Stay Organized with Microsoft Planner

With the increase in remote working comes the need for remote collaboration and project management tools.  Microsoft Planner is a light-weight, easy to use tool that answers the question- what if Microsoft Project was a bit more… simple?  You can track tasks, collaborate on ideas, or adopt the kanban method, all within Planner!

Project Management in Planner

Planner is often used to keep track of a multitude of tasks on large projects.  Planner Tasks can be created and assigned to specific “buckets,” or columns, to organize a set of tasks in any way you’d like.  Buckets can represent different phases of a project, different stages of completion, or any other organization method that suites your needs.  Users are assigned Tasks to work on and can pass them between other users, collaborate and add details right on the Task’s comments section, and move them between buckets.  Other notable Planner features are:

• Priority tracking: Each Task can be assigned a priority level, allowing users to visually see and track the most urgent of Tasks
• Labels: Flag each Task with a category or label to identify commonalities between tasks
• Progress: Track the progress of each Task to its completion
• Checklist: Create a checklist within a Task, and check off each requirement as you complete them
• Start and Due Dates: Capture important dates to ensure each Task is completed on time

The Kanban board

The kanban method is a great way to visualize the progress and workflow of a project.  Planner is an excellent tool to use as the Kanban Board, which is the heart of any great kanban adoption.  With Planner, you can divide your project into swim lanes (buckets) and move your work items (tasks) across the board to the finish line.

Planner as part of the Microsoft stack

Planner integrates well with Outlook, Teams, excel, and more.  With Planner, you can:

• Notify other Planner users via Outlook when a Kanban task is updated
• Access Planner right from your Teams Desktop App
• Export a specific Planner board to excel
• Automate Planner functions with Power Automate

Contact Beringer Today!

Beringer Technology Group, a leading Microsoft Gold Certified Partner specializing in Microsoft Dynamics 365 and CRM for Distribution. We also provide expert Managed IT Services, Backup and Disaster Recovery, Cloud Based Computing and Unified Communication Solutions.