ALICE Agent lets you make changes to your schedule on the Plan page by describing them in plain language. Tell it what you want, review its proposed changes, and apply them when you're ready. ALICE Agent is available to all ALICE Optimize users.
Use it for the work that takes up most of your time before an optimization run:
- Cleaning up logic, such as removing preferential relationships
- Resource loading, such as assigning crews and setting duration formulas
- Setting up calendars and workweeks
- Making bulk changes across many tasks at once
How it works
ALICE Agent never changes your schedule on its own. It drafts the changes, and you decide what gets applied.
- Request. Describe the change you want in plain language.
- Plan. ALICE Agent reads your schedule and works out the exact actions needed. If your request is unclear, it asks for the missing details instead of guessing.
- Review. You get a list of the proposed actions: what will change, on which tasks, and why. Nothing in your schedule has changed yet.
- Apply. If the plan looks right, accept it and ALICE Agent makes the changes. Then click Re-schedule to recalculate the schedule with the changes applied.
If ALICE Agent can't complete a request, or part of one, for any reason, it tells you. You can undo and redo applied changes.
Getting started
- Open your project and go to the Plan page.
- Open ALICE Agent by clicking the Agent button in the bottom-right corner of the Plan page.
- Type your request. Name the tasks, WBS levels, or resources you want the agent to act on, and include any numbers.
- Review the proposed actions, then apply them or adjust your request. After you apply, click Re-schedule to propagate the changes.
Each answer in the chat includes a Download source data (.xlsx) option, so you can export the data behind a response and check it in Excel.
What you can ask it to do
The examples below show the kind of request that works well. Use your own task names, codes, and values.
Tasks and milestones
| What you can do | Example request |
|---|---|
| Create tasks, milestones, Level of Effort, or WBS Summary activities | "Add a 40-hour task 'Punch list' under Level 2 finishes." |
| Create several tasks from a list and link them in one request | "Add tasks 'Excavate', 'Form', 'Pour' under Foundations and link them finish-to-start." |
| Rename a task or change its ID | "Rename C-1042 to 'Temporary fencing – North'." |
| Duplicate tasks or a whole WBS level | "Duplicate the Level 3 WBS with all its tasks." |
| Add, change, or remove date constraints | "Put a Mandatory Start of 2026-10-05 on 'Mobilize site'." |
Change status, percent complete, actual start and finish dates, or actual and at-completion durations | "Mark all Level 1 concrete activities as 50% complete." |
| Delete tasks or milestones | "Delete task C-1042 'Temporary fence'." |
Durations and formulas
| What you can do | Example request |
|---|---|
| Change durations on one or many tasks | "Double the duration of every drywall task in Zone B." |
| Apply duration and crew-count formulas | "Assign the duration formula num_crews*8 to all formwork tasks." |
| Change the variables used in duration and quantity formulas, such as production rates and quantities | "Set the pour rate variable for all slab tasks to 12 m³/h." |
| Create, edit, or remove production rates | "Add a production rate 'Rebar placing' of 10." |
Logic
| What you can do | Example request |
|---|---|
| Add relationships (FS, SS, FF, SF) with lag | "Make 'Cure concrete' finish-to-start into 'Strip formwork' with 24 h lag." |
| Change a relationship's type or lag | "Change the link between 'Excavate' and 'Pour footing' from SS to FS." |
| Remove relationships | "Remove the redundant link between 'Frame walls' and 'Paint'." |
| Add common predecessors or successors to a group of tasks | "Make every Level 4 MEP rough-in task a successor of 'Level 4 deck complete'." |
Resources on tasks
| What you can do | Example request |
|---|---|
| Assign or remove crews, with a min–max count and primary flag | "Assign Formwork Crew to all wall tasks, 1–3 crews, primary." |
| Assign, change, replace, or remove materials | "Add 'Scaffold set' to all façade tasks, quantity 2." |
| Assign, change, or remove equipment | "Put one concrete pump on every Level 5 pour." |
| Assign calendars to tasks | "Assign the '6-day – Main Shut' calendar to all shutdown tasks." |
| Set or clear custom property values | "Set Contractor = 'Acme Steel' on all steel erection tasks." |
Resource pool, calendars, and project settings
| What you can do | Example request |
|---|---|
| Create, edit, or remove crews, subcontractors, equipment, and materials | "Create a consumable material 'Grout bags' with quantity 500." |
| Create, edit, or remove calendars and workweeks, including overtime | "Add 18:00–20:00 Mon–Fri at 2x pay to the Default workweek." |
| Set the default calendar | "Make 'Site 5-day' the default calendar." |
| Add, change, or turn off resource ramps | "Ramp the Formwork crew from 2 to 6 crews over the first four weeks." |
| Set or clear the project workforce limit | "Set the project workforce limit to 120." |
| Create, edit, or remove custom properties | "Create a custom property called 'Contractor'." |
| Create, edit, or remove indirect costs | "Add an indirect cost 'Site overhead' of 4,000 per day." |
WBS structure
| What you can do | Example request |
|---|---|
| Create, rename, move, duplicate, or delete WBS levels | "Create a WBS level 'Façade – East' under 'Envelope'." |
Combine steps in one request
You can chain dependent steps in a single request. ALICE Agent returns them as one plan for you to review.
"Create a 'Curtain wall' crew and assign it to every façade task with 2–4 crews."
Tips for good results
- Be specific. Name the tasks, task IDs, WBS levels, or resources you mean, and give exact values. "Add 2 days to every pour on Level 5" works better than "make the pours longer."
- Select tasks to point the agent at them. Selecting tasks in the task table tells ALICE Agent which ones to focus on. It's guidance, not a hard filter, so the agent can still act on other tasks if your request calls for it. Check the review list to confirm the scope.
- Read the review list before you apply. It shows every action ALICE Agent will take. If something is wrong or missing, refine your request rather than applying and fixing it afterward.
- Be careful with deletions. Deleting tasks permanently removes them along with their relationships and assignments. ALICE Agent asks you to confirm before deleting anything.
- Break up very large bulk changes. There's a limit to how much ALICE Agent can change in one request. If a request is too large, it tells you, so you can split it into smaller groups.
What ALICE Agent can't do yet
For now, do these directly on the Plan page:
- Change views, filters, grouping, zoom, or column settings
- Re-schedule the plan or change plan settings, such as the data date
- Set actual start or finish dates, change duration type, or suspend and resume tasks
- Save the schedule as a scenario
- Export, print, or upload an edited Excel file
- Import P6 resources
ALICE Agent works on the Plan and Analyze page only. We plan to bring it to the Canvas in a future release.
Frequently asked questions
Is my data safe and secure?
Yes. Your data is never used to train the AI model and remains private.
Can I write requests in other languages?
Yes. Write your request in any language, and ALICE Agent answers in the language you used.