Product Newsletter: June 2023 Follow

Hello there generative schedulers,

We're excited to share the latest upgrades to ALICE in our June 2023 release. We've been hard at work to build features that improve team collaboration and enhance your integrated planning experience. 

Introducing external links to our Excel recipe matrix data structure
You can now add external links to the ALICE recipe matrix. This enhancement significantly improves knowledge sharing across projects and reduces setup time for new projects. This is a workflow improvement for schedulers that want to import their baseline schedule logic and system interdependencies (external links) using the ALICE recipe matrix in Excel or CSV. 

Add multiple precedence relationships between operations

We’ve enhanced user controls in schedule development with the ability to add multiple precedence relationships between two operations in ALICE. For example, users can add SS and FF relationships between two activities to ensure these activities start and finish together.

Improved UI for parametrizing operations with a quick filter wizard

We’ve also simplified how to build parametric recipes. Quick filters are available for labor, equipment, materials, and production rates in the operations tab on the plan page. Please note we removed the standalone production rates tab since users can easily add rates from the quick filter wizard. 

Enhanced multi-user collaboration when editing recipes and resources in the plan page 

We've made it easier for you to collaborate with your project team and avoid overwriting your recipe updates in the cloud. If two users are editing the same data at the same time, the second user will be locked out of editing the data and receive an alert to refresh their screen once the first user has completed editing on their screen. Please note future releases will include version control upgrades for grouping, supports, and elements 

Improved in-app notifications & troubleshooting 

We've improved our troubleshooting communication in-app with enhanced reporting messages and controls. 

• Users now receive an error warning when trying to delete a calendar that is used by a resource in assigned recipes 
• Users now receive an error warning when deleting a workweek that is used in assigned calendars.  
• Users are notified in-app that activities with zero-hour durations will be dissolved (Alice will not schedule them). This is an intended behavior requested by power users to enhance their ability to reuse their favorite recipes on new projects.  

We're committed to providing you with the best experience possible, and we hope you enjoy the latest updates. We welcome your feedback on these upgrades and would love to learn more about how they impact your workflow in the planning module.