When ALICE ingests a P6 file, all the data from that file is stored in ALICE even though ALICE only uses some of that data for schedule manipulation and optimization. For the schedule data that ALICE does not show or use for calculations, it will be untouched and included in the export file exactly as it was included in the import file.
This article includes a dictionary of all fields included in the import and export, whether they are shown in ALICE or not, and any differences in field names between ALICE and P6.
- Task fields shown
- Resource fields shown
- Task fields not shown
- Resource fields not shown
- Special Characters in ALICE and P6
- External Links at Import to ALICE
- Multi-Project Files Import and Export
Task fields shown
The table below aims to visualize all Imported, Exported and Shown task fields currently available between ALICE and Primavera P6.
Task & WBS
|
ALICE
|
Primavera P6
|
| WBS | WBS Name |
| ID | Activity ID |
| Name | Activity Name |
| Status | Activity Status |
| Predecessors | Predecessors |
| Successors | Successors |
| Constraint | Primary Constraint Date / Type |
| Custom Property | Activity Codes - EPS |
| Activity Codes - Global | |
| User Defined | |
| Task Relationship Details | Predecessors Details |
| Successor Details |
Dates
|
ALICE
|
Primavera P6
|
| Start | Start |
| Finish | Finish |
| Planned Start | Planned Start |
| Planned Finished | Planned Finished |
| Actual Start | Actual Start |
| Actual Finish | Actual Finish |
| Suspend | Suspend Date |
| Resume | Resume Date |
| Early Start | Early Start |
| Early Finish | Early Finish |
| Late Start | Late Start |
| Late Finish | Late Finish |
| Calendar | Calendar |
Duration
|
ALICE
|
Primavera P6
|
Note
|
| Original Duration | Original Duration | Imported |
| Remaining Duration | Remaining Duration | Imported |
| Actual Duration | Actual Duration | Imported |
| At Completion Duration | At Completion Duration | Calculated: Actual Duration + Remaining Duration. |
| Total Float | Total Float | |
| Free Float | Free Float | |
| Duration Formula | N/A | |
| Calendar Days | N/A | |
| Calendar Hours | N/A |
Budgeted Units
|
ALICE
|
Primavera P6
|
| Budgeted Labor Units | Budgeted Labor Units |
| Actual Labor Units | Actual Labor Units |
| Remaining Labor Units | Remaining Labor Units |
Resources
|
ALICE
|
Primavera P6
|
| Crews (Assignment) | Budgeted Unit/Time |
| Workforce | N/A |
| Materials (Assignment) | Budgeted Unit |
| Equipment (Assignment) | Budgeted Unit/Time |
| Resource Logic (Task Relationship Details) | Notebook |
Resource fields shown
The table below aims to visualize all Imported, Exported and Shown resource fields currently available between ALICE and Primavera P6.
|
ALICE
|
Primavera P6
|
|
Resource Fields
|
|
| Subcontractor Name | N/A |
| Trade | N/A |
| Crew Name | Resource Name |
| Imported Resource Peak | N/A |
| Max Units/Time | Max Units/Time |
| Default Units/Time | Default Units/Time |
| Prs/Crew | N/A |
| $Crew/Hr | Standart Rate |
| Calendar | Calendar |
| Idle Cost | N/A |
| Equipment Name | Resource Name |
| Equipment Quantity | Max Units/Time |
| Equipment $/hr | Standart Rate |
| Equipment Idle Cost | N/A |
| Material Name | Resource Name |
| Material Type | N/A |
| Material Quantity Available | Budgeted Units |
| Material $/Unit | Standart Rate |
| Production Rates | N/A |
| Indirect Cost | N/A |
Task fields not shown
The table below aims to visualize all task fields not supported/shown in ALICE. This means that the following fields are saved in the file, and are exported back to P6 as it is, without any changes.
|
Costs
|
| Actual Expense Cost |
| Actual Labor Cost |
| Actual Material Cost |
| Actual Nonlabor Cost |
| Actual This Period |
| Actual This Period |
| Actual This Period |
| Actual Total Cost |
| At Completion Expense |
| At Completion Labor |
| At Completion Material |
| At Completion Nonlabor |
| At Completion Total |
| BL Project Expense |
| BL Project Labor |
| BL Project Material |
| BL Project Nonlabor |
| BL Project Total |
| BL1 Expense Cost |
| BL1 Labor Cost |
| BL1 Material Cost |
| BL1 Nonlabor Cost |
| BL1 Total Cost |
| Budgeted Expense Cost |
| Budgeted Labor Cost |
| Budgeted Material Cost |
| Budgeted Nonlabor Cost |
| Budgeted Total Cost |
| Remaining Expense Cost |
| Remaining Labor Cost |
| Remaining Material Cost |
| Remaining Nonlabor Cost |
| Remaining Total Cost |
| Variance - BL |
| Variance - BL |
| Variance - BL |
| Variance - BL |
| Variance - BL |
| Variance - BL1 |
| Variance - BL1 |
| Variance - BL1 |
| Variance - BL1 |
| Variance - BL1 |
|
Dates
|
| Anticipated Finish |
| Anticipated Start |
| BL Project Finish |
| BL Project Start |
| BL1 Finish |
| BL1 Start |
| BL2 Finish |
| BL2 Start |
| BL3 Finish |
| BL3 Start |
| Expected Finish |
| External Early Start |
| External Late Finish |
| Remaining Early Finish |
| Remaining Early Start |
| Remaining Late Finish |
| Remaining Late Start |
| Secondary Constraint Date |
|
Durations
|
| At Completion Duration |
| BL Project Duration |
| BL1 Duration |
| Remaining Float |
| Variance - BL |
| Variance - BL |
| Variance - BL |
| Variance - BL1 |
| Variance - BL1 |
| Variance - BL1 |
|
Earned Value
|
| Accounting Variance |
| Accounting Variance - Labor Units |
| Actual Cost |
| Budget At Completion |
| Budget At Completion - Labor Units |
| Cost Performance Index |
| Cost Performance Index - Labor Units |
| Cost Variance |
| Cost Variance - Labor Units |
| Cost Variance Index |
| Cost Variance Index - Labor Units |
| Earned Value Cost |
| Earned Value Labor Units |
| Estimate At Completion Cost |
| Estimate At Completion - Labor Units |
| Estimate To Complete |
| Estimate To Complete - Labor Units |
| Planned Value Cost |
| Planned Value Labor Units |
| Schedule Performance Index |
| Schedule Performance Index - Labor Units |
| Schedule Variance |
| Schedule Variance - Labor Units |
| Schedule Variance Index |
| Schedule Variance Index - Labor Units |
| To Complete Performance |
| Variance At Completion |
| Variance At Completion - Labor Units |
|
Feedback
|
| Feedback from Resources |
| New Feedback |
|
General
|
| Activity Leveling Priority |
| Activity Type |
| Added By |
| Added Date |
| Auto Compute Actuals |
| Critical |
| Critical Path Number |
| Duration Type |
| Est Weight |
| Last Modified By |
| Last Modified Date |
| Lock Remaining |
| Longest Path |
| Owner |
| Primary Resource |
| Project ID |
| Project Name |
| Project Status |
| Secondary Constraint |
| Unread Comments |
| WBS |
| WBS Category |
| WBS Path |
|
Lists
|
| Cost Account IDs |
| Cost Accounts |
| Resource IDs |
| Resources |
| Role IDs |
| Roles |
| Work Products and |
|
Multiple Float Paths
|
| Float Path |
| Float Path Order |
|
Number of Activities
|
| Activity Count |
| Activity Resource Assignment |
| Actual Completed Activities |
| Actual In-Progress Activities |
| Actual Not-Started Activities |
| BL Project Completed |
| BL Project In-Progress |
| BL Project Not-Started |
| BL1 Completed Activities |
| BL1 In-Progress Activities |
| BL1 Not-Started Activities |
|
Percent Completes
|
| Activity % Complete |
| Cost % Complete |
| Cost % of |
| Duration % Complete |
| Duration % of |
| Expense Cost % |
| Labor Cost % |
| Labor Units % |
| Material Cost % |
| Nonlabor Cost % |
| Nonlabor Units % |
| Percent Complete Type |
| Performance % Complete |
| Performance % Complete |
| Physical % Complete |
| Schedule % Complete |
| Units % Complete |
|
Project Codes
|
|
Units
|
| Actual Labor Units |
| Actual Nonlabor Units |
| Actual This Period |
| Actual This Period |
| At Completion Labor |
| At Completion Nonlabor |
| BL Project Labor |
| BL Project Nonlabor |
| BL1 Labor Units |
| BL1 Nonlabor Units |
| Budgeted Nonlabor Units |
| Remaining Labor Units |
| Remaining Nonlabor Units |
| Variance - BL |
| Variance - BL |
| Variance - BL1 |
| Variance - BL1 |
|
Activity Steps
|
| Activity Step Count |
| Steps Completed |
| Steps In Progress |
| Steps Not Started |
Resource fields not shown
The table below aims to visualize all resource fields not supported/shown in ALICE. This means that the following fields are saved in the file, and are exported back to P6 as it is, without any changes.
|
General |
|
Active |
|
Assigned to Current Project |
|
Auto Compute Actuals |
|
Calculate costs from units |
|
Currency Name |
|
E-Mail Address |
|
Employee ID |
|
External Rate |
|
Internal Rate |
|
Office Phone |
|
Other Phone |
|
Overtime Allowed |
|
Overtime Factor |
|
Price / Unit4 |
|
Price / Unit5 |
|
Primary on Current |
|
Primary Role |
|
Resource ID |
|
Resource Notes |
|
Role IDs |
|
Roles |
|
Shift |
|
Title |
|
Unit of Measure |
|
User Login Name |
|
|
|
Resource Codes |
|
|
|
User Defined |
Special Characters in ALICE and P6
Support for special characters depends on the encoding type used in the given file format or software. This can lead to a situation where special characters supported in one software might not be supported in the other.
XER Files: These are proprietary and typically use the Windows-1252 encoding. However, they do not store encoding information, so importing files with non-standard encodings (e.g., Russian) may lead to character display issues.
XML Files: These are based on the XML standard and support Unicode, allowing for better handling of international characters.
The client's issue with special characters is not an ALICE issue but the P6 or XER file format, which uses Windows-1252 encoding and does not fully support the export or import of all special characters.
Both P6 and ALICE allow the use of special characters directly in the platform. However, issues arise with export and import when using the XER file format. Hence, using the XML file format is recommended if the client uses various special characters.
The tables below show the special characters that are supported and not supported while using the XER file format for import or export.
Special Characters
|
Characters |
Primavera P6 |
ALICE |
|
!"#$%&'()*+,-./:;<=>?@[\]^_{|}~ |
Supported |
Supported |
|
± × ÷ |
Supported |
Supported |
|
≈ ∑ ∂ ∞ ∆ |
Not Supported |
Not Supported |
|
$ € £ ¥ |
Supported |
Supported |
|
₹ ₩ |
Not Supported |
Not Supported |
|
‘ ’ " " - - _ _ |
Supported |
Supported |
|
\n \r \t |
Supported |
Supported |
|
😀 🚀 ⚠️ 💡 |
Not Supported |
Not Supported |
|
º ª · ¿ ¨ ´ |
Supported |
Supported |
Multilingual Characters
| Characters | Primavera P6 | ALICE |
| é ñ ü ç à (French, Spanish) | Supported | Supported |
| Привет мир (Russian) | Supported | Supported |
| Γειά σου Κόσμε (Greek) | Not Supported | Not Supported |
| مرحبا بالعالم (Arabic) | Not Supported | Not Supported |
| 你好，世界 (Chinese) | Not Supported | Not Supported |
| こんにちは世界 (Japanese) | Not Supported | Not Supported |
| 안녕하세요 세계 (Korean) | Not Supported | Not Supported |
| שלום עולם (Hebrew) | Not Supported | Not Supported |
| नमस्ते दुनिया (Hindi) | Not Supported | Not Supported |
| áéíóúÁÉÍÓ | Supported | Supported |
| ÄËÏÖÜäëïöü | Supported | Supported |
External Links at Import to ALICE
When a Primavera P6 schedule is imported into ALICE, additional projects may appear, even ones the user did not open or intend to include. This occurs because of external links between P6 projects. The explanation below clarifies how this works with a simple example.
Two Types of External Links:
- Intentional external links: These are links the user intends to include. They appear when all related P6 project files are opened together in P6 before exporting.
- Informational external links: These are links the user does not intend to include directly. P6 still exports them because they connect back to the projects that were opened, even if the related project file itself was never opened.
Example:
Consider a schedule divided into four separate P6 files:
- SCHEDULE-1 (Construction).XER
- SCHEDULE-2 (Engineering).XER
- SCHEDULE-3 (Procurement).XER
- SCHEDULE-4 (Ties Construction, Engineering, Procurement schedules together).XER
The goal is for ALICE to treat these as one combined schedule.
Step-by-Step: How to Prepare P6 Files for Export:
- Step 1: Open all four schedules in P6 at the same time.
- Step 2: Export them as a single combined .XER file (referred to here as COMBINED_PROJECT.XER). This combined file contains all intentional external links among the four schedules.
- Step 3: Import COMBINED_PROJECT.XER into ALICE.
Why Extra Project(s) Might Appear in ALICE:
ALICE may show additional project(s) that was not opened in P6. For example, an unexpected project such as MISC_LINKS.XER may appear.
- Reason: The extra project contains activities linked to one or more of the schedules that were opened. P6 includes those links during export, because the relationships are present within one or more of the schedules. These are called informational external links.
- However, ALICE does not import the entire additional project. It only imports the specific activities that contain direct links to the intentional schedules.
- In the example:
- MISC_LINKS.XER has 6 activities (A5000–A5050)
- Only activity A5000 has a link to COMBINED_SCHEDULE.XER
- ALICE imports only A5000 (informational external link) and ignores activities A5010, A5020, A5030, A5040, and A5050.
Key Takeaways: To maintain control over what appears in ALICE:
- Ensure all intended P6 projects are opened prior to export.
- Be aware that P6 may still export “informational external links" from other connected projects that were not opened.
- ALICE will only import activities that directly connect to the intentional schedules, not entire unrelated project files.
This process ensures ALICE reflects the correct schedule structure and excludes unnecessary data.
Multi-Project Import and Export
Primavera P6 allows users to connect projects together with external links. This creates the concept of multi-project, and when the user exports the XER and XML file, P6 exports all projects together. P6 keeps these projects as separate entities with their own IDs, Data Dates, Calendars, etc within one exported file.
This process makes sure that even if the projects are connected together, they can still be reviewed, modified, and scheduled as separate projects.
ALICE does not currently support the concept of separate projects connected to each other, and upon import, ALICE merges all connected projects into one.
Once imported, ALICE will provide a warning that indicates that the.XER or XML files contain multiple projects and indicate how the Start or Data Dates will be handled in ALICE. See the Limitations section.
After import, ALICE will technically create one project file, but the multiple projects will be split by WBS Level 2. See the Limitations section to learn more.
Export
Once exported, the XER or XML files will use the WBS Level 2 to divide the projects back. As noted in the Limitations section, the user must not alter the WBS Level 2 structure in ALICE before export; otherwise, the project split will become inaccurate.
Limitations
If the projects in the P6 have different Project Start dates, ALICE will pick the earliest date. This will change the start date of activities in other projects that have a later Project Start date.
If the projects in the P6 have different Data Dates, ALICE will pick the earliest date. This will change the start date of activities in other projects that have a later Data Date.
The user MUST NOT change the WBS structure in ALICE. If changed, the export back to P6 will not split the projects correctly.
If the projects in P6 contain Activity ID, Resources, Calendars, or other entities with the same name, upon import, ALICE will add the Project ID as a suffix to that entity.
If the user deletes all external links between the projects and then exports from ALICE, P6 will recognize it as one project.