The clock is officially ticking. Microsoft has confirmed that Project Online will retire on September 30, 2026, with no new investments going into the platform. For organizations still running on Project Online, this isn’t just a headline. It’s a planning deadline that demands attention now.

Most organizations need 12–18 months to assess, plan, and execute a PPM transition without disruption. That timeline makes January 2026 a critical moment to start the conversation, not scramble to finish it.

On Wednesday, January 28, MPUG is hosting a focused webinar with OnePlan: Beyond Project Online: A Seamless Transition to Complete Program Portfolio Management. Whether you’re deep in migration planning or just starting to evaluate options, this session offers practical guidance for moving forward confidently.

Here are three reasons to reserve your spot.

What the Project Online Retirement Means for You

Microsoft’s official announcement made it clear: Project Online service ends September 30, 2026. After that date, there’s no service availability, no new features, and a winding down of support focus leading up to the deadline.

This is a transition period, not an overnight shutdown. But running close to the deadline typically forces rushed decisions, temporary patches, and manual workarounds that create more problems than they solve.

If you’ve been following MPUG’s coverage of Microsoft’s PPM ecosystem, you may remember earlier messaging suggesting there was “no rush” to move off Project Online. That was accurate at the time. Microsoft’s roadmap has now shifted, and the risk calculus has changed with it.

The webinar will walk through Microsoft’s retirement milestones and what they mean in practice for PMOs and IT teams. You’ll learn how long a typical migration actually takes (assessment, design, pilot, rollout) so you can build a realistic roadmap instead of a last-minute scramble.

Want a refresher on where Project Online fits in the broader Microsoft landscape? Check out MPUG’s comprehensive guide to Microsoft Project versions and plans or explore Project for the web, Project Online, and SharePoint for context on how hybrid environments have historically worked.

Transition Without Starting From Scratch

One of the biggest concerns organizations have about leaving Project Online is the fear of losing years of configuration work. Enterprise custom fields, workflows, governance structures, reporting models: these represent significant investments that shouldn’t be thrown away.

OnePlan has built purpose-driven migration approaches from Project Online that preserve as much configuration as feasible rather than forcing a greenfield rebuild. Their platform is positioned as a Microsoft-aligned replacement, designed to extend Microsoft’s evolving PPM strategy rather than replace it with a disconnected tool.

The integration story matters here. OnePlan lives in the Microsoft ecosystem, connecting with Microsoft Project, Teams, Planner, Azure DevOps, Power BI, and the Power Platform. Teams can keep their current ways of working while centralizing portfolio oversight. No dramatic workflow overhauls required.

Many customers have already transitioned from Project Online to OnePlan and report familiar functionality with improved analytics, automation, and portfolio-level visibility. The webinar will show how organizations are protecting past investments while moving forward.

For more on the OnePlan approach, watch MPUG’s earlier session: Navigating the Future of Microsoft Project and Microsoft Project Online with OnePlan.

Expand Into Modern Portfolio Management

Here’s the opportunity hidden inside the disruption: modern PMOs are evolving from project tracking centers to strategic value offices.

The shift is significant. Instead of static annual plans and reactive project monitoring, leading organizations are aligning portfolios to business outcomes and enabling dynamic reprioritization based on real-time data. Project Online served its purpose, but it wasn’t built for the strategic portfolio visibility that today’s executives demand.

The webinar will demonstrate how organizations use OnePlan with Microsoft 365 to gain real-time visibility across resources, financials, and work, connecting strategy to execution through integrated views and analytics. You’ll see emerging capabilities like AI-powered insights that help portfolio leaders run scenarios, understand capacity constraints, and prioritize work that delivers the highest value.

For MPUG members, this is a chance to see how familiar Microsoft tools—Project, Teams, Planner, Power BI—fit into a unified, future-ready PPM ecosystem rather than a disconnected set of apps.

---

Before You Attend: MPUG Resources to Explore

Get more from the session by brushing up on these resources:

• Microsoft Project: A Comprehensive Guide to Versions and Plans – Understand where Project Online fits in the tool family
• Project for the web, Project Online, and SharePoint – See how hybrid environments have historically worked
• Microsoft Project Speed Guide – Sharpen your current Project skills before discussing what to preserve or improve

---

Join Us on January 28

Project Online’s retirement is both a deadline and an opportunity to modernize. Starting the conversation now helps avoid rushed, high-risk moves close to September 2026.

Beyond Project Online: A Seamless Transition to Complete Program Portfolio Management

📅 Wednesday, January 28, 2026
🕛 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM ET
📍 Live Virtual Conference
🏅 1 PMI PDU: Business Acumen

By the end of this session, you’ll understand:

• What to expect from Microsoft’s Project Online retirement timeline
• How to achieve migration with minimal disruption
• Ways to preserve and extend your existing project configurations and governance workflows
• How Program Portfolio Management delivers better visibility, alignment, and results

This event is FREE and open to everyone. Replay access included for all registrants.

Reserve Your Spot →

Know someone wrestling with Project Online retirement planning? Share this registration link with your PMO, IT team, and business stakeholders. Unlike most MPUG live events, this session is open to all, so spread the word!