At PlanAxion, as we said in a previous article, we have set up training dinners. We want to offer our team members the tools they need to simplify their daily lives. With this in mind, we called on the services of Antoine Dubois to offer us training on the MS Planner tool.

What is MS Planner?

Microsoft Planner is a task management tool included in all Microsoft 365 licenses. It allows you to organize team work, assign tasks, share files, and write comments within tasks. Its use, simple, intuitive and visual, allows greater efficiency and easier collaboration between the various participants in a project. The tool can be used from the Office portal or integrated into Microsoft Teams. This last option also allows you to create chat teams for each project. To do this, simply add the Tasks by Planner extension to your Teams dashboard. The Planner by Microsoft could be compared to the Microsoft Project tool, but in a simplified version. Project is primarily aimed at project managers while Planner is aimed at all team members, with fewer advanced options. Planner is therefore perfect for managing shorter projects and tasks by project. For example, a project manager using Project could rally his team under Planner and assign tasks to them. Team members would have access to tasks shared by the project manager, without necessarily having to visualize aspects that are not relevant to them (such as timesheets, reports, management, etc.).

How does MS Planner work?

As mentioned above, this project manager is fairly easy to use. First of all, you should know that each project is defined as a “Plan”. All Plans are accessible from the Planner home page, also called the Planner Center. Each Plan includes tasks that are added and completed as the project evolves. It is possible to exchange files, questions and comments within the tasks. This function is interesting because it allows you to group all the discussions of a task in the same place, which makes the information easier to find in the future (not to mention the reduction in the number of emails, an aspect that should not be overlooked) .MS Planner also allows you to visualize tasks in various views (by deadline, by progress, by attribution, etc.). The attribution view is useful for ensuring that a task is not left without attribution and ensuring its progress. It is also possible to search for tasks using specific keywords. When creating a project, two confidentiality options are available: public or private. When a project is public, it is visible to anyone within the company. No invitation is required to access it. On the contrary, a so-called private project is confidential. An invitation from the project owner is required for collaborators to access it.

What is the potential of using MS Planner within a company like PlanAxion?

The MS Planner tool is easy to master. The potential of using it is huge for a business like ours. Its integration makes it possible to standardize the way in which all members of our team follow their tasks. The tool also makes it possible to centralize information to better monitor the progress of a project and ensure a better transition and easier data sharing. The biggest difficulty of the tool is to integrate it into our daily lives and to gradually replace our old way of managing tasks. It's just a habit that needs to be deconstructed and rebuilt. In addition to all the features listed, MS Planner also offers the ability to create tasks from the email box. A mobile application is also available. We can't wait to start using it more extensively and to increase our efficiency! What task manager are you using?