Microsoft Planner: Basic vs. Premium at KAUST

Microsoft Planner is a simple, visual tool for organizing teamwork—used to manage tasks, timelines, and projects. At KAUST, all community members have access to Planner Basic through Microsoft 365. For those who need more advanced planning and reporting features, Planner Premium is available upon request.

Planner (Basic): What's Included

Planner Basic is built for lightweight task management and is available to everyone by default. It allows you to:

• Create and assign tasks to colleagues
• Organize work using a drag-and-drop board
• Set due dates and task priorities
• Attach files and leave comments
• Collaborate inside Microsoft Teams and Outlook

Common uses include:

• Team to-do lists
• Simple group projects
• Personal work tracking

Planner Premium: Advanced Features

Planner Premium is designed for more structured projects and includes features that support timelines, reporting, and automation. It’s powered by Microsoft Project for the web and requires a separate license.

Common uses include:

• Research timelines and academic project tracking
• Departmental business workflows
• Projects requiring visual schedules and structured updates

How Planner Works with Microsoft 365

Planner is integrated with the Microsoft 365 tools you already use:

• Microsoft Teams – Add a Planner board directly into a Team channel to manage tasks in one place.
• Outlook – Get email reminders when tasks are assigned or updated.
• Microsoft To Do – See all your assigned tasks from Planner alongside your personal tasks.
• SharePoint – All files uploaded to a Planner task are stored in the linked group’s SharePoint document library.

Each Planner board is connected to a Microsoft 365 Group, which includes a SharePoint site. To help manage KAUST’s overall Microsoft 365 storage, new Planner boards can only be created within existing Groups.

If you need a new Planner board created, please submit a request through VITA (vita.kaust.edu.sa), and KAUST IT will help set it up for you.

Getting Started with Planner

You can access Microsoft Planner by signing in with your KAUST email at: https://planner.cloud.microsoft/

Planner works in any modern web browser and is also available through Microsoft Teams.

Requesting Planner Premium

To access Planner Premium features, a Project Plan 5 license is required.

How to Request:

1. Visit the Microsoft 365 License Request Portal: https://m365requests.kaust.edu.sa/
2. Select the license type: Planner and Project Plan 5 (Faculty)
3. Include a short explanation of how the license will support your academic or business needs.
4. Your request will be routed to your line manager for approval.
5. Once approved, the license will be assigned and Premium features will be available.

Only those with a Project Plan 5 license will have access to the full Premium functionality. Others can still collaborate in the plan but will be limited to the basic feature set.

Learn More and Get Help

• Microsoft Planner Help & Learning – Step-by-step guides, videos, and tutorials
• Compare Planner Basic vs. Premium Features