ALICE supports schedule imports from Oracle's P6 product. This article explains how to prepare your schedule for import and describes how common P6 data are handled in ALICE.

Table of Contents:

1. Primavera P6 Import File Format & Version Compatibility
2. Imported Resource Data
3. Importing P6 files containing multiple projects
4. Related articles
    

Primavera P6 Import File Format & Version Compatibility 

Users can Import schedules in XER or XML format. For detailed instructions on how to create a new project from an imported P6 file, click here.

ALICE Optimize is compatible with all XER versions from v5.0 onward, Primavera Contractor XERs v6.1 and later, Oracle Primavera Cloud XER and XML, and P6 XML format files generated from Tilos. For full technical specifications of all data mapping between P6 and ALICE click here.

ALICE Optimize supports P6 import files that contain multiple projects. See the multiple projects section below for details.

Note for ALICE Model users: schedules can also be exported in XML format from Model and imported to Optimize 

Imported Resource Data

Imported Crew Resource Data

All the below fields will be displayed in the Resources tab, in the Crews section.

• Crew Name
  • Crew names from your existing schedule will be imported and appear in the Resources tab.
• Imported Resource Peak 
  • Calculated Peak of resource histogram from the imported schedule. 
  • This number cannot be modified and is a helpful benchmark of your P6 assumptions before optioneering in Alice.
    • To modify the workforce peak in Alice-generated solutions use the max units/time variable explained below.  
• Max Units/Time 
  • The initial value is imported from your P6 schedule
  • Max available workforce for crew type
• Default Units/Time (applies to tasks) 
  •  
    • The initial value is imported from your P6 schedule
    • This is used to estimate Planned Labor Units = Crews required for task * # of work hours in original duration and relevant task calendar
• Calendar for Crews  
  • Your default crew calendar default in P6 is imported as your crew calendar in Alice
• Primary Crew = True or False
  • If the crew type is marked as "primary resource" in P6, it will be imported as "Is Primary* = TRUE" on the .csv export from the Plan page.

Handling of Budgeted Labor Units 

ALICE imports budgeted labor units, actual labor units, and remaining labor units from the original P6 file.

ALICE estimates your planned labor units using duration*default units/time (workforce required for tasks). This figure appears in a column available on the Plan page labeled Planned Labor Units.  

ALICE utilizes the concept of budgeted labor units to optimize resource loading. ALICE calculates the minimum resources required per task and the peak number of resources required for the project based on your histogram peak from P6. 

Importing P6 files containing multiple projects

When importing a Primavera P6 .xer file into ALICE that contains multiple projects, ALICE will combine all projects in the file into a single ALICE project.

In Primavera P6, users can:

• Visualize multiple projects in a single Gantt chart.
• Choose whether to run the scheduler across all projects together (using one shared start date) or run it while respecting each project’s individual start date.

In ALICE, imported projects are currently merged into one with a shared project Start Date and Data Date. ALICE determines the project’s Start Date as the earliest start date among all projects in the imported file. As a result, activities from later-starting projects may appear to begin earlier than expected compared to P6 — since ALICE aligns all tasks to that single, earliest start date. When projects are combined, the projects are separated at WBS level 2.

Users have two options for how to handle multi-project import files:

Option 1: Import each project as its own .xer file

To preserve the original project start and data dates:

1. In P6, export each project as a separate .xer file.
2. Import each file into ALICE individually.
3. This will create one ALICE project per P6 project, each maintaining its own start and data dates.

This is the most reliable way to ensure your task dates match P6 exactly.

Option 2: Combine projects while maintaining their relative start offsets

If you prefer to import all projects together but still want ALICE to respect each project’s intended start timing:

1. Import your multi-project .xer file into ALICE as usual.
2. Identify which projects in the .xer did not share the same start date as the one ALICE selected (the earliest date).
3. For those projects, apply a “Start On or After” constraint to any tasks that do not have predecessors, using the project’s original start date from P6.

This ensures that standalone or top-level tasks from later-starting projects don’t begin earlier than intended after import, while still allowing tasks with dependencies to be scheduled normally.

Example Scenario

If your .xer file contains:

• Project A starting on June 2
• Project B starting on August 4

ALICE will set June 2 as the shared start date for the combined project.
To maintain Project B’s intended start timing, apply a “Start On or After: August 4” constraint to Project B’s first tasks (those without predecessors). This effectively recreates P6’s “respect individual project starts” behavior within ALICE.

Tip: A quick way to see the relationships between the projects, is to create a spatial diagram by WBS Level 2

Related articles:

• Schedules with and without actualized tasks can be imported. To learn more about how ALICE handles actualized tasks in imported schedules, click here.
• Schedules with and without assigned resources can be imported. To learn more about how to assign and manage resources in ALICE, click here.
• Interested in importing an updated version of a schedule you have already run in ALICE? Check out schedule sync.