Process Planner 2.0: the Aardvark relaunch
Process Planner is the successor to Aardvark, our long-running Microsoft Teams app for stage-based work. It has been rebuilt from the ground up as a native SharePoint Framework (SPFx) web part that also runs in Teams. Same core idea, much bigger toolkit.
The headline upgrades are listed below. The features page goes into the detail on each.
Native to SharePoint Online
Aardvark was a Microsoft Teams app first. Process Planner is a SharePoint web part first, and a Teams tab second. The board can live on any SharePoint page in your tenant; the Teams tab is an optional projection of the same board.
30+ business templates out of the box
Aardvark shipped with a single Opportunities pipeline template. Process Planner adds more than thirty, grouped by purpose: general task boards, project management, HR and people, IT and support, sales and CRM, quality and compliance, operations, marketing, workflow, and partners and vendors. Each template configures the columns and lane structure for a specific process, adding only the columns that don’t already exist on your chosen list.
Multi-source unified board
Process Planner can pull items from many SharePoint lists (across different sites if you need it) into a single board. Shared lanes, source badges on every card, and updates that go back to the originating list. Aardvark was one list per board.
List / Table view
A new tabular view sits alongside the kanban Board. Sortable columns, source column for multi-list setups, and virtual scrolling for large datasets. A tab at the top of the web part toggles between Board and List.
Offline support
Edits, lane moves, creates and deletes are queued locally when connectivity drops, then synced automatically when it returns. Sync progress is visible, conflicts with edits made by other users are detected, and the queue survives a browser restart.
Performance at scale
Virtual scrolling keeps boards responsive past 1,000 items. Items from multiple sources fetch in parallel. Drag-and-drop and edits update the UI optimistically, with automatic rollback if the server rejects the change. ETag-based concurrency catches another user’s edits before they get overwritten.
Configurable in the property pane
Every Process Planner setting lives in the standard SharePoint web part properties pane. Data Sources page for list connections. Field Mapping page for what appears on cards. Per-lane overrides for variations across stages. Auto-suggest lanes from a Choice column. No code; no separate admin portal.
Migrating from Aardvark
If your team used Aardvark, your existing SharePoint lists are unchanged: Aardvark didn’t own the data, and Process Planner doesn’t either. Install Process Planner, point it at the same list, and pick the Sales Pipeline template (or skip the template and use the columns you already have). The board renders against existing items immediately.
Coming next
These are the v2 priorities, in order of how often customers ask for them. Tracked publicly so you can see what’s already in flight.
Auto-refresh polling
A configurable polling interval that re-fetches the board on a schedule, for boards where the data does change while you watch but nobody is dragging cards. Optional, off by default; chosen as a v2 enhancement so v1 stays focused on user-driven refresh.
Persistent filter state per user
Save the active text filter and source filter against the signed-in user so the board opens already filtered to what they care about. Today the filter state is session-only on purpose: a fresh board on every page load. v2 makes it sticky for users who want it.
Column grouping in List view
Click a column header to group rows by that field, with collapsible group headers. Today the List view is flat with sortable columns. Grouping is the natural next step.
Keyboard-driven drag-and-drop
Drag-and-drop accessible from the keyboard with screen reader announcements for card moves and status changes. WCAG 2.2 AA work-in-progress; the property pane and board controls are already keyboard-accessible.
Have a request not on this list? Contact us and tell us what would help. Customer requests are how the v2 list gets re-ordered.
Ready to run your processes better?
Process Planner is available on the Microsoft commercial marketplace. Install it on your SharePoint tenant and add it to any page or Teams channel where the work happens.