Project Online is being retired on September 30, 2026. From that date, Microsoft will shut the service down entirely and customers must have exported and migrated their data in advance. Access will end, not degrade gradually.

Upon retirement you lose: • All access to Project Online / Project Web App (PWA) • Project Online–associated SharePoint sites, including documents, RAID logs, and governance artifacts

Microsoft Project Server Subscription Edition is a flexible solution for project portfolio management and the direct continuity replacement for Microsoft's retiring platforms.

Yes — this is not a single-date issue: • SharePoint 2013 workflows retire on April 2, 2026, meaning classic PWA workflows (stage gates, approvals, PDP automation) will stop functioning unless redesigned. • Project Server 2019 support ends on July 14, 2026, leaving environments unsupported and unpatched. • These timelines compress delivery windows and materially increase risk for late movers.

Microsoft end-of-support events trigger global migration surges and late movers face bottlenecks, downtime, and lost productivity. At the same time: • Governance workflows must be redesigned • Reporting models need rebuilding • Integrations must be revalidated • Security and compliance must be reassessed Waiting pushes you into constrained choices under time pressure.

There are two proven, Microsoft-aligned options: Option 1: Project Server Subscription Edition (SE) + Microsoft Project Desktop • The closest continuity replacement for Project Online. • Hosted on-premises or via LoadSpring Solutions, avoiding the need to re-platform scheduling tools. • Best suited where retention of the classic Project Server operating model is a priority. Option 2: Specific solutions such as TPG ProjectPowerPack (PPP) + Microsoft Project Desktop • PPP provides a modern Power Platform-based PPM layer for portfolio management, governance, RAID, reporting and Teams integration. • Microsoft Project Desktop continues to be used for detailed scheduling, integrated directly with PPP rather than PWA. • This approach modernizes the PPM estate while avoiding forced change to proven scheduling practices.

The risks increase sharply: • No access to data after September 30, 2026 • No security patches or updates • Rising operational cost and fragility • Clunky user experience and limited scalability • Increased likelihood of unplanned downtime • Reduced vendor and partner availability due to migration demand peaks This is not a tenable “run it for a bit longer” scenario.

A realistic timeline aligns to: • Jan–Feb 2026: Test and sandbox environments • Mar–May 2026: Migration and data validation • Aug 2026: Production cutover and decommissioning Anything starting later materially increases delivery and business risk.

• SharePoint workflow dependencies breaking in April 2026 • Underestimating data cleansing and validation effort • Rebuilding reporting under time pressure • Integration failures discovered too late • Competing globally for limited migration capacity These are the failure patterns seen repeatedly in platform retirements.

By mid-2026, organizations should have: • A proven target platform deployed (not just selected) • A completed pilot with real users • A validated migration approach • A firm cutover date well before September 2026 Anything less could be detrimental.