If your main contractor or client now requires the construction programme in Primavera P6, converting it is more than an import. The MS Project file can be brought into P6, but the imported programme will not meet the client's P6 specification. The logic, calendars, work breakdown, constraints and critical path have to be rebuilt to comply, and the programme then has to be accepted. We do both.
What we do
We take your existing MS Project programme and rebuild it in Primavera P6 so that it meets your main contractor's or client's specification and holds up at acceptance. The schedule keeps its meaning, the way it is built matches what the client requires, and it is delivered as a native P6 programme ready for their review rather than a file that will be sent back.
Why it is more than a conversion
Clients rarely just want the same programme in P6. They issue a P6 specification. A typical one governs how the programme is built and reported, from calendars and coding to the way logic, progress and the critical path are handled. An imported programme meets almost none of it on its own. We rebuild the programme so it complies, rather than handing over something that will be rejected at acceptance.
What you get
A Primavera P6 baseline built to the client's specification and ready for acceptance, delivered as a native P6 programme with the outputs the specification calls for. In short, a programme that goes to the client's programme workshop and is accepted, rather than one that comes back with comments.
Independent, by design
We plan, we do not build. Our only interest is whether the programme is true and whether it will be accepted, which is exactly what a main contractor's planner is checking. That independence is the point.
Keep it updated
Most P6 specifications also require weekly and monthly updates once the baseline is approved, usually a native file and PDF submitted by a set time each week. We run those updates for you, to the specification, and we can host the programme in our own licensed Primavera P6, so you do not need a licence of your own.
Rebuilding a programme to a main contractor's P6 specification
Sometimes there is nothing to convert. The programme is already in Primavera P6, and it has been rejected because it does not match the structure the main contractor works to.
We rebuild it inside their structure: their WBS, their activity ID convention, their activity codes and allowable values, their calendars, their percent complete type and scheduling settings, their interface milestones and their reporting layouts. The plan stays yours. The container becomes theirs.
Where the specification is really asking for roll-up and reporting rather than a literal hierarchy, we will say so. Their structure can often be delivered through activity codes while you keep a native WBS that matches how you actually build the work, which is a much smaller job than a full rebuild.
You get back a file they can integrate, a mapping from your old activity IDs to the new ones, a note of every date that moved and why, and a quality check against the DCMA 14-point assessment or against their own thresholds where they have set them.
What we need from you is the planning specification or programme requirements document. An exemplar or sanitised programme helps if one can be obtained, though a live accepted file usually cannot be shared. Where nothing is written down, we agree the structures with their planner in writing before we build.
If the contract is NEC, conforming to a coding standard is a different test from acceptance under clause 31.3. The NEC4 Programme Acceptance Review is the test built for that. For the detail of what a rebuild involves, see our note on P6 specification rebuilds and what a planning specification asks for.
Common Questions
Can you convert an MS Project programme to Primavera P6?
Yes. We rebuild it in P6 and make it meet your client's specification, not just import it.
Can I just export or convert the MS Project file to a P6 XER myself?
You can run an .mpp through a converter to get an .xer, but the output rarely meets a main contractor's P6 specification. The work breakdown, calendars, constraints, activity coding and logic almost always need rebuilding, and a raw conversion usually fails the client's schedule checks. We import the file into P6 and rebuild it to the specification so it is accepted.
How long does an MS Project to P6 conversion take?
A typical programme is rebuilt and checked within one to two weeks, depending on the number of activities and how clean the source file is. Send the file and the client's P6 requirements and we will confirm a turnaround.
Can you make it meet the main contractor's P6 requirements?
Yes. That is the core of the service. We build to the specification and support the acceptance process.
Do you provide the native XER file?
Yes, the .xer, and .xml and .plf where the client asks for them, with a PDF and narrative.
Do you also do the weekly updates?
Yes, weekly and monthly updates to the client's specification for the run of the works, on an interim or retained basis.
Do we need our own P6 licence?
No. We can host the programme in our licensed Primavera P6.
Our programme is already in P6. Do we still need a rebuild?
Often yes. Being in P6 is not the same as being in their P6. The WBS, activity coding, calendars and scheduling settings are what they integrate and report against.
Do we have to rebuild, or can we just add the codes?
It depends how far apart the structures are. If the WBS matches and only coding is missing, it is a data exercise. If the WBS, IDs, calendars and scheduling settings all differ, it is a rebuild. It is always worth asking the main contractor whether they want the WBS itself or the reporting it produces, because codes will often satisfy the second.
Get started
Send us your MS Project programme and the client's P6 requirements, and we will tell you what it takes to make it acceptable. Or run our free Schedule Health Check first.