Microsoft announced in the fall of 2025 that it would retire Project Online in September 2026. For many organizations, this may seem to be just another technology sunset. However, for electric and water utilities, this is more than a system change: It’s a moment that demands immediate strategic attention.
Across the utility industry, Project Online has become deeply embedded over the last decade in how teams plan and deliver capital programs, track operational work, and report on portfolio performance. In many cases, it also underpins governance processes, funding decisions and regulatory reporting. Yet many utilities have yet to fully assess what this retirement means for their project data, workflows, integrations and overall project management information system (PMIS) landscape.
Hidden Risks of Delayed Action
Utilities that delay action risk introducing a cascade of avoidable challenges. Critical project and portfolio reporting can become disrupted, while accessing, cleaning or migrating historical data grows increasingly complex over time. As legacy systems and processes linger, valuable institutional knowledge embedded within schedules and workflows could be lost, creating gaps that would be difficult to fill. Mounting deadlines place heightened pressure on information technology (IT) and project management office (PMO) teams, often forcing reactive rather than strategic responses. This combination of strain and urgency ultimately compresses timelines, leaving little room for thoughtful, well-informed decision-making when it matters most.
For utilities, this decision can extend well beyond simply replacing a tool. It presents an opportunity to step back and consider how an optimal project and portfolio management approach should evolve to support where the organization is headed.
As capital programs expand, infrastructure investments accelerate and regulatory expectations continue to shift, many utilities are rethinking how to align both capital and operational work with strategic priorities. There is a growing need to improve visibility across portfolios, programs and projects, while also standardizing processes in a way that still provides flexibility across departments. Strengthening governance, forecasting and decision-making capabilities has become increasingly important, as has the ability to integrate project systems with financial, asset and work management platforms. Implemented together, these priorities reflect a broader shift toward increasingly connected, strategic and future-ready project delivery.
Organizations that treat this scenario as purely a technology migration often miss the larger opportunity and end up revisiting the same challenges in a new system a few years later. A more effective approach starts with asking crucial questions to establish clarity:
- What capabilities are actually needed going forward?
- Where are the current processes and data gaps?
- How can near-term transition needs be balanced with long-term strategy?
Reframing Project and Portfolio Management
Utilities today are navigating a dual challenge: addressing the immediate need to transition from Project Online while recognizing the broader opportunity to modernize PMIS and portfolio strategy. A well-rounded approach — one that is vendor-agnostic and utility-focused — enables organizations to fully understand the current project delivery technology landscape, including key dependencies and risks. From there, processes can clearly define what should be preserved, enhanced or fundamentally reimagined in a future state.
Rather than chasing technology trends, this approach emphasizes evaluating options through the lens of business needs and operational priorities. By developing a practical, phased road map for the transition, utilities can minimize disruption in the near term while thoughtfully positioning themselves for long-term improvement and resilience.
Microsoft’s retirement of Project Online is a fixed deadline. A utility could respond to that deadline with either a rushed migration or a deliberate step toward a more effective, future-ready project delivery environment. Utilities that start sooner will have the flexibility to make informed decisions, engage stakeholders and align the transition with broader business priorities. If an organization hasn’t started planning yet, now is the time.
