Dear Planning Planet Members,
Welcome to the newsletter; did you know that this newsletter goes to the largest community of project controllers on planet Earth? As many of you know we’ve transitioned to a new, faster, and more modern web portal that’s already benefiting our users. We appreciate your ongoing feedback in identifying the bugs or issues we need to fix.
Written something on project controls—an article, a thought piece, or even a rough idea? Get in touch and we’ll include it in future posts. It’s free, and we love collaborating with our community.
THE 2026 STATE OF CONSTRUCTION SCHEDULING REPORT—YOUR INSIGHT MATTERS
Planning Planet community, we want to hear from YOU.
It’s that time of the year again. We're building the 2026 State of Construction Scheduling Report & your insight matters.
SmartPM is combining data from 100,000+ real project schedules with input from pros like you to create the industry’s most comprehensive scheduling benchmark. What’s working, what’s not, what's changed since 2025, and where scheduling is headed next.
The survey is short, anonymous, and takes less than 7 minutes.
Complete it by May 10th to:
- Get early access to the full report
- Be entered to win one of three $150 Amazon gift cards
Your input helps shape the future of scheduling!
IAMTECH KNOWLEDGE: TWO PLANNERS. SAME JOB. TWO DIFFERENT ESTIMATES.
IAMTech Knowledge: Two planners. Same job. Two different estimates.
It happens on every shutdown planning team, in every industry. Not because planners don’t know their craft — but because every experienced planner carries their own norms, their own assumptions, their own bias.
AI doesn’t replace the planner’s judgement. It standardises the baseline.
When every work order is estimated against the same decades of industrial maintenance norms, the inconsistency disappears — and the schedule becomes something leadership can actually plan around READ MORE.
Wish your planning team all planned consistently? First look at iPlanSTO AI-Enhanced Planning: WATCH VIDEO — or VIEW BROCHURE. How would this transform planning in your world?
To arrange your demonstration, contact [email protected].
VALUE-ADD and FREE WEBINARS
- May 19 - P6-Scrubber - Import XERs and XMLs with Ease (Emerald Associates) - In P6-Scrubber v8, Emerald has added our P6-QA functionality into the XER and XML pre-importing of Primavera P6 project schedule files. Now, not only can you pre-scrub P6 project files from contractors and engineering firms, your team can also critique the schedule for industry standard requirements like DCMA 14 or contract specification requirements. Your team can build your own specific validation criteria such as Start and Finish milestones for Project Sanction or Construction Complete. P6-Scrubber v8 also allows your team to auto-scrub and auto-import files from your computer quickly. In addition, we’ve added new online drilldown reporting capabilities and improved notebook reporting. The P6-Scrubber is a custom Primavera P6 add-on tool developed by the team at Emerald Associates that gives you and your team the ability to easily modify, delete, or remap data in your XML or XER files prior to importing them into your database. Save yourself valuable time, keep your database clean, and prevent any unnecessary or incomplete data from being imported.. Save your spot...
- May 19 - Cleopatra Enterprise x AACE International Live Webinar | Earn 0.1 CEUs (AACE) - Most organizations have project data, but struggle to turn it into structured, usable insight. When properly standardized, project data becomes a strong foundation for more accurate estimates, effective benchmarking, and continuous improvement. In this live webinar, you will learn how to turn fragmented data into actionable project intelligence. Save your spot...
- May 27 - Primavera Unifier Facility Management (Emerald Associates) - Oracle Primavera Unifier is a one-stop shop for all of your project management needs - and in their new consolidated accelerator release, that now includes Facilities and Asset management (FAM). With the new FAM configuration, Unifier offers a multitude of new modules, including asset management and space management. The asset management toolkit allows you to stay on top of your preventative maintenance requirement with ease. The space, facilities, and materials management allows you to easily record lease information. With the amount of new modules and functions, it can be overwhelming to figure out everything that you can do with this powerful technology, and that’s what we’re here for! In this webinar, we will be discussing and demonstrating a few of the main modules that have been added, specifically relating to Asset Management and Space Management. Come check it out to see how it all works and get a peak at just a few of the things that Oracle Primavera Unifier FAM can help you and your team to do. Save your spot...
- May 28 - Oracle Primavera Cloud (OPC) Integrator v2 - New Release (Emerald Associates) - Oracle Primavera Cloud (OPC) is a collaborative, fully SaaS, cloud-based project management tool that provides a single platform for managing the prioritization, planning, and execution of projects. To make the setup of OPC and the project data entry process less time-consuming, Emerald has created the OPC-Integrator. This flexible and secure tool simplifies OPC data extraction, loading, updating, and integration with third party tools like SAP or Oracle Fusion. Users can import and export many of the key data elements available in OPC, allowing for the movement of data back and forth between OPC and Microsoft Excel in a smooth and controlled manner. The latest feature include several new modules from workspace, projects, programs, portfolios, and risks to be added, edited and deleted via OPC-Integrator. Additional error handling and deleting capabilities for existing modules like WBS, activities, and resource assignments have also been added to this version. Save your spot...
- June 03 - ALICE Technologies launches new optimization mode: Targeted Optimization - Construction teams are constantly faced with challenging schedule decisions: Where can a project be accelerated? Which activities are actually driving delays? And what is the most feasible path to recovering a missed milestone? ALICE Technologies has launched Targeted Optimization, a new optimization mode helps teams identify which activities within a schedule are driving acceleration opportunities — and by how much — without requiring resource-loaded schedules or complex setup. To introduce the feature and showcase how it works, the ALICE team is hosting a live panel discussion and a product demonstration on Wednesday, June 3rd. Attendees will get an inside look at how Targeted Optimization works, hear practical use cases from the field, and have the opportunity to ask questions live. Save your spot... (link goes live 7 am pacific tie 12 May)
Contact us to get your event here - [email protected]
CONSTRUCTION CPM CONFERENCE 2027
We’re finalizing plans to bring the Construction CPM Conference back in 2027 at the Hilton Palacio del Rio on San Antonio’s River Walk.
Mark your calendar for February 23–25 and get ready to register your team, as we continue building a conference for Constructors, by Constructors.
Our focus will be strengthening Planning to drive Performance—so every attendee leaves with practical takeaways they can use right away. We will be continuing the legacy that Fred has built since 2011.
RESOURCE CRITICAL PATH IS NOT CRITICAL PATH WITH A FEW RESOURCE LINKS ADDED
In Resource Critical Path analysis, activity durations are calculated through automatic resource assignments, and the model explicitly accounts for technological variability (conditional scheduling), as well as financial and supply constraints.
Among all the scheduling analysis methods, the Resource Critical Path Method (RCPM) is the top-maturity approach.
Compared to algorithmic CPM, RCPM is based on advanced data modelling and meta-heuristic analysis, also known as 'AI scheduling'.
It helps projects answer very important questions like:
- "When can the project be delivered, considering expected technological, financial and resource limitations?"
- "What is the best resource allocation to maximise project benefits?"
- "Where are schedule accelerations possible?"
Source: Alex Lyaschenko, Program & Portfolio Planning & Delivery
EARNED VALUE MANAGEMENT – NOW OVER 60 YEARS OLD – IS THERE ANYTHING NEW TO SAY ABOUT PROBLEMS IN ITS IMPLEMENTATION?
Quick history – Following on from the development of CPN (time control) and more powerful main frame computers (in the early 1960’s) it was realised that the addition of budgetary information to the activities could lead to potentially cost control information. EVM in various guises become the leading contender. Led by the US DoD PERT, CSCS, CCCS etc versions were developed throughout the 1960’s (Mosaic do a particularly good history paper on EVM).
The original descriptors were all budget function orientated (BCWS, BCWP, ACWP) but sometime in the late 1960’s it got shortened to PV, EV, AC losing the budget function link (pity).
Perhaps PBV, EBV, ABC would have been better descriptors. Over the years, it has become clear that EVM has its limitations, but to be of use, EVM has to be applied in an organisation that has a mature project management system.
So, as EVM cannot be ignored, lets kick off with some fundamentals....
SHARE PROJECT XER / MPP NO INSTALLATION, LOGIN, OR REGISTRATION – JUST A SIMPLE LINK
XER Reader
Share your project schedules in XER and MPP format. No installation, no login, no email registration – just a simple link.
You have updated your schedule. Moved the data date and applied actuals. Adjusted milestones and progress on activities. You have calculated baseline variances and earned value values. You have gone and done all this work. All that effort. Why not share it.
- Share with the project team
- Share with steering group
- Share with suppliers
- Share with sponsor
- Share with partners
- Share with clients
- Share with owner
Try now and get 50% off using PlanningPlanet discount code PP50
Take a look...
CONSULTANT USES P6-SCRUBBER TO HELP MANAGE MANY P6 SCHEDULES FROM DIFFERENT CLIENTS
P6-Scrubber v8 New Release Article: - import P6 without polluting your data
Client Overview - Client is a one person company that manages schedules for many different clients. - Read more...
Challenges
- Client needed a way to import schedules from different clients without polluting the existing data in their database
- They wanted to be able to import outside data with prefixes and into specific structures to keep track of what schedules they belonged to.
Results
- Installed P6-Scrubber on their standalone database, where they could see what already existed in the database and either rename or remap data in their XER/XMLs to match their existing data
- P6-Scrubber allows them to prefix and place data elements, such as Resources and Roles into specific trees.
Quality assurance checks, data analysis and auto-scrubbing. Choose from pre-defined validations and create your own to match your company's needs with configurable warn/fail checks. Peruse sleek and responsive reports to see any potential issues in your projects or activities, all bundled together with regular scrubbing capabilities. Dig into schedule details with our project statistics dashboards.
New Features:
- QA Validations - Include quality assurance checks when you scrub your files, ensuring that your projects and activities meet your company's specifications. Create your own specific validations.
- Real-Time Reporting - Enjoy clear and responsive graphs and charts with your QA reports. See any potential issues at a glance, and delve into more detailed reporting with a click of your mouse.
- Auto-Scrub - Drop a file into your folder and allow P6-Scrubber to auto-scrub and auto-import without having to lift a finger. Apply pre-configured rules to save your team time.
- Project Statistics - The first phase of project data and statistics graphics in P6-Scrubber. See the details in your schedule in relation to activities and resources. Full blown comparisons are coming soon.
Watch a Video... Read more...
For more information or to schedule a demo, please reach out to us at [email protected].
WHEN ATTEMPTING TO LOG INTO P6, THE FOLLOWING ERROR OCCURS - GET_SAFETY_DATE
Applies to: Primavera P6 Enterprise Project Portfolio Management Cloud Service - Version 18.8 and later. Information in this document applies to any platform.
Symptoms: When attempting to log into P6 Professional, the following error occurs.
Error: Exception Exception in module PM.EXE at 000000000118614B. GET_SAFETY_DATE -54: ORA-00054: resource busy and acquire with NOWAIT specified or timeout expired".
Cause: A bug in the GET_SAFETY_DATE PACKAGE causes error
"Exception Exception in module PM.EXE at 000000000118614B. GET_SAFETY_DATE -54: ORA-00054: resource busy and acquire with NOWAIT specified or timeout expired" to occur.
Solution: This issue has been resolved, and the fix has been included as part of the following patch sets:
Source: Bob Malin, the P6 Blogger
PROJECT CONTROLS and PMO WORKING TOGETHER
We are inclduing this again as we had such a number of positive questions and views coming in. We hope it adds some value...
In recent conversations across the industry, I’ve noticed there is still no clear, shared understanding of the distinction between PMO and Project Controls — often leading to confusion in roles, expectations, and value.
As a simple way to frame it: PMO sets the rules, and Project Controls tells you how well you are performing against them — and what to do next. The PMO focuses on governance, standardisation, and alignment, while Project Controls provides the data-driven insight, forecasting, and decision support needed to deliver successfully.
I’m sharing my article as an attempt to bring more clarity to the discussion — and would be keen to hear your views. How do you see the relationship between PMO and Project Controls in your organisation?
Join the discussion, have your say...
Source: Anil Godhawale, IEng, CCP, PSP, CEO ProjCon Group
CAN I SEE YOUR RISK TO SCHEDULE LINKAGE?
Can I see your risk-to-schedule link?
That is one of the fastest ways to test whether a project is truly under control.
Because almost every project can show you:
- a risk register,
- a schedule,
- and a status report.
Far fewer can show you the link between them.
And that is where false confidence starts.
GAO is very clear on this point: schedule risk analysis is supposed to connect a good CPM schedule with schedule threats and opportunities to estimate confidence in the completion date. In other words, risk is not supposed to sit beside the schedule. It is supposed to shape it.
Yet in many projects, risk lives in workshops.
The schedule lives in planning software.
And the forecast lives in PowerPoint.
Three parallel universes. One delayed project. The problem is not theoretical.
Source: Bertrand GUERARD
MAINTAINING ACCURATE SCHEDULE UPDATES DURING UNAPPROVED PROSPECTIVE TIME IMPACT ANALYSES (TIAS)
Construction projects rarely run exactly as planned. When prospective Time Impact Analyses (TIAs) sit unresolved, schedulers face a familiar dilemma: either ignore the pending impacts (losing valuable forecast visibility) or keep them embedded (cluttering the schedule and undermining its usefulness for monitoring and forecasting).
In this paper presented at the 2026 Project Control Summit, I outline a practical, unified methodology that integrates AACE Recommended Practice 52R-06 (Prospective Time Impact Analysis) with forensic schedule analysis principles from RP 29R-03. The result is a disciplined transition process that preserves forecast integrity, maintains transparency, and supports faster, more defensible extensions of time (EoT) negotiations.
The full paper—including detailed step-by-step procedures, activity-coding examples, layout configurations, implementation considerations, and references—is now available.
I’d welcome your comments and experiences with managing unresolved TIAs in your projects.
Source: Chris Carson FRICS, FAACE, FGPC, PSP, DRMP, CEP, CCM, PMP
WHEN THE CRITICAL PATH IS NOT THE REAL CRITICAL PATH !!!! IT’S NOT BECAUSE THE LOGIC…
When the Critical Path Is Not the Real Critical Path !!!! It’s not because the logic…
I remember sitting in a review where the schedule looked… solid.
The critical path was clear.
Everyone knew where the focus should be.
There was confidence in the room.
Then execution started. A few weeks in, things didn’t feel right.
Some activities that were supposed to be “safe” started slipping.
Teams were waiting longer than expected.
Certain work fronts just couldn’t move.
At first, it didn’t make sense. “These activities are not critical,” someone said.
And they were right.
At least… according to the schedule.
But when we looked closer, the issue wasn’t logic.
It was resources.
Read the story, have your say...
Source: Mohamed Rami TMAR PMP® Primavera P6 OCS
WHAT IS THE STAGE GATE PROCESS AND WHY DOES IT MATTER FOR PROJECT SUCCESS? | BLOG
Most project failures aren’t caused by bad ideas, but by poor decisions along the way.
The stage gate process helps teams stay on track by breaking projects into clear stages, with decision points that determine whether to move forward, pause, or stop.
By evaluating projects before major resources are committed, organizations can focus on the initiatives that truly deliver value. This leads to better prioritization, stronger portfolio control, and more successful project outcomes.
The five stages explained
- Stage 1: Initiation - A quick assessment of the project idea: is there a clear objective and enough value to justify further investigation?
- Stage 2: Business case - Deeper analysis: stakeholder needs, resource requirements, risk assessment, and a high-level project plan.
- Stage 3: Planning and execution - The core project phase: detailed planning, task assignment, and active execution of project deliverables.
- Stage 4: Review and validation - Rigorous evaluation of deliverables, processes, and whether the project is meeting its defined objectives and success criteria.
- Stage 5: Closure - Formal project completion, handover of deliverables, and a post-project review to capture lessons learned.
MOST QCRA MODELS - DESPITE THE EFFORT THAT GOES INTO THEM, THEY OFTEN FAIL TO INFLUENCE THE DECISIONS THEY ARE MEANT TO SUPPORT
Most QCRA models are built correctly. Many are even technically sound. They follow accepted methods. They use recognised tools. They produce outputs that appear structured, consistent, and defensible.
Yet, despite the effort that goes into them, they often fail to influence the decisions they are meant to support.
That is the real problem.
Not whether the distribution was triangular or PERT. Not whether the model used 5,000 or 50,000 iterations. Not whether the logic was elegant or complex. Those things matter, but they are not where QCRA succeeds or fails. The failure point sits elsewhere.
It sits in the gap between:
- what is modelled,
- how it is modelled, and
- how the result is actually used.
Source: Amin Jalili
WHAT PROBABILITY SHOULD YOU ASSIGN TO IT OCCURRING NEXT YEAR?
Get involved...
Source: Alex Sidorenko
ALICE TECHNOLOGIES LAUNCHES NEW OPTIMIZATION MODE: TARGETED OPTIMIZATION
ALICE Technologies launches new optimization mode: Targeted Optimization
Construction teams are constantly faced with challenging schedule decisions:
Where can a project be accelerated? Which activities are actually driving delays? And what is the most feasible path to recovering a missed milestone?
ALICE Technologies has launched Targeted Optimization, a new optimization mode within ALICE built for teams who have a target date in mind and need to know where to focus acceleration efforts. The mode helps teams identify which activities within a schedule are driving acceleration opportunities — and by how much — without requiring resource-loaded schedules or complex setup.
Customer insights: Suffolk Construction applied Targeted Optimization on a life sciences project. Within minutes, ALICE pinpointed three trade tasks where a 30% productivity improvement would drive the greatest impact to the timeline. Acting on those insights, and using ALICE's Insights Agent, the team recovered a total of 42 days of delay.
Learn more about Targeted Optimization... [URL will be live 7am PST 12 May]
To introduce the feature and showcase how it works, the ALICE team is hosting a live panel discussion and a product demonstration on Wednesday, June 3rd. Attendees will get an inside look at how Targeted Optimization works, hear practical use cases from the field, and have the opportunity to ask questions live.
Save your spot for the live webinar here... [URL will be live 7am PST 12 May]
ASTA Tip #145 A ‘View’ is a personalised window onto your project
A ‘View’ is a personalised window onto your project. Asta Powerproject is easily configurable and can display a multitude of outputs via its tables, bar chart, graphs, filters, sorts and histograms. If you spend a bit of time configuring your output, choosing the columns you want, deciding what to display in your bar chart, configuring your histograms, running sorts and filters, there is a feature in Asta Powerproject which remembers these configurations and saves them collectively as a named ‘View’. You can then simply toggle between your default ‘Bar Chart View’ and your new ‘View’ without having to apply all the individual configurations every time.
Source: Anthony Ward, Asta Powerproject Training / Trainer / Consultant
Cleopatra Enterprise x AACE International Live Webinar | Earn 0.1 CEUs
Most organizations have project data, but struggle to turn it into structured, usable insight.
When properly standardized, project data becomes a strong foundation for more accurate estimates, effective benchmarking, and continuous improvement.
In this live webinar, you will learn how to turn fragmented data into actionable project intelligence.
LET'S OPEN UP OPPORTUNITIES TOGETHER
To support every practitioner, employer, consultant, and recruiter in our network, we’re opening up free job postings for everyone. Whether you’re:
- An employer with a vacancy
- A regular practitioner looking to strengthen your team
- A consultant searching for standout talent
- A recruiter with a role to fill
…you’re invited to share your opportunities with the entire Planning Planet community.
No charge. Simply contact [email protected] and we’ll help you get your role in front of thousands of committed project controls professionals.
Let’s make this a space where opportunities flow freely, careers grow, and our community continues to lift one another. View Jobs... Post Jobs...
- MAX10714: Senior Scheduler / Toronto & Ontario / CAD $95,000 to $120,000 per annum
- Project Controls Director
- Power BI Reporting Specialist
- Cost Engineer | All Cities
- Risk Consultant (QSRA) | All Cities
- P6 Planning Engineer | Major Infrastructure Opportunities
- Planning Engineer - Plymouth (Hybrid) -:£50-70,000 + car allowance + package
- Senior Planning Engineer - Cardiff (Hybrid) - £70-85,000 + package
- Construction Planner - Asta - Central London - £55-75,000 + package
- Senior Tender Planner - Manchester (Hybrid) - £80-90,000 + car allowance + package
- Planning Manager (MEP) - West Sussex (3 Days Site / 2 Days Remote) - £85-95,000 + car allowance + package
- Senior Planner - Cardiff (3 Days Site / 2 Remote) - £70-90,000 + package
- Project Planner - London
- Senior Planner – London (Construction / Build)
- Senior Planner – Power & Energy (Southwest Dublin, Ireland)
- Planners (Nuclear & Power)
- London – Lead Planner (Main Contractor, Permanent)
- Senior Claims Expert
- Planning Engineer – Rail (Permanent)
- Senior Planner
- Planning Claims Analyst
SUPERIOR ALTERNATIVE TO THE "MOST POPULAR" SOFTWARE FOR US AS PLANNERS?
A superior alternative to the "most popular" software for us as planners?
Spider Project Team is a group of project management consulting and training companies. With headquarters in Moscow, Russia, we have branches, partners and representatives in other Russian cities, Australia, Brazil, Colombia, Kazakhstan, Romania, USA. We develop professional PM software Spider Project that is the most powerful and functional tool for project, program, and portfolio management.
We develop advanced approaches and methods of project management that are widely used by our customers in 37 countries. We provide training on project management and Spider Project software for our customers around the world.
We manage projects for our customers and implement corporate project management systems in companies of different industries. We believe that good project management can improve our world and are happy to provide the best services and tools to our customers.
We are proud of our achievements. The current version is used in 37 countries. Spider Project offers numerous unique functional features and is the only PM software that optimizes resource, cost, and material constrained schedules and budgets for projects and portfolios.
Spider Project offers numerous unique functional features and is the only PM software that optimizes resource, cost, and material constrained schedules and budgets for projects and portfolios.
Check it out here... Ask questions here...
WOULD YOU LIKE TO ADVERTISE ON PLANNING PLANET?
We want to give more of our members the opportunity to advertise on our site. Click here to get started!
THANK YOU FOR READING OUR MESSAGES
If you’d like to lend a hand to the small but enthusiastic team behind this newsletter, feel free to reach out to us at [email protected]. We know there’s still a lot of work ahead to make this an informative and eagerly anticipated bi-weekly read, so get in touch and be part of the journey.
Regards...
The Planning Planet Team