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Plan Page

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Juan

In this article, you will learn the basic functionalities of the Plan page in ALICE Core. The Plan page is where users can build a schedule from scratch or make edits to an existing imported schedule.

The key topics covered in this article will teach you how to navigate the Plan page:

 

Types of Information Available

Below are the types of information available for each task in the Gantt schedule. The information can be  displayed as additional columns in the Gantt schedule.

  • ID
  • Name
  • Status
  • Planned duration (workhours)
  • Actual duration (workhours)
  • Remaining duration (workhours)
  • Budgeted labor units
  • Start, Finish, Start time, Finish time
  • Planned start, Planned finish, Planned start time, Planned finish time
  • Actual start, Actual finish, Actual start time, Actual finish time
  • Suspend, Resume, Suspend time, Resume time
  • Early start, Early finish, Early start time, Early finish time
  • Constraint type
  • Constraint date
  • Calendar
  • Crews
  • Workforce
  • Materials
  • Equipment
  • Predecessors
  • Successors
  • Total float (workdays), Total float (workhours)
  • Free float (workdays), Free float (workhours)
  • Late start, Late finish
  • All Custom Properties (or User Defined Fields, UDFs)

 

How to Customize your View

The Plan page can be modified to show you the information that is most relevant to your needs.

  1. To modify the columns that appear on the Plan page, you can right click and select 'Edit Columns'. From this view you may select, hide and drag to re-order your visible columns.
  2. To resize the width of the columns, you can click on the line that separates two cells in the header row to adjust the size, similar to how you would adjust a column width in Excel.
  3. To expand the table view and minimize the Gantt view, click 'show all columns' or hover your mouse over the vertical divider and drag to customize where the two views split.
  4. To visually mark-up critical tasks or the longest path on the Gantt view, use the Display toggles above the Gantt view. 

All these settings will be auto-saved by ALICE and appear next time you open the Plan page.

 

Tip: hover your mouse over an area for a tooltip on functionality 

 

 

How to Create Filters and View Select Information

The Plan page comes with a powerful filter tool that allows you to find the right information in your schedule. Filters are helpful for schedule analysis, resource assignment, and bulk removal of preferential logic. 

Click the filter builder to filter data by many different categories, as shown below. The filter builder supports AND/OR logic.

For a more hands-on experience, navigate through the player for an interactive walk-through, or if you prefer a more detailed approach, scroll down for a step-by-step guide:

 

Filters:

  1. On the Gantt Chart, click on Select to Filter on the upper-left side of the page.
  2. ALICE allows the use of the following categories to filter the Gantt:
    • Crew
    • Criticality: Critical Tasks and Longest Path
    • Custom Properties / UDFs
    • Equipment
    • Material
    • Task Name/Codes
    • Task Status: Not Started / In Progress / Completed
    • Task Type: Task, Start Milestone, Finish Milestone, Level of Effort
  3. After selecting the categories, define the filter logic:
    • OR logic filters the activities that at least have one of the selected items
    • AND logic filters the activities that have all selected items
  4. Click Done to apply the filter. 
  5. To remove the filter, click on the X next to the filter name.

 

How to Create New WBS, Level of Effort (LOE), Tasks, and Milestones

For a more hands-on experience, navigate through the player for an interactive walk-through, or if you prefer a more detailed approach, scroll down for a step-by-step guide:

 

 

Create WBS:

  1. Hover the mouse on the existing WBS that you wish to add the new one under
  2. In the appeared toolbar, click + to add a new row
  3. Select WBS Level, input the Name, and click Enter to create the WBS
  4. The new WBS will appear at the bottom of the list

 

Create Task:

  1. Hover the mouse on the existing WBS that you wish to add the Task
  2. In the appeared toolbar, click + to add a new row
  3. Select Task, input the Name, and click Enter to create the Task
  4. The new Task will appear under selected WBS
  5. Double-click on Planned Duration (hours) and input 100 hours of duration

 

Create Level of Effort (LOE):

  1. Hover the mouse on the existing WBS that you wish to add the Level of Effort
  2. In the appeared toolbar, click + to add a new row
  3. Select Level of Effort, input the Name and click Enter to create the Task
  4. The new Level of Effort will appear under selected WBS

 

Create Milestone:

  1. Hover the mouse on the existing WBS that you wish to add the Milestone
  2. In the appeared toolbar, click + to add a new row
  3. Select Start or Finish Milestone, input the Name, and click Enter to create the Milestone.
  4. The new Milestone will appear under selected WBS.

Connect Tasks & Milestones:

  1. Hover the mouse on the milestone diamond, click and hold the circle, and drag it to the beginning of the Task.
  2. Review the precedence logic and click X to close the window
  3. Click Re-schedule to apply the precedence and all changes

 

How to Custom Group and Sort

The tasks in a plan may be grouped and sorted by 4 different categories:

  • WBS - native WBS structure imported from Primavera P6 or Microsoft Project
  • Sorted - grouping by chronological order
  • Crews - grouping by crew type 
  • Custom - grouping by any combination of resources or custom Properties (UDFs)

Tip: Tasks can also be dragged and dropped to different WBS sections if the schedule is sorted by the WBS view or the Crews view. For example, by dragging a task into a different Crew section, you will assign that crew to that task. This can be a very fast and easy way to assign crews to tasks that don't yet have them assigned, especially when combined with filters. 

For a more hands-on experience, navigate through the player for an interactive walk-through, or if you prefer a more detailed approach, scroll down for a step-by-step guide:

 

 

Gantt Grouping:

  1. In the Gantt chart, open the Group Gantt by dropdown list from the upper-left side of the page.
  2. Select the grouping category desired.

Custom Grouping:

  1. From the dropdown list, select Custom.
  2. In the window, click on the blank field to open the list of available Custom Properties/UDFs to use for custom grouping.
    • To select multiple properties, use the + button to add one after the other
    • The order in which the properties are added determines the Gantt grouping
  3. Select one or multiple properties/UDFs and click OK to apply the grouping.

 

How to Isolate Path for an Activity

Using the Isolate Path functionality for an activity is helpful to review all predecessor and successor tasks and milestones that are directly and indirectly associated with the selected task.

For a more hands-on experience, navigate through the player for an interactive walk-through, or if you prefer a more detailed approach, scroll down for a step-by-step guide:

 

 

Isolate Path:

  1. In the Gantt chart, hover the mouse courses on the task and "right-click" to open task settings.
    • You can hover the mouse cursor on the task name or on the timeline bar
  2. In the settings window, click Isolate path
  3. Isolate Path will filter all predecessor and successor tasks and milestones, directly and indirectly associated with the selected task.
  4. Click on the "X" to remove the isolate path filter.

 

Working with Logic Ties

Please see this article to learn more about how to work with logic ties in ALICE.

 

Working with Critical Tasks and Longest Path

Please see this article to learn more about how to work with critical tasks and longest path in ALICE.

 

How to Collapse and Expand WBS

To collapse or expand to the desired level of your WBS, right-click anywhere in the Plan page and make your selection. You can also collapse or expand all from the menu below.

Additionally, this menu can also be used to add new tasks, duplicate existing tasks, or delete tasks. 

 

How to Zoom In/Out, Toggle Relationship Arrows in Gantt View

The icons at the bottom of the Plan page allow the user to control:

  • Magnify glass icons: Level of zoom on the Gantt view
  • Arrow icon: Toggle to show or hide relationship logic arrows
  • Up arrow icon: is a shortcut to scroll to the top of the page

 

Learn Shortcut Keys on the Plan Page

The Plan page supports several keyboard shortcuts to make navigation easier.

  • Left and right keyboard arrows move inside the current cell
  • Up and down keyboard arrows move between rows
  • Tab and shift tab move between different columns

 

How to Make Mass Edits to Data Via Excel Export/Import

Bulk editing of data via Excel is supported by ALICE Core. Click the "Edit Data in Excel" button in the top right of the Plan page in order to use this feature. For a deeper dive into how to use this feature, click here.

 

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