Schedule Sync lets you upload a new version of your P6 or MS Project schedule into an existing ALICE project without redoing the work you've already done in ALICE. Each upload creates a new plan that takes the latest schedule from your file and carries over the ALICE work you choose, such as logic, duration formulas, constraints, calendars, resource assignments, custom properties, and canvas. Your existing plans are never changed.
Use Schedule Sync to:
- Keep ALICE current with regular updates. Import each weekly or monthly schedule update and reuse the same settings every time with a preset.
- Add detail as the schedule develops. Start with a low level of detail and merge in updates as they come.
- Handle scope changes. Bring an updated schedule into an existing ALICE project without reconfiguring your work.
- Work with projects in execution. Progress, status, and completion dates always come from the file you upload, so you optimize from the latest information.
- See what changed. After each upload, ALICE shows how many activities were updated and added, with a downloadable change log.
For a quick overview, watch the launch video for Schedule Sync.
Jump to: How to update a plan · Carry-over options · Presets · After the sync · Known limitations · FAQs
How to update a plan with Schedule Sync
1. On the Dashboard, go to an existing project and click the "..." on the right side of the row. Select New plan.
2. Upload your P6 (XER or XML) or MS Project file. Confirm the file, then enter a plan name and an optional description.
3. Turn on Update from previous ALICE plan.
4. Select the Previous ALICE plan. This is the ALICE plan your new plan will inherit work from, usually your most recent plan.
5. Choose a preset, or click Modify to review each carry-over option. See Choosing what to carry over.
6. Create the plan.
7. Review the Schedule update changes summary and download the change log if you need additional details.
8. Open the new plan and click Reschedule. This updates inherited duration formulas and carried-over activities on the Plan page.
P6 files sync into P6 or ALICE-built plans. MS Project files sync into MS Project plans.
Choosing what to carry over
For each option, you choose whether to keep your work from the previous ALICE plan or take it from the new file. When an option uses the new file, data from that file will overwrite data from the older plan.
Except for Activities/tasks, every option applies only to activities that exist in both the reference plan and the new file. Activities that are only in the new file are always added to the new plan when you upload the file.
| Option | Choices | What you are deciding |
| Progress/status/completion dates | Fixed: new upload | Always taken from the new file |
| Activities/tasks | Use new plan / Merge | Merge keeps tasks, milestones, and WBS nodes that exist only in the ALICE plan. Use new plan drops them. |
| Relationships | Use new plan / Use previous Alice plan | Which logic links apply between activities |
| Duration formulas | Use previous Alice plan / Exclude | Keep your ALICE formulas, or drop them and use the file's durations as plain values. Typed durations always come from the file. |
| Date constraints | Use new plan / Use previous Alice plan | Which primary constraint applies to each activity, including no constraint |
| Activity calendars | Use new plan / Use previous Alice plan | Which calendar each activity uses |
| Crew, equipment, and material assignments | Use new upload / Use previous Alice plan | Which set of resources is assigned to each activity. With ALICE, ranges and formulas are kept. |
| Custom properties | Use new upload / Use previous Alice plan | Where each activity's property values come from. Property definitions from both plans are kept. |
| Canvas/Spatial diagram support | On / Off | Whether the reference plan's canvas is copied |
| Exclude unused resources/calendars | On / Off | Leaves out resources and calendars that nothing uses. Off by default. |
New resources and calendars are always added. Crews, equipment, materials, metadata, and calendars that are new in the file are added to the project. Ones that already exist in ALICE keep their ALICE details and are not overwritten by the file.
Use Exclude unused resources/calendars with care. It removes unused resources and calendars across every plan in the project, not just the new plan.
Presets
Presets save your carry-over choices so you can apply them in one click on every update.
• Periodic update (default) is built in and selected by default.
• To save your own preset, set your options, save them as a preset, and give it a name
.
• To manage a preset, use the preset menu to apply, rename, overwrite, or delete it.
• If you change an option after picking a preset, the preset shows as Custom. Rename and Delete aren't available while Custom is selected.
Presets are saved to your user account and are available in all of your projects. They aren't shared with teammates. Deleting a preset removes it from all of your projects.
After the sync
The new plan is created as an Active plan with an Imported Schedule solution. The New plan confirmation shows a Schedule update changes section with:
• The reference plan and new upload that made up the plan
• The number of activities updated and added
• A Download change log link to a spreadsheet listing each change
You can revisit the inherited changes anytime from the Inherited changes icon on the Plan page.
Always click Reschedule after a sync. Inherited duration formulas don't show on the Plan page until you reschedule. Activities carried over from the reference plan keep that plan's status, progress, and dates until you reschedule.
How activities and resources are matched
ALICE matches activities between the reference plan and the new file by task code (the ID in ALICE).
| If the task code is in… | What happens |
| Both the reference plan and the new file | The activity takes the file's data, then your carry-over choices are applied |
| Only the new file | The activity is added with all of its attributes from the file |
| Only the reference plan | Kept if Activities/tasks is set to Merge, dropped if set to Use new plan. WBS nodes follow the same choice. |
Resources, calendars, and custom properties are matched by name, or by Resource ID for P6 resources. New ones are added to the project. Existing ones keep their ALICE details.
Known limitations
| Limitation | What to do |
| Existing crews, equipment, materials, and calendars aren't updated from the file (for example, changed Max Units or working hours in P6) | Make the change in ALICE |
| Renaming a calendar, MS Project resource, or custom property, or changing a P6 Resource ID, creates a duplicate | Delete the old item in ALICE |
| Calendar matching is case-sensitive | Keep calendar names consistent between P6 or MS Project and ALICE |
| Carried-over activities keep the reference plan's status, progress, and dates until the user hits Reschedule in ALICE. | Click Reschedule |
| Inherited duration formulas don't show on the Plan page until the user hits Reschedule in ALICE. | Click Reschedule |
| Canvas blocks are never removed, new activities from the file aren't tied to canvas blocks, and PDF markups aren't carried over | Update the canvas in the new plan |
| The change log doesn't list calendar changes, lag overrides, some quantity changes, dropped P6 assignments, or custom property overrides | Check these in the new plan directly |
FAQs
Does Schedule Sync change my existing plans? No. Every sync creates a new plan. Your reference plan and other plans stay as they are.
I changed a crew's Max Units or a calendar's working hours in P6. Why didn't ALICE update? Resources and calendars that already exist in ALICE aren't updated from the file. Make the change in ALICE.
I renamed something in P6 and now I have two of it in ALICE. Renaming a calendar, MS Project resource, or custom property, or changing a P6 Resource ID, creates a new item. Delete the old one in ALICE.
My carried-over activities show old dates. Activities carried over from the reference plan keep that plan's dates until you click Reschedule on the Plan page.
The change log is missing a change I made. The change log doesn't list calendar changes, lag overrides, some quantity changes, dropped P6 assignments, or custom property overrides.
Can my team share presets? Not yet. Presets are saved to your user account.
Can I use Schedule Sync to combine two different projects into one ALICE project? Yes. Activities with the same WBS code in both schedules are grouped into the same WBS in the synced schedule. Links between the two projects aren't imported and need to be recreated in ALICE.
Can I combine a Microsoft Project file and a P6 file? No. P6 files sync into P6 or ALICE-built plans, and MS Project files sync into MS Project plans.
Can I add scope in ALICE and then export it back to my P6 file? Yes. ALICE matches activities by task ID, so if you add an activity in ALICE and someone adds a different activity in P6 or MS Project with the same task ID, ALICE treats them as the same activity and merges them. Use distinct task IDs to avoid this.