| name | planner-connector |
| category | kumite-connector |
| description | Manage Microsoft Planner / Tasks (and the Planner Premium / Project for the Web surface) from Copilot — create tasks, update assignments, roll up status, generate steerco views. Use for project-coordinator workflows and meeting-action tracking. Triggers: "create tasks from this", "Planner status", "assign to", "due date", "roll up tasks". |
Planner Connector
A status update is only as good as the underlying task data. Make Planner the source of truth, then let Copilot do the rolling-up.
Quick Reference
| Task | Approach |
|---|
| Convert meeting actions to tasks | Resolve planId+bucketId -> create with owner + due -> link back |
| Roll up status for steerco | Filter by bucket / label / owner -> render as table |
| Reassign departed colleague's tasks | Bulk update with audit comment; never silent |
| Spot drift | Tasks past due > 14d, or unowned for > 7d -> flag |
| Reconcile two trackers | Pick one as canonical; mirror only one direction |
| Recurring template | Save the checklist as a Planner template, not as instructions in chat |
Prerequisites — this skill is a playbook, not the connector
A SKILL.md cannot call Planner on its own. It assumes the platform already exposes Microsoft Graph Planner / Tasks as tools. The skill teaches Cowork how to use Planner well; the connector itself is separate infrastructure.
Before this skill works end-to-end you need:
- A Microsoft Graph connector — typically Copilot Cowork's built-in M365 connectivity, or an MCP server wrapping
/planner/plans, /planner/tasks, and (for Premium) Project for the Web endpoints.
- Credentials — your Entra ID session with
Tasks.ReadWrite / Group.Read.All scopes consented for the connector.
- Plan membership — you must be a member of the underlying M365 Group for the plan you're operating on.
- Tool discovery — confirm Planner tools are visible (ask Cowork: "what Planner tools do you have?") before using this skill.
In Cowork on a properly licensed M365 tenant, this is usually present out of the box. On other surfaces, you'll need an MCP connector explicitly installed.
When to Use
- Converting meeting actions into Planner tasks with owners and due dates.
- Rolling up plan status for a status-update or steerco pre-read.
- Reconciling Planner vs. a separate tracker (Excel, Loop, Jira).
- Creating recurring task templates from a kata-style checklist.
How to Use
- Resolve the plan / bucket —
planId, bucketId. Bucket = workstream; choose deliberately.
- Read open tasks filtered by assignee, due date, label.
- Create / update tasks with owner (AAD ID), due date, checklist, and label. Empty owner = unowned task = drift risk.
- Roll up by bucket / label / owner — render as table or burndown.
- Verify that owners are current (not departed colleagues) and that due dates respect dependencies.
Parameter Guidance
| Parameter | Why it matters |
|---|
planId / bucketId | Identify the right plan; users often have several. |
assignments | Multi-assign is allowed but blurs accountability — prefer single owner. |
appliedCategories | Color labels are the cheap way to slice (e.g., risk vs. action). |
dueDateTime | Time component is rarely meaningful — normalize to end-of-day in the owner's TZ. |
priority | 1=urgent … 9=low. Reserve 1 for genuine escalations. |
Examples
| Don't: Anti-pattern | Do: Right move |
|---|
| Bulk-create tasks with no owners | Assign a single current owner plus a due date to every task |
| Silently reassign a departed colleague's tasks | Bulk-reassign with an audit comment explaining the change |
| Keep one plan in Planner and another in Excel | Pick one canonical tracker; mirror in a single direction only |
| Let Copilot guess due dates from vague verbal commitments | Ask for the date, then set it |
Critical Rules
- Every task has a single owner. Multi-assign blurs accountability.
- Every task has a due date. "Someday" tasks become drift.
- Departed-colleague check. Before bulk operations, verify owners are still in the directory.
- Audit trail via task comments. Bulk Copilot updates without a comment trail leave the plan owner blind.
- Pick one tracker per project. Sync issues kill more projects than missed deadlines.
Common Pitfalls
- Bulk-importing tasks without owners — they vanish from "Assigned to me" views.
- Updating a Planner that someone else owns without a comment trail — they lose context.
- Treating completed tasks as deletable — they're the audit trail.
- Sync lag with To Do / Outlook Tasks — verify in Planner UI after a Copilot bulk write.
- Due dates that ignore weekends, holidays, or owner TZ.
- Labels invented per task instead of standardized — kills roll-up.
Anti-Patterns
- Creating duplicate plans for the same project (one in Planner, one in Loop, one in Excel) — pick one.
- Using Planner for portfolio reporting — that's Project for the Web or Power BI territory.
- Letting Copilot guess due dates from vague verbal commitments. Ask, then assign.
- Letting an unowned task sit in "Assigned to no-one" — orphans never get done.
Verify Before Roll-up
Related
