2026 is shaping up to be one of the most disruptive years for project management software in recent memory. Microsoft’s changes are rippling across the industry, and organisations are being forced to rethink their entire decision-making process around project management technology.
The Old Decision Path
Until recently, the choice was simple:
- Non-Microsoft stack? Easy: pick a SaaS tool that matches your organisation’s project management maturity level. From Monday, Asana, Smartsheet, etc. for lighter needs, all the way up to Clarity or Kantata for enterprise-grade solutions.
- Microsoft stack? Also straightforward: choose MS Project (MSP) or Planner. If you needed more than scheduling such as risks, issues, stage and gate processes, or portfolio financial governance: you added Project Online (PoL).
The Big Shift
Now everything has changed:
- Project Online is gone. That single change has broken the old decision tree.
- Large enterprises? Still relatively easy: The Altus Power Platform-based solution is the direct upgrade path.
- Small to medium organisations? This is where things get messy.
The Pain Points
Here’s what organisations are facing:
- Many teams had built their project management solution with a handful of licences, self-configured Project Online instances and custom Power BI reports. That foundation has disappeared.
- Shift to Microsoft Planner? It’s not mature enough for portfolio-level visibility and hasn’t progressed far enough to be a realistic scheduling tool.
- Add the Planner Accelerator package or custom Power Apps? Suddenly it’s no longer self-configurable or easily supportable.
- SaaS tools? Off the table if you need full data control and wish to leverage your data with AI.
- Microsoft Project? Still the only scheduling option, but it’s for a single project only, hard for most users to grasp and it’s not getting modern updates. (Of course there is Primavera, but I’ll leave that to the construction industry, and their sizable budgets)
Result? You’re stuck with local MSP files, spreadsheets, SharePoint lists, macros, and Power Automate: a patchwork solution held together with sticky tape and difficult to scale.
What Now?
(I’ll admit my bias here) Altus + a partner (Sensei) for configuration and support. Currently, this seems to be the only option that bridges the gap. Because Altus is built natively on the Microsoft Power Platform, it lives entirely within your own Microsoft 365 tenant. This means you maintain full data sovereignty while gaining enterprise-grade features that the standard “New Planner” lacks: like portfolio-level RAID logs, financial tracking, and automated stage-gate governance. It also sets you up for secure, AI enabled project management with Microsoft Copilot, giving you a future ready solution that can evolve alongside your organisation’s needs.
With direct MSP integration (publishing to a database and feeding timesheet actuals back to the schedule), you still get full scheduling functionality.
Closing Thought
All project management solutions still revolve around the scheduling engine. Our industry is still searching for something between Planner and MS Project: but it doesn’t seem like Microsoft will provide it. Do we still seek a cloud-based, modernised version of MSP? To use the classic Henry Ford analogy, it feels like we’re asking for a faster horse. But perhaps our terrain still requires fast horses.
Want a future‑ready project management solution that keeps your data secure and AI‑enabled? Get in touch with us today.
