Which scheduling job are you buying for?

Why it matters: These tools do different jobs. ALICE describes simulating many construction scenarios to optimize, de-risk or recover a schedule. Karmen describes building and updating schedules from drawings, specs and past schedules. nPlan and Foresight describe forecasting delay risk; nPlan says its AI is trained on 750,000+ historical schedules. SmartPM and Nodes & Links describe analyzing the schedule you already keep. Outbuild, Planera and Nialli are planning tools that crews work in day to day. Tip: Write down the one decision the pilot should support (a bid schedule, a baseline, a recovery plan, an owner report, a weekly plan) before you book demos.

Will your P6 or Microsoft Project files survive the round trip?

Why it matters: ALICE says it imports Microsoft Project, Primavera P6 and Primavera Cloud schedules. Karmen reads P6, MSP and XER files and exports to P6 and Microsoft Project. Outbuild imports from MS Project or P6 and exports PDF, XML or XER. nPlan says Schedule Studio exports an updated XER. Nialli imports milestones and activities from P6, Asta Powerproject or Microsoft Project. Planera's pricing FAQ describes help importing schedules when you move from P6 or MS Project. Tip: Export one real schedule into the tool and back out again, then check activity codes, calendars, constraints, resource loading and logic against the original.

If it drafts a schedule, how much work is left for your scheduler?

Why it matters: Karmen says it builds the WBS, activities and logic links from your documents. nPlan says it creates and edits schedules from scope documents. Planera turns plain-English requests into schedules and updates. ALICE Model builds a baseline from a 3D model, and ALICE FieldPlan (beta) builds field plans from drawings. None of them publishes how long a scheduler spends correcting a draft. Tip: Give each vendor the documents for a job you already scheduled and count the hours, missing activities, open ends and logic fixes needed to reach a schedule you would submit.

What does the forecast rest on, and was it checked against real finishes?

Why it matters: nPlan cites its archive of past schedules and points to a white paper that explains forecast accuracy in terms of mean absolute error. Foresight claims forecasts 2x more accurate than bottom-up schedules and a 30% reduction in overruns, and lists quantitative schedule risk analysis. ALICE claims 17% shorter durations and 14% labor and 12% equipment cost savings. These are vendor claims; the pages do not show how the savings figures were measured. Tip: Ask for forecast-versus-actual results on closed projects like yours, then run the tool on one of your own closed jobs and compare its forecast at each update with the real finish.

How does it check schedule quality, and against which standard?

Why it matters: Planera lists DCMA-14 schedule quality checks. ALICE lists a Schedule Quality Score that says what to fix and why. nPlan has a Schedule Integrity Checker. SmartPM lists automated schedule health checks and revision comparison. Nodes & Links says it scans continuously for stale logic and broken links and logs who changed what and when. Tip: Run one schedule through each tool and through your own checklist (or a DCMA-14 check), and ask the vendor to explain every flag you disagree with.

Can you see how an AI answer was produced?

Why it matters: Nodes & Links says answers trace back to their source and that a Platform Mode shows how each answer was produced. nPlan says answers in its Claude and ChatGPT connection come straight from Schedule Studio. ALICE offers a Schedule Insights Agent for chatting with a schedule. Karmen and Planera take plain-English instructions. Tip: Ask the chat three questions you already know the answers to, such as the driving path to a milestone, and check each answer against the schedule itself.

Who has to work in it: schedulers only, or the field and trades too?

Why it matters: Outbuild builds lookaheads from the master schedule, with weekly commitments from trades and metrics such as Percent Planned Complete, and lists iPad access. Planera connects field schedules to the master and offers a pull-planning whiteboard and iPad updates. Nialli is built on the Last Planner System and calculates Percent Plan Complete and reasons for variance as tasks are statused. ALICE lists FieldPlan (beta) for lookaheads built from drawings; nPlan, Foresight and Nodes & Links describe tools for planners, project controls teams and executives. Tip: Have a superintendent and one trade partner update a week of work in the demo, and see whether their updates reach the master schedule without someone re-entering them.

How is it priced, and what counts as a project or a user?

Why it matters: SmartPM lists Essentials at $12K a year for up to 50 projects and Controls at $25K a year with five Controls slots, both with unlimited users, and a 60-day risk-free trial. Outbuild starts at $999 a month billed annually, priced by annual construction volume, with unlimited users and projects. Nialli lists $1,400 a year for a single plan with unlimited users. ALICE quotes by project size and scope and says customers generally use it on projects of at least $75M construction value. Planera quotes custom pricing with unlimited users. nPlan, Karmen, Foresight and Nodes & Links publish no prices. Tip: Ask for a written quote that names the AI features included, how projects, slots or construction volume are counted, and what happens to price at renewal.

What happens to your schedule data?

Why it matters: Karmen says project documents are never used to train shared models and shares SOC 2 reports on request. ALICE cites SOC 2 Type II and Cyber Essentials Plus, encryption in transit and at rest, and says customers own their data. Nodes & Links cites ISO 27001 and says data never touches public LLMs. nPlan's Schedule Studio connects to Claude and ChatGPT. These are vendor statements. Tip: Get the training, retention and deletion terms in writing, and if a tool connects to a general-purpose chatbot, ask exactly which schedule data leaves the vendor's system.

Home / Guides / Questions to ask before an AI construction scheduling pilot

Questions to ask before an AI construction scheduling pilot

A checklist for a first conversation with an AI scheduling or schedule analytics vendor. These are our suggestions, drawn from our management and scheduling category, our scheduling roundup and compares. They are not findings: Means & Methods Lab has not tested any tool. Where a question mentions a vendor, it points to something that vendor publishes. Desk research, not tested.

SUGGESTIONS, NOT FINDINGS. No tool has been tested by Means & Methods Lab. Vendor facts are desk research from vendor websites and are not verified. Updated 2026-10-17.

The questions (9)

Q01Which scheduling job are you buying for?
WHY IT MATTERS · These tools do different jobs. ALICE describes simulating many construction scenarios to optimize, de-risk or recover a schedule. Karmen describes building and updating schedules from drawings, specs and past schedules. nPlan and Foresight describe forecasting delay risk; nPlan says its AI is trained on 750,000+ historical schedules. SmartPM and Nodes & Links describe analyzing the schedule you already keep. Outbuild, Planera and Nialli are planning tools that crews work in day to day.
WHAT TO ASK · Write down the one decision the pilot should support (a bid schedule, a baseline, a recovery plan, an owner report, a weekly plan) before you book demos.
Q02Will your P6 or Microsoft Project files survive the round trip?
WHY IT MATTERS · ALICE says it imports Microsoft Project, Primavera P6 and Primavera Cloud schedules. Karmen reads P6, MSP and XER files and exports to P6 and Microsoft Project. Outbuild imports from MS Project or P6 and exports PDF, XML or XER. nPlan says Schedule Studio exports an updated XER. Nialli imports milestones and activities from P6, Asta Powerproject or Microsoft Project. Planera's pricing FAQ describes help importing schedules when you move from P6 or MS Project.
WHAT TO ASK · Export one real schedule into the tool and back out again, then check activity codes, calendars, constraints, resource loading and logic against the original.
Q03If it drafts a schedule, how much work is left for your scheduler?
WHY IT MATTERS · Karmen says it builds the WBS, activities and logic links from your documents. nPlan says it creates and edits schedules from scope documents. Planera turns plain-English requests into schedules and updates. ALICE Model builds a baseline from a 3D model, and ALICE FieldPlan (beta) builds field plans from drawings. None of them publishes how long a scheduler spends correcting a draft.
WHAT TO ASK · Give each vendor the documents for a job you already scheduled and count the hours, missing activities, open ends and logic fixes needed to reach a schedule you would submit.
Q04What does the forecast rest on, and was it checked against real finishes?
WHY IT MATTERS · nPlan cites its archive of past schedules and points to a white paper that explains forecast accuracy in terms of mean absolute error. Foresight claims forecasts 2x more accurate than bottom-up schedules and a 30% reduction in overruns, and lists quantitative schedule risk analysis. ALICE claims 17% shorter durations and 14% labor and 12% equipment cost savings. These are vendor claims; the pages do not show how the savings figures were measured.
WHAT TO ASK · Ask for forecast-versus-actual results on closed projects like yours, then run the tool on one of your own closed jobs and compare its forecast at each update with the real finish.
Q05How does it check schedule quality, and against which standard?
WHY IT MATTERS · Planera lists DCMA-14 schedule quality checks. ALICE lists a Schedule Quality Score that says what to fix and why. nPlan has a Schedule Integrity Checker. SmartPM lists automated schedule health checks and revision comparison. Nodes & Links says it scans continuously for stale logic and broken links and logs who changed what and when.
WHAT TO ASK · Run one schedule through each tool and through your own checklist (or a DCMA-14 check), and ask the vendor to explain every flag you disagree with.
Q06Can you see how an AI answer was produced?
WHY IT MATTERS · Nodes & Links says answers trace back to their source and that a Platform Mode shows how each answer was produced. nPlan says answers in its Claude and ChatGPT connection come straight from Schedule Studio. ALICE offers a Schedule Insights Agent for chatting with a schedule. Karmen and Planera take plain-English instructions.
WHAT TO ASK · Ask the chat three questions you already know the answers to, such as the driving path to a milestone, and check each answer against the schedule itself.
Q07Who has to work in it: schedulers only, or the field and trades too?
WHY IT MATTERS · Outbuild builds lookaheads from the master schedule, with weekly commitments from trades and metrics such as Percent Planned Complete, and lists iPad access. Planera connects field schedules to the master and offers a pull-planning whiteboard and iPad updates. Nialli is built on the Last Planner System and calculates Percent Plan Complete and reasons for variance as tasks are statused. ALICE lists FieldPlan (beta) for lookaheads built from drawings; nPlan, Foresight and Nodes & Links describe tools for planners, project controls teams and executives.
WHAT TO ASK · Have a superintendent and one trade partner update a week of work in the demo, and see whether their updates reach the master schedule without someone re-entering them.
Q08How is it priced, and what counts as a project or a user?
WHY IT MATTERS · SmartPM lists Essentials at $12K a year for up to 50 projects and Controls at $25K a year with five Controls slots, both with unlimited users, and a 60-day risk-free trial. Outbuild starts at $999 a month billed annually, priced by annual construction volume, with unlimited users and projects. Nialli lists $1,400 a year for a single plan with unlimited users. ALICE quotes by project size and scope and says customers generally use it on projects of at least $75M construction value. Planera quotes custom pricing with unlimited users. nPlan, Karmen, Foresight and Nodes & Links publish no prices.
WHAT TO ASK · Ask for a written quote that names the AI features included, how projects, slots or construction volume are counted, and what happens to price at renewal.
Q09What happens to your schedule data?
WHY IT MATTERS · Karmen says project documents are never used to train shared models and shares SOC 2 reports on request. ALICE cites SOC 2 Type II and Cyber Essentials Plus, encryption in transit and at rest, and says customers own their data. Nodes & Links cites ISO 27001 and says data never touches public LLMs. nPlan's Schedule Studio connects to Claude and ChatGPT. These are vendor statements.
WHAT TO ASK · Get the training, retention and deletion terms in writing, and if a tool connects to a general-purpose chatbot, ask exactly which schedule data leaves the vendor's system.

Bring to the demo

One closed project's baseline and every update as submitted, in native XER or MPP, with the actual finish dates.
The drawings, specs and scope documents for a job you have already scheduled, so a drafted schedule can be checked against yours.
Your owner's scheduling specification and any quality checks you already run, such as DCMA-14 thresholds.
One current three-week lookahead or weekly work plan, and the name of the superintendent who would use the tool.
The names of your scheduling and project management systems (for example P6, Microsoft Project, Procore or Autodesk Construction Cloud).

Sources

ALICE https://www.alicetechnologies.com
ALICE pricing https://www.alicetechnologies.com/pricing
nPlan https://www.nplan.io
Karmen https://www.karmenai.com
SmartPM pricing https://smartpm.com/pricing
Outbuild pricing https://www.outbuild.com/pricing
Planera https://www.planera.io
Planera pricing https://www.planera.io/pricing
Nodes & Links https://nodeslinks.com/
Foresight https://www.foresight.works/
Nialli https://www.nialli.com/
Nialli pricing https://www.nialli.com/pricing

Tools mentioned (alphabetical, not ranked)

ALICE · Scheduling
Foresight · Predictive schedule analytics & delay risk
Karmen · AI scheduling co-pilot
Nialli · Digital pull planning
Nodes & Links · AI project controls & schedule analysis
nPlan · Scheduling & risk
Outbuild · Collaborative scheduling & lookahead
Planera · AI-native CPM scheduling
SmartPM · Schedule analytics & project controls

Side-by-side comparisons

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