The Hidden Costs of Delaying Your Project Online Migration
Why waiting until 2026 will cost your PMO more than migrating early.
Microsoft has officially announced the retirement of Project Online on September 30, 2026, and while that date may feel far away, the real deadlines for many organizations will come much sooner. PMOs that postpone their migration often underestimate the operational, financial, and strategic costs of waiting — until they’ve already absorbed them.
In this post, we’ll break down the hidden risks and expenses of staying on Project Online too long, and why now is the best time to plan your move to a modern platform like OnePlan or Planner Premium.
1. Rising Support & Maintenance Burden
Legacy systems create drag long before they retire.
As Microsoft shifts its investment to Planner Premium, Microsoft Project in Teams, and OnePlan integrations, Project Online becomes increasingly fragile. This leads to:
- More time spent troubleshooting issues
- Unpredictable behavior in project schedules
- Workarounds that create process inconsistency
- Increased reliance on internal SMEs for support
These aren’t one-time costs — they quietly accumulate every week.
2. Integration Breakage & Reporting Gaps
Most organizations have built critical reporting and integrations on top of Project Online, including:
- Power BI dashboards
- Resource and financial reporting
- Custom workflows
- APIs and data feeds
- Third-party connectors
As supporting services evolve, these connections degrade or fail entirely. Fixing them late in the migration cycle results in rushed rebuilds and higher implementation costs.
3. The 2025–2026 Migration Backlog
Many organizations will try to migrate at the same time.
This “retirement rush” typically means:
- Longer wait times for partners
- Compressed project schedules
- Higher consulting costs due to demand
- Less time for testing, UAT, and data cleanup
Early movers get better access to experts, more customization, and smoother transitions.
4. Lost Productivity from Staying on Outdated Tools
Project Online is no longer receiving innovation — while modern tools are accelerating rapidly.
Planner Premium and OnePlan now offer:
- AI-powered planning
- Enhanced portfolio and resource planning
- Modern team collaboration inside Teams
- Better reporting and dashboards
- Improved work visibility across the organization
Every year you wait means another year of missed improvements in productivity, collaboration, and transparency.
5. Growing Data Cleanup Debt
Project Online environments tend to accumulate:
- Outdated projects
- Redundant custom fields
- Broken workflows
- Legacy templates
- Misaligned calendars
The longer you stay on Project Online, the more data piles up — and the more complicated and expensive it becomes to migrate later.
6. Higher Change-Management Costs Under Pressure
When migrations happen late, teams are forced into “do it fast” mode. This increases the likelihood of:
- Weak communications and training
- Poorly adopted processes
- Replication of old problems in new systems
- Low user engagement after go-live
A proactive migration gives your organization space for a pilot, proper user onboarding, and sustainable governance.
7. Security & Compliance Risks
Older systems introduce governance challenges such as:
- Orphaned access
- Role drift and inconsistent permissions
- Unsupported configurations
- Reduced visibility into portfolio and resource data
Modern platforms are designed to align with current security and compliance frameworks — reducing long-term risk.
8. Falling Behind More Modern PMOs
Organizations that modernize early gain advantages in:
- Strategic portfolio visibility
- Capacity and scenario planning
- Roadmapping
- Cross-team alignment
- Faster decision-making
Those who wait often find themselves playing catch-up.
Final Thoughts: Early Migrators Win
Delaying your Project Online migration may feel like the easier choice today — but it’s the costliest one long term.
A proactive migration gives you:
- Time to clean your data
- Time to pilot new processes
- Better access to experts
- Lower overall cost
- Higher user adoption
- Less operational disruption
If you’re unsure where to start, we’ve created a set of free resources to help:
Project Online Migration Options
Upcoming Webinar — Real Customer Success Stories
Ready to talk through your environment or get a personalized migration plan? Our team at PPM Works is here to help.
