps or dashboards means you can manage only one project at a time.
• There’s no way to check team availability, making it more difficult to assign tasks because managers don’t know who’s free.
• ProjectManager.com is the Best MS Planner Alternative

Microsoft Planner Features

• Schedule View:The schedule view allows users to view all their tasks on a calendar.
• Group and Filter Tasks:Filter your tasks by deadline and see what work is coming due soon.
• Collaborative Task Management:My Tasks show all your tasks, and team members can comment and attach files on the task in Outlook, Outlook Groups, Teams and more.
• Assign a Task to Several Team Members:Unlike some other task management tools, you can assign tasks to more than one person.
• Give Users Access to the Tool: If you’re working on a project and want to bring in a vendor, contractor or stakeholder to see what’s going on, you can add external access.
• Import Microsoft Planner into Outlook:You can put your Microsoft Planner into your Outlook through the iCalendar feed, which helps facilitate scheduling and time management.
• Get Email Notification:There are also email notifications that keep users on track by alerting them of coming deadlines.

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