Microsoft Planner Update: Enhanced Task Tools for Frontline Teams

Key insights

 

• Targeted Tasks for Frontline Employees: Introduces specific task lists for every team member to complete training and policy tasks, enhancing organizational compliance and knowledge.


• Automated Recurrence of Tasks: Enables the automation of repeating tasks across frontline locations, streamlining regular activities like site inspections and compliance walks.


• Form Completion Requirement: Requires submission of a form response before marking a task as complete, ensuring necessary data collection through integration with Microsoft Forms.


• Approval Completion Requirement: Integrates with Microsoft Approvals, requiring designated approvals before task completion, enhancing accountability and task quality.


• Digital Transformation and Streamlined Operations: Represents a significant step forward in digital transformation, streamlining operations, and enhancing communication and accountability in frontline operations.

 

Exploring the New Microsoft Planner for Frontline Workers

The recent roll-out of the new Microsoft Planner represents a significant advancement in how organizations manage and assign tasks, particularly for their frontline workers. This innovation is crucial in today's fast-paced work environments, where clarity and efficiency in task management can greatly influence success. The introduction of specific functionalities like task lists for individual team members, automated recurring tasks, form completion requirements, and approval completion requirements not only enhances operational efficiency but also ensures adherence to organizational policies and standards.

Moreover, the integration with Microsoft Forms for submitting required information and Microsoft Approvals for necessary task approvals showcases Microsoft's commitment to providing comprehensive solutions that address real-world business challenges. These features exemplify how technology can be leveraged to simplify complex processes, improve communication, and facilitate more structured and accountable workflows. The new Planner experience is set to empower organizations and their frontline employees by offering more tailored and interactive task management tools, ushering in a new era of workplace productivity and organizational agility.

 

 

Read the full article The new Microsoft Planner: New task features for organizations with frontline workers

 

The new Microsoft Planner: New task features for organizations with frontline workers Earlier this monthMicrosoftannounced that the new Microsoft Planner has begun rolling out to General Availability. As part of the new Planner, we’re enhancing task publishing, a feature designed to increase clarity for frontline workers about what work is required and increase visibility for the organization on how that work is going. More specifically, we're releasing four new features based on the top requests we’ve received across frontline organizations. We’re happy to report that these new capabilities have started rolling out as part of the new Planner:

• Assign training and policy tasks to frontline employees (task list for each team member)
• Automatically send repeat tasks to frontline locations (task list recurrence)
• Make it mandatory to provide input back to the org (form completion requirement)
• Make it mandatory to get approval for work completed (approval completion requirement)

These features are being enabled for users who have the new Planner experience, so it is expected that not everyone will see them immediately. The approval completion requirement is coming soon to the new Planner, and the three other features are available today in the new Planner experience. You'll find them within the task publishing experience.

Task publishing allows central leaders to create a list of tasks, distribute those tasks to multiple locations, and monitor execution across locations. One of the top requests has been the ability for organizations to publish tasks that each employee at a frontline location must complete – for example, to send training tasks or new policy acknowledgment tasks to all team members at designated frontline locations. This feature will appear in task publishing as a new type of task list for each team member. When publishing a task list for each team member, you can select the locations that should receive the task list, as usual. Once you confirm the locations, a copy of each task in the list will be created for every employee at each of the chosen locations. When these tasks are created for each employee, they’ll be created in a plan for the specific employee rather than the plan for the team. Once the list has been published, you’ll have access to simple reporting to monitor completion.

People also ask

Is Microsoft Planner being discontinued?

No termination date has been set for Project Online. For users of Microsoft Project for the web, it's important to note that the functionalities you currently utilize and appreciate will still be accessible, albeit rebranded as Planner.

What is new in MS Planner?

The newly revamped Microsoft Planner amalgamates the ease of To Do, the cooperative nature of Planner, the robust capabilities of Project for the web, and the advanced intelligence of Microsoft Copilot. This integrated experience is commencing within Microsoft Teams, offering a cohesive and user-friendly platform.

Is a new Planner experience coming to teams?

Indeed, the latest iteration of Microsoft Planner is preparing to launch in early 2024 for Microsoft Teams. Enhanced by innovative AI, this version is designed to be powerful, collaborative, scalable, and capable of assisting users in managing tasks and attaining objectives more effectively.

What is the feature of MS Planner?

Microsoft Planner's primary features offer a streamlined approach to Project management. Users can swiftly generate to-do lists, checklists, and projects, while the implementation of Kanban, charts, and calendar views provide a concise and intuitive overview of pending tasks. Although it might offer fewer features compared to other project management tools, its effectiveness lies in managing straightforward projects with efficiency.

 

Keywords

Microsoft Planner Update, Frontline Workers Task Management, Task Features for Organizations, New Task Tools Microsoft, Frontline Employee Scheduling, Workplace Productivity Software, Microsoft Planner Frontline Integration, Efficient Task Planning Solutions