The schedule sync feature allows you to optimize and create scenarios based on the most up-to-date information about your project. With schedule sync, you can import an updated schedule and automatically apply ALICE data that was set up from an earlier version of that schedule, such as duration formulas or crew ranges. Schedule sync eliminates the need for re-work when using ALICE across the entire project lifecycle - from bidding to preconstruction through execution.

With schedule sync you can:

• Add detail as the schedule develops - begin with a low level of detail and merge in updates as they come
• Handle scope changes - Incorporate an updated schedule into an existing ALICE project without having to reconfigure optimization settings
• Work with projects in execution - Import schedules with progress updates and optimize in ALICE based on the latest information
• Understand what was merged - Review the inherited settings across plan versions with an automatically generated change log.

For a quick overview, watch the launch video for Schedule Sync.

Jump to:

1. How to use schedule sync
2. Data inheritance rules
3. Try it on a practice schedule
4. FAQs

How to use Schedule Sync

1. On your dashboard page, navigate to the project you wish to update. On the right side of the page, click the three dots and select “New Plan”.
2. On the new plan setup page, select a reference plan. The reference plan is a pre-existing plan in ALICE from which the new plan you are creating will inherit data. Jump to data inheritance rules to learn more.
   
3. You can choose whether or not to inherit the logic relationships from the reference plan. If you do not inherit the relationships from the reference plan, the logic relationships from the newly imported schedule will be used. Over time, more re-use customization options will be added.
4. After the new plan is created, you will see a summary of which changes were inherited and automatically applied to the newly imported schedule. You can download a spreadsheet report that lists out each individual change.
   
   
   
   1. You can revisit the inherited changes anytime via the icon on the plan page. 

Data Inheritance Rules

When a new plan is created and a reference plan is specified, the new plan will automatically inherit the following data from the reference plan:

• Primary constraints applied in ALICE
• Planned duration formulas
• Tasks
• Crews - assignments and formulas
• Materials - assignments and formulas
• Equipment - assignments and formulas
• Custom properties
• Production rates

Logic relationships can be toggled to be inherited from the reference plan or not.

Task Inheritance Logic

• Changes to tasks are mapped and merged based on the task code (or “ID” in ALICE), which is used as the unique identifier.
• If a task code exists in the reference schedule, but not in the newly imported schedule, that task will be inherited from the reference schedule and will appear in the newly created ALICE plan. 
  • In other words, ALICE will add scope but will not automatically remove scope as the schedule develops.
• If a task code exists in the reference schedule and the newly imported schedule, ALICE data will be inherited and applied to the tasks with that same task code in the newly created ALICE plan. 
  • In other words, once you change a project in ALICE, those changes should automatically be applied on newly imported versions of that project so you never have to do re-work.
• If a task code does not exist in the reference schedule but does exist in the newly imported schedule, the task and all corresponding task attributes are added to the newly created ALICE plan.
  • In other words, you can import a version of a schedule that has new scope added.

Resource Inheritance Logic

• All resources that the user sets up in ALICE are inherited when creating a new plan from a reference project - including equipment, materials, crews, calendars, custom properties and production rates.
  • As an added perk, users can create one standard pool of resources in a plan and use it as the reference plan for other projects. In this way, you can create an informal resource library.
• If a resource exists in the new schedule, but not the existing schedule, those resources are added to the project.

Try it on a practice schedule

Are you ready to try out the schedule sync feature? We’ve prepared a practice exercise to help users get the hang of it. In this scenario, you're a scheduler preparing a bid for the Gotham Mountain project. 

1. Download the Gotham Mountain Bid V1 file, and upload it into ALICE as a new project. [Download Link]
2. Let’s make some changes to the project inside of ALICE. Create a design crew and assign it to some design activities.
3. You just got word that some scope has been added to the project, and there’s a new version of the schedule that adds new scope called “Road Phase 4”. Download V2 of the Gotham Mountain Bid. [Download Link]
4. From your dashboard page, navigate to the Gotham Mountain Bid project that you created in step one, click the “...” to the right of the project name and select “new plan” from the dropdown list. Import the V2 file and select V1 of the Gotham Mountain Bid as the reference plan. After you create the new plan, select “Go to Plan” to see a summary of the changes and download the full XLS change log. 
5. Nice job, you synched your schedule! In the newly created plan, you have inherited the design crew that you created before, as well as the resource assignments that you did. The new plan includes the scope from the updated schedule, “Road Phase 4”.
6. Let’s do some calendar updates in ALICE to see if we can improve the schedule. Navigate to the ALICE plan page and change the calendar assignment for tasks in the structure construction scope from a 5 day to a 7 day calendar.
7. You just got word that the schedule has been updated again, with some preferential logic removed. Ties have been removed between activities A1770 and A1310; and activities A1410 and A1310. Download the latest version, V3. [Download Link]
8. Repeat step 4, creating a new plan within the Gotham Mountain Bid project, importing the V3 schedule, and selecting the V2 plan as the reference plan. 
   1. Now you have a choice - you can select to inherit relationship details from the reference plan, in which case the logic that was present in the reference plan will still be present in the newly created plan, even though it was removed in the V3 schedule. 
   2. Or you can de-select the relationship details checkbox and the relationship details from the new plan will override the data from the reference plan, so the logic ties will not be present in the new ALICE plan. 
9. Congratulations, you’ve learned how to use schedule sync to incorporate updates as your schedule progresses. 

FAQs

Can I use schedule sync to combine two different projects into one ALICE project?
Yes, you can! However there are some important details to keep in mind. First, tasks with the same WBS code between he two schedules will be bucketed into the same WBS in the synced schedule. Second, intra-project links are not imported and will need to be recreated manually in ALICE.

Can I use schedule sync to combine a Microsoft project file and a P6 file?
No, that is not currently possible due to the significant differences in data structure between these two schedule types. 

Can I add scope in ALICE and then export it back to my P6 file?
Yes, absolutely. The only thing to be mindful of is that ALICE uses the task ID to identify and match tasks. So if you add a new task in ALICE and someone else adds a new task to the schedule in P6 or MSP and both tasks have the same task ID, then ALICE will treat them as the same task and merge them.