Combine several schedule files into one project

A construction plan rarely arrives as one file. Each contractor sends their own schedule, the equipment supplier sends another, and the question is always the same: how do you get them into one plan so the dependencies between them actually mean something?

Import each file into the same project. Onplana adds the tasks to the project you choose rather than creating a second one, tags every task with the file it came from, and leaves the project’s own details alone.

Importing a second contractor's schedule into a project that already holds one, choosing An existing project on the Confirm step, and finding both branches in the task list with each task tagged by the file it came from

Why not just link across two projects?

You can, and Onplana honours it: a task waiting on a task in another project is scheduled after it. But the link works one way. Onplana still schedules one project at a time, so the project that holds the predecessor is scheduled without reference to the one that follows it, and a change there reaches the follower the next time the follower’s own schedule is recalculated.

That is the right shape when two teams own two plans and one genuinely follows the other. When the work is really one schedule that arrived as several files, merging it into one project is simpler: the whole network is levelled and floated together, and every link pulls in both directions.

Import into an existing project

1. Open Import and upload the file as usual. Nothing changes about the upload, mapping, preview or resource steps.

2. On the last step, Confirm Import, choose An existing project under “Where should this go?”.

3. Pick the project from the list. Only projects you can add tasks to will work; if you pick one you do not have access to, Onplana says so rather than importing somewhere unexpected.

4. Choose Add to project. The tasks, dependencies, milestones and costs from the file land in that project alongside what is already there.

Repeat for each file. There is no limit on how many you combine.

Tell the branches apart

Every imported task is tagged with the name of the file it came from, like Source: Contractor A.mpp. This happens on every import, including the first one that created the project, so the tags are already there when the second file arrives.

Because it is an ordinary tag, you can:

• Filter the task list or grid to one contractor’s work,
• Group by the tag to see the branches side by side,
• Colour it, or rename it to something friendlier than a filename.

It is a normal tag in every respect, which also means someone can remove it by hand. If you rely on it, say so to your team.

Find where the schedules contradict each other

This is the reason for merging in the first place: an equipment delivery that lands after the activity that installs it, procurement lead time that eats all the float, the same crane booked twice.

Look at the Gantt chart. Once both schedules are one network, Onplana computes total float across all of it, and a task that cannot meet its own constraints shows negative float: it is rendered as over-committed and sits on the critical path. That is the contradiction, and it only becomes visible once the two schedules can see each other.

Two different things are called Schedule Health Check

The Schedule Health Check tool on our website takes an uploaded file and audits its structure. It is a good check on one contractor’s file before you merge it.

The health check inside Onplana reports on project management hygiene: overdue tasks, unassigned work, budget use, how fresh the data is. It is useful, but it will not spot a delivery landing after its installation date.

After a merge, the Gantt is the answer.

What a merge does not change

Adding a file to a project only ever adds. The project keeps:

• its name, even though the incoming file has one of its own,
• its status, owner and start date,
• its budget, which is not replaced by the incoming file’s total.

The one exception is the end date, which moves outward if the new file finishes later than the project currently does. It never moves in, because the project holds work the file has never heard of.

Limits today

Caution

These are real constraints, not oversights, and it is worth knowing them before you plan a big merge.

• One working calendar per project. If two contractors work different weeks, merging forces the target project’s calendar onto both. There is no per-branch calendar yet.
• Resources are matched by email. The same person spelled two different ways in two files stays two people, and the capacity view will show them that way.
• Re-importing an updated file adds a second copy. If a contractor sends a revised schedule next month, importing it again appends fresh tasks rather than updating the branch you already have. For now, plan merges around a file you consider final, or delete the old branch by its source tag first.
• Budgets are not combined. Each file’s costs land on its tasks, but the project’s own budget figure is left as you set it.

Common questions

Can you integrate two separate projects? Yes, and there are two ways, depending on whether they should stay two projects. If the two schedules are really one plan that arrived as separate files, import them into the same project as above and the whole network is scheduled together. If they are genuinely two projects with two owners, leave them apart and link a task in one to a task in the other: the schedule honours a dependency that spans two distinct projects, one way, as described in the tip near the top of this page. See Link task dependencies.

If you meant integrating Onplana with another system, such as Microsoft or Google, that is a different kind of integration. See Connect Google and Microsoft.

Does this need a paid plan? No. Importing into an existing project works on every plan, exactly like importing a new one.

Does it count against my project limit? No, and that is deliberate. Adding a file to a project creates no new project, so it does not use one of your plan’s project slots even if you are at the cap.

Can I merge different file types? Yes. Anything the importer accepts (.mpp, .xml, .mpx, .xer, .xlsx, .csv) can be added to the same project, so a contractor’s Microsoft Project file and a supplier’s spreadsheet can sit in one plan.

What if I pick the wrong project? The imported tasks are tagged with the source file, so filter by that tag and delete them, then import again into the right project. There is no single undo for a whole import.

Can I still create a new project from a file? Yes, and that is still the default. The Confirm step opens on A new project, so an import you do not think about behaves exactly as it always has.

Related

• Import a Microsoft Project file, the full import walkthrough
• Link task dependencies, how to connect the branches once they are in one project
• Plan on the Gantt chart, where the contradictions show up
• Tag and filter work, reading a merged plan one source at a time
• Capture and compare baselines, the right next step once the merged plan is agreed