Platform migrations in mature PM environments rarely fail for technical reasons. They fail because people, processes, and governance aren’t deliberately managed through the transition.

For PMOs facing major tool changes—like Microsoft Project Online’s retirement on September 30, 2026—success hinges on treating the migration as an organizational change program, not a tooling upgrade.

The Real Reasons Migrations Go Sideways

Experienced PMs have seen these patterns before, but they’re amplified at enterprise scale:

• Resistance and weak adoption. Users cling to familiar workflows, leading to shadow use of legacy tools and low engagement with the new platform. The tool changes, but the habits don’t.
• A poorly articulated “why.” When the business case focuses on IT requirements or licensing rather than portfolio outcomes and team benefits, executive alignment erodes and stakeholders disengage.
• Inadequate training and support. One-and-done training sessions, no role-based enablement, and limited post-go-live support drive frustration. People revert to old habits—or worse, spreadsheets.
• Process mismatch. Migrating “as-is” schedules, templates, and governance into a platform with a different paradigm creates friction and workarounds instead of improvement.
• Over-ambitious scope. Going “big bang” across all portfolios, integrations, and reports without robust pilots leads to noisy go-lives and credibility loss with stakeholders.

What Actually Works

You don’t need a change management certification to land a migration successfully. You need disciplined execution of a few proven principles, adapted from Kotter’s 8-step process and Prosci’s ADKAR model for PMOs.

• Create urgency and build your coalition early. Retirement timelines create natural urgency—use them. Assemble a guiding coalition of sponsors, PMO leads, and power users who will champion the change and troubleshoot resistance.
• Communicate a simple, repeatable vision. “One portfolio, one source of truth” is easier to rally around than a 40-slide deck on platform capabilities. Keep messages short, visual, and focused on “what changes for you this month.”
• Pilot before you scale. Start with one or two portfolios as pilots with clear success criteria: adoption rates, data quality, reporting value. Use pilot PMs as champions who can share real “before and after” stories with the wider community.
• Design role-based training. PMs need planning and resource management. Team members need updates and collaboration. Executives need dashboards and portfolio views. Combine short e-learning with live labs using real migrated projects, and schedule office hours for the first 60-90 days after go-live.
• Measure and celebrate early wins. Track adoption metrics—active users, percentage of projects moved, on-time status updates—and share them visibly. Publicly recognize teams operating fully in the new tool. Small wins build momentum.
• Enforce decommission milestones. Don’t allow indefinite parallel use of the old platform. Define clear cutoff dates with tightly controlled exceptions. Otherwise, you’ll be supporting two systems forever.

Quick Reference: Do This, Not That

Focus Area	Do This	Avoid This
Sponsorship	Active sponsor visible in communications and key meetings	“Signed once” sponsor who never appears again
Rollout	Pilot first, then phased rollout tied to clear criteria	Big-bang cutover of all portfolios and reports
Communication	Short, regular updates with clear impacts by role	One long email at kickoff and silence afterward
Training	Role-based, hands-on labs plus office hours	Single generic webinar with no follow-up
Governance	Update PMO standards, templates, and KPIs to match the new tool	Lifting old processes unchanged into new platform
Post-go-live	Dedicated support channel, FAQs, and quick fixes	Treating go-live as project end with no support capacity

The Bottom Line

Platform migrations are change programs. Invest as much in the human side—communication, training, coalition-building, and reinforcement—as you do in configuration and data cleanup.

Whether you’re navigating the Project Online transition or any other major platform shift, the formula is the same: urgent story, visible coalition, disciplined pilots, real training, enforced decommission, and measurable wins.

Your feedback is welcome in the comments and in our Community Discussion Forum!

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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!