Microsoft Project Online service description
Project Online is a flexible online solution for Project Portfolio Management (PPM) and everyday work. Project Online provides powerful project management capabilities for planning, prioritizing, and managing projects and project portfolio investments—from almost anywhere on almost any device. Project Online can be used by administrators, portfolio managers and viewers, project and resource managers, and team leads and members. Project Online is built on the SharePoint platform, and it stores data in the SharePoint data store.
Available plans
Project Online is available through two subscriptions: Project Plan 3 and Project Plan 5. For more information on subscriptions that enable users for Project Online, see Compare Project Management Solutions and Costs | Microsoft Project.
Team member access is available through Project Online Essentials and Project Plan 1. Find more information on team members here.
Note
Project Online Essentials does not include Project for the web. Project Plan 1 includes both Project for the web and Project Online Essentials.
Feature availability
The following table lists the major Project Online features available across plans. Features listed in this section and in Project Online features interact only with data in the Project Online SharePoint data store. This table may change without notice (certain caveats apply). For more information, see the footnotes.
| Feature | Project Plan 3 | Project Plan 5 |
|---|---|---|
| Project, task, and time management | Yes | Yes |
| Alerts and reminders1 | Yes | Yes |
| Baselines | Yes | Yes |
| Board view | Yes | Yes |
| Critical path | Yes | Yes |
| Deliverable management | Yes | Yes |
| Dependencies | Yes | Yes |
| Gantt view | Yes | Yes |
| Grid view | Yes | Yes |
| Issue and risk management | Yes | Yes |
| Master projects | Yes | Yes |
| Notifications1 | Yes | Yes |
| Project Home | Yes | Yes |
| Project versioning | Yes | Yes |
| Summary tasks | Yes | Yes |
| Task scheduling | Yes | Yes |
| Task updates | Yes | Yes |
| Timelines | Yes | Yes |
| Timesheets | Yes | Yes |
| Timesheet approvals | Yes | Yes |
| Non-working time setup | No | Yes |
| Collaboration | ||
| Attachments | Yes | Yes |
| External team members4 | Yes | Yes |
| Project sites | Yes | Yes |
| Demand management | ||
| Project request approval workflow setup | No | Yes |
| Project request forms creation | No | Yes |
| Project requests | Yes | Yes |
| Resource, program, and portfolio management | ||
| Project costing and budgeting | Yes | Yes |
| Project team setup | Yes | Yes |
| Resource capacity views | Yes | Yes |
| Resource costing | Yes | Yes |
| Resource engagements (bookings) | Yes6 | Yes7 |
| Resource capacity planning | No | Yes |
| Roadmaps | Yes | Yes |
| Portfolio analysis and prioritization | No | Yes |
| Dashboards/portals | Yes | Yes |
| Work, generic, and material resources | Yes | Yes |
| Reporting3 | ||
| Out-of-box reporting | Yes | Yes |
| Custom reports | Yes | Yes |
| Dashboards and portals | Yes | Yes |
| Customization and integration | ||
| Custom branding | No | Yes |
| Custom fields | Yes | Yes |
| Formulas | Yes | Yes |
| PowerApps8 | Yes | Yes |
| Workflows9 | Yes | Yes |
| Microsoft 365 integration1 | Yes | Yes |
| Microsoft Planner integration1 | Yes | Yes |
| Security, user, and service management | ||
| Active Directory integration5 | Yes | Yes |
| User management | No | Yes |
| Service administration | No | Yes |
Notes
1 Requires an Office or Microsoft 365 commercial subscription.
2 Azure Boards acquired separately.
3 Reporting for Project Online using Power BI requires a Power BI license.
4 Project Online licensing for guests follows the same policy as that for internal users. Any interaction on a Project Online site requires a Project Plan 3 or Project Plan 5 subscription.
5 Active Directory requires a separate subscription.
6 Users with a Project Plan 3 subscription can submit resource engagement requests. They cannot review, fulfill, or approve resource engagement requests.
7 Users with a Project Plan 5 subscription can submit, review, fulfill, and approve resource engagement requests.
8 Building and using separate Power Apps beyond the out-of-the-box Project application that access Project for the web or Project Online customer data requires a separate Power Apps subscription.
9 Power Automate use within Project is limited to the context of the Project application. What this means is that for both triggers and actions, flow entitlements included with Project can:
- Connect to any data source within the use rights of the Project application:
- Data sources available via standard connectors
- Project data via the Microsoft Dataverse connector
- Be triggered directly from within the Project application (via built-in trigger/action)
If the flow is isolated and has nothing to do with the Project application, then a platform license will need to be purchased.
Learn more
For more information about Project Online, check out the following resources:
Use of SharePoint Online
Project Online requires the use of SharePoint Online, which is provisioned as part of Project Online. Rights to the SharePoint Online functionality provided with Project Plan 3 or Project Plan 5 subscriptions are limited to storing and accessing data to support Project Online.
Using Project for the web and Project Online together
Although Project for the web and Project Online are separate applications, you can use them side by side. You can see all your projects from both applications in Project Home. You can use the Project Roadmap capability to build roadmaps that include projects from both applications. And you can use Power BI and the Project for the web Power BI content pack to gain insights into projects and resources across the two applications.3
Going forward, Microsoft will focus on Project for the web innovations. However, you can continue using Project Online with confidence as it will continue to receive key performance and security improvements.
Data backup and retention
Project Online has the same data backup and retention policy as Office 365. For details, see Data Retention, deletion, and destruction in Microsoft 365.
Data Encryption
To learn more about data encryption in Project Online see Data Encryption in OneDrive for Business and SharePoint Online - Microsoft 365 Compliance | Microsoft Docs
Project Online boundaries and limitations
Project Online has some limitations. For more information, see Project Online: software boundaries and limits.
Service considerations
Microsoft Project Online is available in commercial, education and GCC, GCC High and DoD subscriptions.
Learn more about Office 365 US Government.
Team member functionality
Team member functionality for Project Online is available through a Project Online Essentials or Project Plan 1 subscription. Project Online Essentials is a team member add-on subscription for customers who have Project Plan 3 or Project Plan 5 Project Online Essentials. Project Plan 1 subscriptions give team members a web interface to perform task and time updates to projects managed in Project Online.
Team members with Project Online Essentials or Project Plan 1 subscriptions can perform the following Project Online functions:
- Use a web-based interface
- Update tasks, issues, and risks
- Submit timesheets
- Share documents and collaborate with Microsoft Teams or Skype for Business users
Additional resources
Project Online Documentation: Project Online Admin Documentation - ProjectOnline | Microsoft Docs
Messaging: To stay informed of upcoming changes, including new and changed features, planned maintenance, or other important announcements, visit the Message Center. For more information, see Message center.
Licensing terms: For licensing terms and conditions for products and services purchased through Microsoft Commercial Volume Licensing Programs, see the Product Terms site.
Project Online licensing considerations:
Any interaction on a Project Online site requires at least a Project Plan 3 or Project Plan 5 subscription within the tenant.
For Project Online trial subscriptions, your trial instances will be deleted 30 days after your trial period ends.
Accessibility: Microsoft remains committed to the security of your data and the accessibility of our services. For more information, see the Microsoft Trust Center and the Office Accessibility Center.