Microsoft’s Office 365 just got a bit more productive, as if that were even possible. The Office 365 team has announced today that its organizational planning tool, Microsoft Planner, will be rolling out to all eligible Office 365 customers across the world.
What is Microsoft Planner?
Microsoft Planner is a standalone app that accompanies the suite of productivity apps that make up Office 365 for business and educational customers. With Microsoft Planner, “teams can create new plans; organize, assign and collaborate on tasks; set due dates; update statuses and share files, while visual dashboards and email notifications keep everyone informed on progress.”
How to get it?
There is nothing to it, literally. According to the Office 365 team, customers with eligible subscription plans will just see a new icon or tile appear in their Office 365 launcher upon start up. Admins or IT Pros can rest easy on the Microsoft Planner upgrade as it seems to be a hands-off update done over the air (OTA), however, setting up workloads, notifications, tasks, and due dates are still dependent on the user.
When can I start to use it?
The roll out of Microsoft Planner is scheduled to take place “over the next several weeks” according to the Office 365 team. As of the announcement, some customers will begin to see the addition of Microsoft Planner as early as today.
Who can use it?
Unfortunately, for the average consumer looking to organize small meetings with friends or business associates or a would be a self-starter, Microsoft Planner appears to be only for larger business and educational purposes. Eligible customers include Office 365 Enterprise E1-E5, Business Essentials, Premium and Education subscription customers.
If you happen to meet the criteria, check your Office 365 launcher for the update today.
