As Microsoft phases out Project Online, organizations need an alternative, and FluentPro offers migrations from Project Online to Planner Premium and from Project Online to Project Server.
When evaluating a move away from Project Online, it is important to understand the differences in what will carry over and what will be lost. This article highlights the key features and considerations of both migration paths.
Planner Premium is well-suited for small teams that require simple task tracking, quick collaboration, and seamless integration with Microsoft 365 apps, such as Teams and Outlook. However, migrating from Project Online to Planner Premium comes with significant trade-offs. Critical data, including detailed project schedules, baselines, portfolio structures, resource capacity planning, workflows, and advanced reporting, will not be preserved. For organizations with established PMO practices, this means a major reduction in functionality and governance.
Project Server Subscription Edition, by contrast, requires more effort and infrastructure to migrate, but it provides a far richer outcome for enterprises. It retains advanced portfolio and resource management, supports custom workflows and governance processes, and allows for comprehensive reporting (e.g., through Power BI). While the setup is more complex, this transition ensures continuity for organizations that rely on structured project management, compliance, and enterprise-grade oversight.
Migration from Project Online to Project Server or Planner Premium uses two separate FluentPro tools: FluentBooks (a desktop app for migrating to Project Server) and Project Migrator (an online tool for migrating to Planner Premium).
Key Migration Risks:
- Moving to Planner Premium: Customers lose enterprise PMO features (resource pool, portfolio management, baselines, custom reports, workflows). Migration results in only tasks/checklists surviving.
- Moving to Project Server: Requires infrastructure and effort, but most data and features can be migrated/recreated, ensuring continuity for PMOs and regulated industries.
Migration & Feature Comparison: Project Online → Planner Premium vs. Project Server Subscription Edition
|
Feature / Aspect from Project Online |
Project Server Subscription Edition |
Planner Premium |
| Deployment/Migration effort | On-premises (customer infrastructure) | Microsoft 365 cloud only. |
| Project Structures | Full support for project schedules, WBS, dependencies, and baselines. Migration from Online is largely supported. | Only task boards and basic schedules are migrated (including dependencies). Detailed project plans (WBS, baselines) will not migrate. |
| Target Audience | Enterprises / PMOs needing full project portfolio management. | Small agile teams needing lightweight task tracking. |
| Resource Management | Enterprise-grade resource pool, capacity planning, and timesheets supported. Resource data can migrate from Online. | Very limited, only task assignment at the team level. Enterprise resource pool, capacity planning, and timesheets will be lost. |
| Users and Resources | Users themselves are not migrated from the source to the target tenant; they need to be created in the Azure AD before migration. Resources are migrated to the Resource Pool, and users are mapped during migration from the source to the target ones. | Users themselves are not migrated from the source to the target tenant. Users assigned to tasks must exist in the target tenant. Assignments will be migrated only if source users are mapped to corresponding target users. |
| Portfolio & Program Management | Portfolio management is supported for migration (including portfolio analysis). | Not available. Portfolio-level data, prioritization, and demand management will be lost. |
| Workflows & Governance | Full workflow and governance features. SharePoint workflows created in SharePoint Designer are supported. | Not supported. Custom workflows, stage gates, and approvals cannot be migrated. |
| Master projects and Subprojects | Fully supported for migration from Project Online, preserving the structure and hierarchy. | Migrated as separate projects. |
| Enterprise Calendars | Fully supported for migration. | Need to be recreated manually on the target. |
| Tasks in the Schedule | All tasks from the schedule will be migrated, regardless of the number, as they are fully supported for migration. | The maximum total tasks for a schedule is 3000. If there are more than 3,000 tasks in a project, only the first 3,000 will be migrated; the remaining tasks will be skipped. |
| SharePoint Root PWA site settings and Project Sites | Fully supported for migration. | Not supported for migration. |
| Version History / List Data | Not preserved. SharePoint Document/Item versions won’t migrate. | Not preserved. Detailed version history from Online lists won’t migrate. |
| Reporting & Data Access | Custom reporting from Online can be rebuilt, and reports that use OData will be migrated. | Basic dashboards only, Power BI for tasks. |
| Integrations | Project Online integrations are often reconfigurable. | Deep with Teams and Outlook |
| Security & Permissions | Full RBS, custom permissions, granular governance, and SharePoint permissions can be migrated. | Simplified. Granular RBS permissions and custom security models will be lost. |
Detailed Feature Comparison Project Online → Planner Premium vs. Project Server Subscription Edition
Features from Project Online |
Project Server |
Planner Premium |
Cross-Platform migration |
+ |
- |
Cross Farm/Cross Tenant Migration |
+ |
+ |
Requires a license and registration of PWA |
+ |
+ (requires a license) |
Ability to select elements |
+ |
+ |
Migration of Enterprise Lookup Tables |
+ |
- |
Migration of Enterprise Lookup Tables Values |
+ |
- |
Migration of project-level Enterprise Custom Fields |
+ |
+ - |
Migration of resource-level Enterprise Custom Fields |
+ |
- |
Migration of task-level Enterprise Custom Fields |
+ |
+ - |
Migration of Projects: project schedules |
+ |
+ |
| Schedule Tasks |
All tasks from the schedule will be migrated, regardless of the number, as they are fully supported for migration. |
The maximum total tasks for a schedule is 3000. If there are more than 3,000 tasks in a project, only the first 3,000 will be migrated; the remaining tasks will be skipped |
| Summary Tasks Data |
+ Data is not migrated; instead, it is calculated automatically based on the sub-tasks. |
+ Data is not migrated; instead, it is calculated automatically based on the sub-tasks. |
| Hierarchy level |
Fully supported for migration. | The maximum hierarchy level is 10. If more levels exist, they will be set to the last level |
| Milestones tasks (tasks with duration = 0) |
Fully supported for migration. |
Milestones that are in progress are migrated as not started. |
| Project Duration | Fully supported for migration. | The maximum total duration for a project is 3,650 working days (approximately 10 years). |
| Task Duration | Fully supported for migration. | The maximum duration of each task is 1250 working days. |
Migration of Projects: project-level Custom Fields values |
+ |
+ |
Migration of Projects: driver impacts |
+ |
- |
Migration of Projects: EPT and Workflow association, skip to stage |
+ |
- |
Migration of Projects: Subprojects, Master Projects |
+ |
+ |
Migration of Projects: task-level Custom Fields values |
+ |
+ |
Migration of Projects: Tasks, Assignments |
+ |
+ |
Migration of Projects: Tasks Status Manager |
+ |
- |
Migration of Projects: Project Owner |
+ |
+ |
Migration of Projects: Project Team |
+ |
+ |
Migration of Projects: Resource Plan |
+ |
- |
Migration of Project Templates |
+ |
- |
Migration of Timesheets |
+ |
- |
Migration of Projects Timeline |
+ |
- |
Migration of Resources: Identification Information |
+ |
+ |
Migration of Resources: resource Custom Fields values |
+ |
- |
Migration of Resources: user logon account |
+ |
+ |
Migration of Resources: assignment attributes |
+ |
+ |
Migration of Resources: Departments |
+ |
- |
Migration of Resource Calendar Exceptions |
+ |
- |
Migration of Enterprise Calendars |
+ |
- |
Migration of Users |
- Project center resources and users can be migrated, given that an appropriate account already exists in the Active Directory on the target. |
- Resources can be migrated, given that an appropriate account already exists in the Active Directory on the target, and mapping is applied. |
Migration of Project Server Security Groups |
+ |
- |
Migration of Project Server Security Categories |
+ |
- |
Migration of Project Server Security Templates |
+ |
- |
Migration of Project Server Security PWA Permissions settings |
+ |
- |
Migration of Project Detail Pages |
+ |
- |
Migration of Custom Web Parts |
- |
- |
Migration of Enterprise Project Types |
+ |
- |
Migration of the Enterprise Project Type association with the Project Site Template, the Project Plan Template, Workflow |
+ |
- |
Migration of Workflow Stages |
+ |
- |
Migration of Workflow Phases |
+ |
- |
Migration of Workflows |
+ |
- |
Migration of Fiscal Periods |
+ |
- |
Migration of Time Reporting Periods |
+ |
- |
Migration of Line Classifications |
+ |
- |
Migration of Timesheet Settings |
+ |
- |
Migration of Administrative Time |
+ |
- |
Migration of Task Settings and Display |
+ |
- |
Migration of Drivers (Driver Library) |
+ |
- |
Migration of Driver Prioritizations |
+ |
- |
Migration of Portfolio Analyses |
+ |
- |
Migration of Dependencies in Portfolio Analyses |
+ |
- |
| Dependencies | Supported for migration. | All types of dependencies can migrate if the token was generated for the Planner Premium connection. If the token was not used, only the Finish-to-Start ones are migrated. |
| Hierarchy Level |
||
Migration of Views |
+ |
- |
Migration of Quick Launch links |
+ |
- |
OLAP Databases |
- |
- |
Migration of Groups AD sync |
- |
- |
Migration of the Users Group membership |
+ |
- |
Migration of Additional Server Settings |
+ |
- |
Migration of Reporting Settings |
- |
- |
Migration of Project Permissions |
+ |
- |
Migration of User Delegations |
+ |
- |
Migration of SharePoint Sites |
+ |
- |
Migration of SharePoint Sites associated with the Site Template |
+ |
- |
Migration of the SharePoint Subsites hierarchy |
+ |
- |
Migration of SharePoint Lists |
+ |
- |
Migration of SharePoint List Items |
+ |
- |
Migration of SharePoint List Folders |
+ |
- |
Migration of SharePoint List Views |
+ |
- |
Migration of SharePoint List association with Site Columns (Web Fields) |
+ |
- |
Migration of SharePoint List association with Content Types |
+ |
- |
Migration of SharePoint List association with List Workflow |
+ |
- |
Migration of SharePoint List customization: Forms, Form Settings |
+ |
- |
Migration of SharePoint List customization: Managed Metadata fields and Keyword Settings |
- |
- |
Migration of Enterprise Metadata |
- |
- |
Migration of SharePoint Document Libraries |
+ |
- |
Migration of SharePoint Document Library content (files, documents) |
+ |
- |
Migration of SharePoint Document Library Folders |
+ |
- |
Migration of SharePoint Document Library Views |
+ |
- |
Migration of the SharePoint Document Library association with the Site |
+ |
- |
Migration of SharePoint Document Library customization: Forms, Form Settings |
+ |
- |
Migration of SharePoint Site Features Status |
+ |
- |
Migration of SharePoint Site Content Types |
+ |
- |
Migration of SharePoint Site Columns (Web Fields) |
+ |
- |
Migration of SharePoint Site Pages |
+ |
- |
Migration of SharePoint Site Theme |
+ |
- |
Migration of SharePoint Site Logo |
+ |
- |
Migration of SharePoint Site Master pages |
+ |
- |
Migration of Solutions (Site Templates) |
+ |
- |
Migration of List Workflows |
+ |
- |
Migration of Site Workflows |
+ |
- |
Bulk Export SharePoint sites |
+ |
- |
Migration of SharePoint Site Navigation |
+ |
- |
Migration of Regional Settings |
- |
- |
Migration of Managed Copies of files in Document Libraries |
- |
- |
Migration of SharePoint Item/Document Libraries, Document Version History |
- |
- |
Migration of Created By, Modified By, Created Date, and Modified Date column values for folders in SharePoint Libraries |
- |
- |