Microsoft Archives - The Project Corner

Life beyond Project Online

Life beyond Project Online exists, and it can be a huge improvement. Project Online is closing its doors today, that is, if you are reading this article on the day that it came out. It is, however, more likely that you are reading this on a later date, in which case this is a reminder that life did go on and in a lot of cases improved after Microsoft stopped the service for this lovely Enterprise Project and Portfolio Management solution.

In this short article I’d like to take a look at what organizations are not missing from the Project Online era and what has improved for them. Taking a Projectum xPM viewpoint (note that I do work for Context&, the company behind the product).

What are Workback Plans in Planner and Teams?

Wedged between other new features on the planner blog, we read about “Workback Plans” in public preview. But not much more is shared, which is odd because it can be a cool feature. Well, there is an image, and a one liner with another link:

Workback Plan generation is now available in channels, helping teams quickly create reverse timelines based on a target deadline.

On the second page we get:

Workback Plans in Teams channels: Project Manager Agent and the Channel Agent together now support the creation of AI-powered Workback Plans, automatically generating a reverse timeline of tasks and milestones based on the target deadline and goal provided.

Asking the Channel Agent what it can do. Note: the channel is called Planner

The end of Project Online

30 September 2026, that is the day that all Project Online Services stop working. Microsoft anounced this date today in their official blog article. Let’s take a moment and discuss what this means for organizations that work with the product today.

Project Online retires on the 30th of September 2026. — The Project Online, PWA homepage. In case you didn’t change it.

Model driven Power Apps permissions explained

A few years ago, I’ve shifted my attention from Project Online towards the modern “Model Driven Power Apps” solutions. And with this switch there’s a lot of new information to learn. One of the most steep learning curve was/is regarding the permissions structure of Model driven Power Apps.

This article is as much here to help you along the way when you are pressed to work with security topics in model driven power apps. As it is a reminder for myself on “how did that work again?”.

This is a more technical article than you might be used to on The Project Corner, and I can fully understand if this is not something to your taste. Please, take some time to explore the other articles on the site.

The doorman, a funny analogy of access to the Model Driven Power Apps. He's testing to see if you are on the list to enter. And which drinks you are allowed to drink, what music you are listening to, and who you see in the Power App bar. — The doorman (the security rules), seeing if you are on the list to enter. And among others, which drinks you are allowed to drink, what music you are listening to, and who you see in the Power App bar.

Maximizing PMO Efficiency with Microsoft Loop

Let’s return to this great new tool: Microsoft Loop. It’s a really fun, easy and fast way to collaborate. But I think there’s even more potential to maximize the PMO’s efficiency. But first, is it a bird? Is it a plane? No… it’s Microsoft Lodds?! (Gen AI has a way with words, doesn’t it?).

The Spooky ChatGPT article

In this article, I will focus on new features in ChatGPT, and how they might effect you as a Project Manager or part of a PMO. And it’s Halloween today, so here’s a spooky Project Manager:

**A Spooky project manager haloween style. Bing.com/create**

Great sources of PMO-AI training material

Welcome back to another post on Generative AI, and how it can assist you as part of the Project and Portfolio management workforce. In this 22nd post on the topic, I’m taking a different approach. I’d like to share some great free sources that you can visit to learn more about (Generative) AI.

**A person looking for all the options to learn about Generative AI as a Project Manager** – Bing.com/create