Onplana vs Primavera P6
The general contractor sends a P6 .xer. Open it in Onplana, plan your part with your team, and send your update back, without a P6 seat for everyone who needs the plan.
Primavera P6 is the right tool for the contractor who owns the master schedule. Onplana is for the subcontractor or owner on the receiving end: the scheduler with no P6 licence, and the second person who needs to read and update the plan.
Who this is for
The scheduler who receives .xer files
You work for a subcontractor or the owner, the contractor's programme arrives as a P6 .xer, and a P6 licence for one file a week is hard to justify at renewal. You open the file, plan your scope and report back.
The second person on the plan
A project manager, an estimator or a site lead who needs to read the schedule and say where their work stands. They open it in a browser or on a phone, with no desktop licence.
The round trip, row by row
What comes into Onplana from the .xer, what your team does there, and what goes back to the contractor. Each row is something the product does today, or says when it does not.
| Step | What | How it works | Today |
|---|---|---|---|
| In | Open the .xer Yes | Upload the Primavera P6 .xer the contractor sent, up to 50 MB, on every plan, including Free. No P6 licence is involved. | Yes |
| In | Activities and WBS Yes | Activities come in under their WBS, with durations, start and finish dates, and percent complete. | Yes |
| In | Relationships Yes | All four types (FS, SS, FF, SF) with their lag. | Yes |
| In | Constraints Yes | Each activity's constraint and its date. | Yes |
| In | Resources Yes | Matched to your members by email. A resource with no match is named in a warning, never created as a user. | Yes |
| In | Baseline No | P6 keeps a baseline as a separate project, so the .xer carries none. Capture one in Onplana right after the import; it takes a click. | No |
| In | Calendars No | Not carried. The project uses your organization's working calendar. | No |
| Team | Read and update without a P6 seat Yes | The second person, and the crew leads, open the plan in a browser and update status, progress and comments. Free covers 5 members and 2 projects; timesheets with approval are on the Professional plan and up. | Yes |
| Check | Critical path and float Yes | Recomputed from the links in the file, on the Gantt chart. | Yes |
| Out | Return Project XML Yes | Export the plan as Microsoft Project XML, on every plan. P6 Professional imports it through File > Import > Microsoft Project. | Yes |
| Out | Return a P6 .xer Coming | Onplana Schedule saving the update straight back as an .xer. Built, and held off until a written file passes our import check in P6 Professional. | Coming |
Every format the import reads and the free ways to open an .xer. Baselines and variance are on every plan, including Free.
What Primavera P6 does that Onplana does not
If your work needs any of these, the P6 seat earns its keep. Onplana is built for the receiving end of the schedule, not for running the master.
One enterprise database
P6 keeps every project in one database under an enterprise project structure, with organization-wide codes and security. Onplana is a workspace per organization; it does not read or write a P6 database.
Baselines as projects
P6 stores baselines as projects of their own and compares against several. Onplana captures project baselines and shows variance against them, on its own side of the round trip.
Calendars on every activity and resource
P6 schedules each activity on its own calendar. Onplana imports none of them and uses the organization's working calendar.
Hours and minutes
P6 schedules in hours. In Onplana, the free Onplana Schedule app plans to the minute (type 2h or 90m); the web app schedules in whole working days.
Writing .xer today
If the contractor requires an .xer back this week, keep the P6 seat for that step. Onplana returns Project XML today, and the .xer save is held until it passes in P6 Professional.
Edit the .xer on your own machine with Onplana Schedule
Onplana Schedule opens .xer, .mpp and Project XML files, shows the grid beside a Gantt with the critical path, reschedules as you edit, runs the DCMA 14-point checks, works offline and saves Project XML. A P6 file carries no baseline, so the checks that need one are not assessed. Free, for Windows, Mac, Android (Google Play) and iPhone (App Store).
Get Onplana ScheduleHow likely is the contractor's date?
Upload the .xer to the free Schedule Risk Analyzer: 2,000 Monte Carlo runs give the dates you finish by half, 80% and 90% of the time, and the tasks that drive them. No account.
Run the risk analysisWhat Onplana costs
List prices in US dollars, from the pricing page. Primavera P6 is licensed by Oracle; ask Oracle or your reseller for its price.
- Free: 5 members and 2 projects, with the .xer import, the Gantt with critical path, baselines and Project XML export.
- Professional: $12/seat/mo, with timesheets and approval.
- Every self-serve plan: Free, $12, $20 and $29 per seat a month.
Onplana Tasks on iPhone, iPad and Android phones and tablets; Onplana Schedule from the Microsoft Store, the Mac App Store, the App Store and Google Play. All free.
Frequently asked questions
Can I open a Primavera P6 .xer file without a P6 licence?
Can I send the updated schedule back to the general contractor as an .xer?
Should we drop our Primavera P6 licence for Onplana?
Does the baseline come across from the .xer?
How much does Onplana cost for this?
Building programmes on site rather than receiving them? Read construction scheduling software.
Bring the .xer, skip the extra seat
Free plan, no credit card. Import the contractor's schedule, invite your team, and send your update back as Project XML the same day.