Read any .mpp
With the open library MPXJ, it opens .mpp from any version, Project XML, and Primavera XER and PMXML, without Project installed, and saves a copy in XML and a table per task.
Octo × Office · Project and schedules · research of Oct 31, 2026
The schedule can be read by a script. The baseline is approved by you.
Project Online went offline on Sep 30, 2026, Project for the web became Planner premium plans in August 2025 and Project 2021 lost support in October. What remains is Project desktop, Project Server Subscription Edition and Planner, with data in .mpp, in Project XML and in Dataverse. Octo reads any .mpp without Project installed, checks the critical path on its own, measures baseline against actual, builds the S-curve and inventories the plans that were left scattered. The one who approves the schedule, saves the baseline and answers for the deadline is the project manager.
Project OnlineSep 30, 2026retirement date in Microsoft's lifecycle
Project for the web08/2025retired; the plans became premium in Planner
Baselines per project11the main one and ten more, in Project desktop
Sources19listed at the end of the page
01
What Octo does with Project schedules.
Six possible deliverables, drawn from the research. All of them start by reading a copy, none of them changes the .mpp without approval, and all of them go to review by whoever manages the project.
Read any
Critical path checked
Recalculates the CPM with durations and links only (FS, SS, FF, SF, with lag) and compares it with what Project flagged. Each difference becomes a question: a deliberate constraint or a patch?
Deliverable: list of differences for the managerBaseline against actual
Compares the approved baseline with the current dates and measures the finish variance in business days, with the critical path tasks at the top of the report.
Deliverable: weekly variance reportWeekly S-curve
Keeps one Project XML per Friday, at the status date, and builds cumulative planned progress against actual, ready for Excel or Power BI.
Deliverable: historical series in CSVInventory after Project Online
Planner basic plans through Microsoft Graph, premium plans through Dataverse and files exported before the retirement, in a single inventory. Read-only.
Deliverable: portfolio map and what is left to migrateBaseline only with approval
On the manager's workstation, through COM, it exports the day's XML; saving a baseline only happens when the name of the approver is given, and it goes into a log next to the file.
Deliverable: baseline saved with a log
02
Eight arms, one checked schedule.
The same Octo cycle, applied to the schedule. Each arm has a narrow role; the ones who approve the plan, save the baseline and answer for the deadline are people.
-
Discovery
Surveys what already exists
Project versions in use, where the
.mppfiles are, what is left of Project Online, which plans are basic and which are premium. -
Data
Pins down the table per task
Durations, links, baselines, progress and the weekly history, in a structure that Excel and Power BI can read.
-
Security
Looks after access
Minimum permission (
Tasks.Read), token off the disk, people's names and assignments flagged as personal data (LGPD). -
Architecture
Chooses the path
Files and MPXJ to read, Graph for basic plans, Dataverse for premium, COM only on the workstation and only for what requires Project.
-
Development
Writes the script
Reading, recalculation, comparison and S-curve, with the source of each constant noted in the file.
-
Review
Checks by content
The recalculated critical path, the baseline dates and the S-curve totals. "The script ran" is not a check.
-
Release
Delivers the report
CSV and report in an agreed folder. Saving the baseline and publishing to the executives stays with the manager.
-
Documentation
Records what applies to your environment
Versions, licenses, measured limits, who approved each baseline and where each number came from.
Octo works with reads and copies; it saves only what was approved, and in the name of the approver. It does not approve schedules, does not resave baselines on its own and does not answer for the deadline.
03
Every task, its own path.
The criteria Octo uses to choose, with the products that still exist on Oct 30, 2026.
| Task | Path | Needs Project? |
|---|---|---|
Read .mpp from any version | MPXJ, UniversalProjectReader | No |
| Convert to XML, MPX or XER | MPXJ, UniversalProjectWriter | No (MPXJ does not write .mpp) |
| Recalculate critical path and float | Script over the Project XML | No |
| Baseline against actual | The XML Baseline element | No |
| Weekly S-curve | Dated XML every Friday + script | Only to export |
| Save a baseline | COM, BaselineSave | Yes, on the manager's workstation |
| Inventory Planner basic plans | Graph, Tasks.Read | No |
| Inventory premium plans | Dataverse Web API | No |
| Change a premium schedule | msdyn_CreateOperationSetV1 + msdyn_Pss* | No, but with a licensed person |
| Read a Primavera P6 schedule | MPXJ (XER, PMXML) | No |
04
From the Gantt on screen to a measured portfolio.
Three steps. Each one only makes sense after the previous one has shown results on your team.
A proposal, not a promise
Read and check
Octo reads the schedules that exist and shows what the critical path really says, without writing anything.
- Table per task for each
.mpp - Critical path differences
- Inventory of what is left of Project Online
Weekly measurement
Every Friday, an XML at the status date, the variance against the baseline and the updated S-curve.
- History kept week by week
- Variance in business days per front
- Report for Excel and Power BI
Portfolio with a log
Basic plans, premium plans and files in a single dashboard, with each baseline approved and logged.
- Who approved each baseline
- Plans outside the inventory flagged
- Migration of what still depends on files
05
Confirmed by a source.
Every point below has a source published by Microsoft (Learn and Support), by the package's official repository (PyPI, NuGet, PowerShell Gallery) or in Brazilian federal law. The examples are scripts to follow, not runs. The sources are in the next section.
7
points with a published source, each with its reference shown alongside.
- ConfirmedProject Online retired
- Lifecycle starting on Mar 1, 2013 and retirement on Sep 30, 2026; notice MC1148537 says that after that there is no access to the projects or the data.Source: learn.microsoft.com/lifecycle; Message Center mirror (secondary)
- ConfirmedProject for the web became Planner
- "Microsoft Project for the web is retiring on August 1, 2025"; the plans continue as premium in Planner, with data in Dataverse; critical path only in Plans 3 and 5.Source: Project for the web service description; Planner FAQ
- ConfirmedPlanner API without premium plans
- "Premium plans and tasks aren't available on the Planner API in Microsoft Graph"; the full inventory also needs Dataverse.Source: Graph, Planner API overview
- ConfirmedSchedule APIs with a licensed person
- Writing to premium plans goes through OperationSets of up to 200 operations, and an application user cannot use these APIs.Source: learn.microsoft.com, Project schedule APIs
- ConfirmedMPXJ reads, but does not write
.mpp - Reads MPP from all versions (MPP14 covers Project 2010 onward) and writes MPX, MSPDI, PMXML, XER, Planner and SDEF; LGPL license.Source: mpxj.org
- ConfirmedDataverse column names
- Task progress is
msdyn_progress(a fraction from 0 to 1) and the project finish ismsdyn_finish, which replacedmsdyn_scheduledend; the example on the schedule APIs page still uses the old names on the task.Source: learn.microsoft.com, "Update the progress of a task" and "Feature changes from Project Service Automation to Project Operations" - ConfirmedProject desktop in the Planner licenses
- Project desktop comes with Project Plan 3 and Project Plan 5 (renamed Planner and Project Plan 3 and 5 on Sep 18, 2024); Planner Plan 1 does not include the desktop. This decides whether saving a baseline through COM fits the license the client already has.Source: Project desktop service description; Planner FAQ
06
What Octo does, and what stays with you.
Octo prepares everything, but it does not sign. The document of record stays with whoever is accountable for it.
Octo prepares
Surveys, organizes and produces the files: documents, spreadsheets, presentations, schedules, inventories and check reports, on file and through the APIs, without sending or publishing anything.
Deliverable: material ready to checkYour team checks
Whoever is accountable for the document, the spreadsheet or the schedule checks what Octo delivered before approving. If something doesn't add up, it goes back to Octo with the correction.
Step: checked by the person accountableWho signs and approves
Octo does not sign, approve or send. The document owner reviews and signs; the project manager approves the baseline; the Microsoft 365 administrator grants consent for permissions; the data protection officer approves anything that goes out with personal data.
Approval: document owner and 365 administrator
07
Sources.
Microsoft lifecycle pages, service descriptions and API references, and the MPXJ site and package, consulted on Oct 31, 2026.
- Lifecycle, Project OnlineRetirement on Sep 30, 2026
- Project for the web service descriptionRetired on Aug 1, 2025; plans and limits
- Planner FAQPremium plans, MPP, Project Online
- Lifecycle, Project 2024Support until Oct 9, 2029
- Lifecycle, Project 2021End of support on Oct 13, 2026
- Lifecycle, end of support in 2026Project 2021, ends on Oct 13, 2026
- Lifecycle, Project Server Subscription EditionIn support
- Graph, Planner APIBasic plans only; etags
- Planner limits9,000 tasks per plan
- Project schedule APIsDataverse, OperationSets
- Update the progress of a task
msdyn_progress, from 0 to 1 - Changes from PSA to Project Operations
msdyn_finishin place ofmsdyn_scheduledend - Project desktop service descriptionProject Plan 3 and Plan 5
- Project Online service descriptionSubscriptions
- Project XML referenceMSPDI schema
- VBA, PjSaveBaselineToEleven baselines
- Server-side Office automationNeither recommended nor supported
- MPXJ, MPP filesVersions, writing and passwords
- MPXJ on PyPI16.10.0, Oct 5, 2026
Your schedules, read and checked.
The assessment starts by reading the schedules you already have and what is left of Project Online, read-only. You get the critical path checked, the variance against the baseline and the questions only your team can answer, and you decide with that in hand.