Project Online has retired: a checklist for what to do next

Where things stand

Project Online stopped being sold to new customers on 1 October 2025, and the service retired on 30 September 2026. Project Web App, the OData feed and the project data in the service went with it. Project desktop, Project Server Subscription Edition and Planner continue.

From here, your PMO works with whatever was exported: project files, reporting extracts, and the SharePoint content of the project sites. The steps below assume that. If nothing was exported, your first call is to Microsoft support, not to a new vendor.

1. Gather what you have

• Every project as an .mpp file, and ideally as XML too. Ask planners to check their own laptops; local copies are common.
• The last reporting extract: projects, tasks, assignments, baselines and timesheet actuals, usually as Excel or a database copy.
• Risk and issue lists from each project site, exported from SharePoint to Excel.
• Documents from the project sites. These may still exist in SharePoint; check with your Microsoft 365 administrator.
• The list of enterprise custom fields and lookup tables, with their values per project.
• The resource pool: names, roles, calendars and rates.

Put everything in one dated folder and write down what is missing. That list decides how much has to be rebuilt by hand.

2. Check each schedule before you move it

A migration is the cheapest moment to clean a schedule. Open each file in Project desktop and check:

• The status date and progress. Is the file the latest update, or one from months ago?
• Baselines. Which baseline is the approved one? Note its number; tools differ in which they treat as current.
• Open ends. Tasks with no predecessor or no successor break the critical path. Fix them now.
• Hard constraints. "Must finish on" dates hide slippage. Keep only the contractual ones.
• Calendars. Confirm the working week and holidays, especially if projects run in more than one country.
• Manually scheduled tasks. Convert them to auto-scheduled, or accept that they will not move with the logic.

Then save each project as XML (File, Save As, XML Format). XML is the format other tools read; .mpp is not.

3. Decide where each kind of work goes

Project Online did several jobs, and they do not all have to land in one place.

• Task plans for small teams fit Planner or any work-management tool.
• Schedules with a critical path, baselines and earned value need a scheduling tool: Project Server Subscription Edition if you stay on Microsoft and can host it, or a web product such as Critova.
• Timesheets usually move to the finance or HR system that already owns payroll.
• Portfolio reporting follows the scheduling tool. Ask whether it reports from live data or needs a separate model.

Ask every candidate tool the same four questions: Does it read MS Project XML with baselines? Does it calculate a real critical path? Can sponsors read it without a paid seat? Can I export my data again?

4. Pilot with three projects

Pick one small project, one large one and one that is in trouble. Import them and compare three numbers with the old tool: the finish date, the count of critical tasks, and the baseline variance. If they match, the engine and the import are sound. If they do not, find out why before you move the other forty.

In Critova the import shows a preview first: what was read, what was skipped and any warnings. Nothing is created until you confirm.

5. Restart the reporting cycle

• Take a fresh baseline on every imported project, and keep the imported one as history.
• Re-enter open risks and issues. Closed ones can stay in the Excel archive.
• Agree one status format and one reporting date for the whole portfolio.
• Invite sponsors as viewers so the next steering committee reads live numbers.
• Keep the archive folder for as long as your contracts require records.