3-week look-ahead schedule, made from your schedule
A look-ahead is the work due in the next few weeks, cut from the master schedule for the site meeting. Open your .mpp, Project XML or .xer below, choose Reports, then Look-ahead, and print it or save it as a PDF.
A Microsoft Project XML file opens in your browser, and is uploaded only if you run a health check or publish a copy. Any other file is converted on Onplana's servers. The viewer asks before each upload, and the uploaded copy is deleted within 3 days, and removed from backups 7 days after that.
Next week, make the next one from the updated plan. Get Onplana Schedule, free for Windows and Mac
What is a look-ahead schedule?
A look-ahead schedule is the next two or three weeks of the master schedule on one or two pages: every task that starts, finishes or is under way in that window, with its dates and who does it. Superintendents and site managers bring it to the weekly coordination meeting to line up crews, deliveries and inspections before the work arrives. Three weeks is the common window in construction, long enough to order materials and short enough to be accurate. Most teams retype it by hand from the schedule each week; this page cuts it from the file instead.
How do you make a 3-week look-ahead from your schedule?
- Choose Open a file in the viewer above, or drop your .mpp, Project XML or .xer onto it.
- Choose Reports, then Look-ahead.
- Under Window, pick 3 days or 2 weeks. For three weeks, pick Custom and set From to the first day and To twenty days later: both days count, so that is 21 days.
- Under Resource, keep Everyone or pick one person or crew.
- Press Print, Save as PDF or Export CSV.
The window starts on the status date saved in the file, or today if it has none, and the report says which day it used. The preview shows the window's first and last day before you print.
What the look-ahead does not do
- It keeps no constraint log, crew sizes or meeting notes. It lists the tasks as the schedule has them; the CSV opens in Excel if you track those beside it.
- It changes nothing in the file. The master schedule stays where it is, and the viewer in the browser is read-only.
- It lists tasks, not summary rows, and leaves out inactive tasks.
Why a look-ahead matters, and how teams run the meeting around it, is in the look-ahead schedule guide. To read the whole plan rather than the next weeks, the online MPP viewer and the XER viewer open the same files on the Gantt chart.
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Frequently asked questions
What is a 3-week look-ahead schedule?
A short list of the work due in the next three weeks, taken from the master schedule: every task that starts, finishes or is under way in that window, with its dates and who does it. Site teams use it in the weekly meeting to line up crews, materials and inspections, because the full schedule is too long to read on site.
Is this look-ahead tool free?
Yes. Open your schedule, make the look-ahead and print it, save it as a PDF or export a CSV, with no account and nothing to install.
Which files does it open?
Microsoft Project .mpp and Project XML files, and Primavera P6 .xer files. A Project XML file opens in your browser; any other file is converted on Onplana's servers after the viewer asks, and the uploaded copy is deleted within 3 days, and removed from backups 7 days after that.
How do I make it three weeks instead of two?
In the Look-ahead report, choose Custom under Window and set From to the first day and To to the day twenty days later. Both days are counted, so that is 21 days. The 3 days and 2 weeks choices fill the dates for you.
Which day does the look-ahead start on?
On the status date saved in the file, if it has one, or else today. When the file has no status date and today is outside the plan, as with an old file, it starts at the first unfinished task or the plan's start, and Use today moves it to today. The report says which day it used. Custom uses exactly the days you set.
Can I make one look-ahead per foreman or crew?
Yes, when the schedule assigns resources. Pick one resource under Resource and the look-ahead lists only their tasks; Everyone lists them all. Save one PDF per resource.
Does it keep a constraint log or crew sizes?
No. It lists the tasks from the schedule as they are in the file. Constraints, crew sizes and notes from the meeting stay on your own sheet, and the CSV is a starting point for one in Excel.
Can I update the schedule here?
Not in the browser: the viewer reads the file and changes nothing. Onplana Schedule, the free Windows and Mac app, opens the same file, edits and saves it, and makes next week's look-ahead from the updated plan.
Keep the schedule, make next week's look-ahead
Onplana Schedule, the free Windows and Mac app, opens the same file, lets you update progress and dates, saves it as Project XML, and makes the next look-ahead from the plan you just updated.
Get Onplana Schedule