Microsoft has started rolling out a preview of its Planner technology to those participating in the office 2016 home and business First Release program, officials announced on December 14.

Planner, that was codenamed "Highlander," is really a lightwieght project-management oral appliance will end up one of Office 365's next-generation portals, based on Microsoft execs.

The Planner preview can be obtained to First Release customers who've buy office professional 2013 Enterprise E1, Office 365 Enterprise E3, Office 365 Enterprise E4, Office 365 Enterprise E5, Office 365 Education, Office 365 Education E3, Office 365 Education E4, Office 365 Business Essentials and Office 365 Business Premium. To get the Planner preview, IT administrators of those applicable need to arrange it.

Microsoft is expecting the rollout of the preview to First Release customers worldwide to be carried out the following weeks. Microsoft officials said Planner should be generally open to all eligible Office 365 business and education customers in calendar 2016.

For those wondering how Planner will integrate with Office 365 Groups, each new plan created in Planner automatically creates a new Office 365 groups. And each pre- existing Office 365 Group will get a related plan.

Microsoft announced recently it had been adding more services to its First Release program, which allows companies to designate certain people to obtain new updates earlier than the rest for testing purposes.

Microsoft is adding SharePoint On the internet and OneDrive for Business to the office 2010 pro plus First Release program. And Office 365 ProPlus and Office 365 Business subscriptions now offer First Release builds of the Office client -- a program that will be like the recently announced Office Insider for Consumers program.