Free P6 schedule health check

Upload a Primavera P6 export and find out, in seconds, whether the schedule can be trusted: a grade from A to F, more than 30 checks in plain words (the 14 points of the DCMA assessment and more than 15 of our own), and the list of activities behind every problem. Made for planners, and for the project managers, contract administrators and clients who have to read their work.

Check my schedule freeSee the Reporting pages

Sign up with your email. 7-day free trial of everything, then the schedule health check stays free. Your file is stored in Australian data centres and only your space sees it.

Schedule health
Sample project
C
74 / 100
612 activities
Missing logic9 of 486 open activitieswatch
Hard constraints31 of 486fail
Lags22 of 1,140 linkspass
High float57 of 486fail
Critical path testfinish moves with the testpass
Sample result on an invented schedule. Your result lists every check and the activities behind it.

What you get

A grade from A to F: A from 90 points out of 100, B from 80, C from 70, D from 60, and F below that. A severe fault (circular logic, negative float, invalid dates, too many open ends, a failed critical path test) caps the grade whatever the points say. Under the grade, more than 30 checks: the 14 points of the DCMA assessment and more than 15 of our own, each with its limit, the activities that fail it and how to fix it in P6. Where you also load a baseline file, the baseline checks (missed baseline finishes with the BEI, CPLI) come on.

The 14 DCMA points

Missing logic
Open activities with no predecessor or no successor: nothing tells them when to start, or nothing waits for them to finish. Limit: 5 % of activities.
Leads
Links with a negative lag, which let a successor start before its predecessor allows. Limit: none.
Lags
Links with a waiting time built in. Lags hide work and do not show on the bar chart. Limit: 5 % of links.
Relationship types
How many links are not finish-to-start. Most links should be the simple kind: finish one, start the next. Finish-to-start should be at least 90 %.
Hard constraints
Dates typed in by hand that override the logic (Mandatory, Start On, Finish On or Before and the like). Limit: 5 % of open activities.
High float
Activities that could slip by more than 44 working days without moving the finish: usually a sign of missing logic. Limit: 5 %.
Negative float
Activities that cannot meet a fixed date: the schedule is already late against that date. Limit: none.
High duration
Activities with more than 44 working days of work left, which are hard to report progress on accurately. Limit: 5 %.
Invalid dates
Actual dates after the data date, forecast dates before it, or progress without actual dates. Limit: none.
Resources
Open activities with no labour or equipment assigned. Information only, unless the schedule is meant to carry resources.
Missed baseline finishes
Activities the baseline said would be finished by now and are not (DCMA limit: 5 % of those due, a baseline execution index (BEI) of 0.95). Shown for information only: a delay on site or in design is not a fault in the schedule, so it does not lower the grade.
Critical path test
Push one critical activity out by 600 working days and see whether the finish moves with it. If it does not, the logic is broken.
CPLI
Critical path length index: how much room the critical path has against the target finish (1.00 is on target; 0.95 or more passes).

Some of our own

Dangling logic
Activities whose start or finish is tied to nothing, although they have links: one end of the bar floats free.
Redundant relationships
Links that another path already covers. They add nothing to the dates and clutter the logic.
Long lags
Lags longer than half the predecessor and at least 5 working days: waiting time that should be an activity of its own.
Out-of-sequence progress
Work that started or finished before the activities it was waiting for had allowed it, so the logic no longer tells the true story.
Soft constraints
Start On or After and Finish On or After dates. They do not override the logic but still fix dates; contract dates belong here and nothing else should.
Level-of-effort links
Hammock activities (level-of-effort activities that stretch between other activities) linked the wrong way round, so they could start driving dates they should only follow.
Calendar sanity
Activities on a calendar with no working time, which cannot be scheduled sensibly.
Critical path continuity
The chain of work that drives the finish, traced back: it should reach work in progress or work starting at the data date.
Merge hotspots
Activities where many finish-to-start paths meet. Each path can hold up the start, so these are the places a delay is most likely to bite.

How it works

  1. 1

    Sign up with your email

    No password: a one-time code is emailed to you. Your account is ready in a minute, with a 7-day free trial of everything.

  2. 2

    Upload the XER export

    In P6 choose File, Export, XER. Load the file with the Load button; a P6 XML or Microsoft Project file also works.

  3. 3

    Read the result in seconds

    The grade, every check and the activities behind each one, with an Excel export. Your file is stored in Australian data centres and only your space sees it.

Who it is for

Planners

Check a baseline or a monthly update before it goes out, with the list of activities to fix in P6.

Project managers

Know whether the programme you are managing to can be trusted, without opening P6.

Contract administrators

Review a contractor's baseline or update against the usual yardstick, with the evidence listed.

Clients

Ask for the XER and see for yourself how sound the programme is before you accept it.

Questions people ask

Is it really free?

Yes. Every new account starts with a 7-day free trial of everything GanttMind does. When the trial ends, the schedule health check and your files stay free: you can keep uploading XER files (up to 25 MB each, 3 a day, 2 projects) and reading the result. The other pages ask for a quote.

What happens after the 7 days?

Your account moves to the free plan by itself. Nothing is deleted. The Health tab and the Files page keep working; Reporting, Scheduling, Risk and Delay analysis need a paid plan, which we quote per team.

Which files can I upload?

A Primavera P6 XER export (File, Export, XER in P6). A P6 XML or Microsoft Project file also loads. One file is enough; add a baseline file and the baseline checks (missed baseline finishes with the BEI, CPLI against the baseline finish) come on as well.

Is my schedule safe?

Your file sits in a private store in Australian data centres (Sydney). Only the people you invite to your space can see it. It is never shown to other customers, sold or used to train AI models, and you can delete it yourself at any time.

Do you change my file?

No. The check reads the dates, floats and logic P6 saved in the file and reports on them. Your XER is never edited, and you fix anything in P6 as you normally would.

What is the DCMA 14-point assessment?

A set of 14 schedule checks published by the United States Defense Contract Management Agency (missing logic, leads, lags, relationship types, hard constraints, high float, negative float, high duration, invalid dates, resources, missed tasks, the critical path test, CPLI and BEI). It has become the usual yardstick for schedule quality. We run those 14 and more than 15 checks of our own that we use when we review programmes: more than 30 in all.

How is this different from P6's own Schedule Log or Check Schedule?

P6's Schedule Log lists what happened when the schedule was calculated. P6 EPPM's Check Schedule runs similar counts for licensed P6 users; the health check grades the result, lists the activities behind every check and works for people who do not have P6 open: a project manager, a contract administrator or a client.

Can I check a contractor's programme?

Yes. Ask for the XER export of the programme, upload it and read the grade and the lists. Clients and superintendents can use the checks when they review a baseline or a monthly update.

Check my schedule freeSee the Reporting pages