Author Archives: Zinnia Ramirez

Aurora and the free Aurora-Viewer were presented at the National Shipbuilding Research Program (NSRP) Business Technologies Panel Meeting, held at the U.S. Coast Guard Yard Baltimore, June 23-24.

The presentation highlighted Aurora’s intelligent resource scheduling capabilities and their potential benefits for ship maintenance scheduling and ship construction scheduling, including improving resource utilization and project throughput. Attendees were also introduced to Aurora-Viewer, the free Primavera P6 XER file viewer for Windows.

The Coast Guard’s sustainment enterprise is operating in an increasingly complex environment. Aging platforms, evolving mission requirements, modernization efforts, workforce challenges, and supply chain pressures all affect how maintenance and lifecycle support are planned and executed. Aurora can help address these challenges through advanced resource scheduling that accounts for real-world constraints, competing priorities, and changing conditions during execution.

The Free Aurora-Viewer for XER files has been expanded with more capabilities. Thank you for the feedback!

This 2026-June release adds new schedule analysis, reporting capabilities, and more.

Highlights include:

• Utilities > Run Logic Checks
  • Runs a set of model analysis methods to catch common modeling problems.
• Utilities > Find Redundant Constraints
  • Shows redundant constraints.
• Reports > DCMA Report
  • Shows a subset of the 14 DCMA audits.
• Reports > Critical Path Predecessor Chart
  • Shows how many tasks on the critical path have a certain number of predecessors. This provides insight into how much of the longest path through the network is susceptible to integration risk / merge bias. Integration risk / merge bias is the risk that one or more tasks feeding a successor task will be late, thereby delaying the start of the successor task. Since the successor task is part of the critical path, then any predecessor delay will directly affect the end date of the project.
• File > Open XER (if includes Greek characters)
  • Users can now open XER files where the text includes Greek characters. When such files are imported, the text, e.g., activity names, will be displayed correctly across the Aurora UI.

Aurora-Viewer is a free Windows-based tool for viewing Primavera P6 XER schedules—based on the Aurora intelligent scheduling and project management software.

Download Aurora-Viewer here.

Have feedback or feature ideas? We’d love to hear from you through the feedback form on the Aurora-Viewer page.

Aurora-Viewer continues to improve—thank you for all the valuable feedback!

The latest version (April 2026 update) of Aurora-Viewer:

• Reads critical path information directly from the XER file during import
  • Tasks on the critical path are displayed in red, in both the PERT and Gantt charts
  • Tasks with negative float are also shown in red, in both the PERT and Gantt charts
• Adds a new Float section to the Project Model Overview Report, including:
  • Number of Zero Float Activities
  • Number of Negative Float Activities

Aurora-Viewer is a free Windows-based tool for viewing Primavera P6 XER schedules—no Primavera license required.

You can access Aurora-Viewer here.

We’re always working to improve Aurora-Viewer, so share your experience with us by filling out a feedback form at the bottom of the Aurora-Viewer page!

The free Windows-based viewer for Primavera P6 XER files, Aurora-Viewer, has been improved again. We appreciate all your helpful feedback!

Aurora-Viewer allows users to open and view Primavera P6 schedules in the “.XER” file format, without needing a full Primavera license; for FREE.

The latest version (updated March 2026) of Aurora-Viewer:

• Displays activities on the critical path in red, in both the PERT and Gantt charts
• The colors of links for the constraint types have been updated to:
  • Finish-to-Start (FS) – Black
  • Start-to-Start (SS) – Blue
  • Finish-to-Finish (FF) – Green
  • Start-to-Finish (SF) – Red
• A ‘Total Float’ column has been added to both the Tabular Editor and the Tabular Gantt

The installation includes a ‘videos’ subfolder with demonstration videos. The Single-Element-Display video provides helpful guidance for navigating and understanding your schedule.

You can access Aurora-Viewer here.

We are continually improving Aurora-Viewer and welcome your suggestions for the next iteration!

Stottler Henke will present “Benefits of Additional Real-World CPM Modeling Capabilities with Aurora” at the Construction CPM Conference, January 18–21, at the Grand Sierra Resort in Reno, Nevada. The Construction CPM Conference brings together professional planners and schedulers to share knowledge and explore developments in Critical Path Method (CPM) scheduling, project controls, scheduling software, and related practices.

The free Windows-based viewer for Primavera P6 XER files, Aurora-Viewer, has been improved again.

Aurora-Viewer allows users to open and view Primavera P6 schedules in the “.XER” file format, without needing a full Primavera license; for free.

Aurora-Viewer notable features include:

• Gantt Charts
• Tabular / spreadsheet view
• Single-element view

The latest version (updated 12/29/25) of Aurora-Viewer:

• shows the project overview report by default after the user imports a .xer file with additional information including:
  • a ‘minimum non-zero duration’ row has been added to the ‘activity details’ section
  • a ‘zero duration jobs not marked as milestone’ row has been added to the ‘job types’ section
  • a ‘calendars’ section has been added
• the constraint display configuration option is now available in all graphical views
• legend option is turned on in all views
• zoom functions are turned on in all graphical views

The installation includes a “videos” subfolder with demonstration videos. The Single-Element-Display video provides helpful guidance for navigating and understanding your schedule.

You can access Aurora-Viewer here.

We are continually improving Aurora-Viewer and welcome your suggestions and feedback.

Check out our 2025 Aurora Intelligent Scheduling and Project Management Newsletter where we cover all the updates to the Aurora-Viewer, including key features and benefits. We also provide an overview of the advantages Aurora-Viewer has over conventional XER viewers.

• Aurora-Viewer UPDATE: Free Primavera P6 XER file viewer
• New Key Features and Benefits of Aurora-Viewer
• Advantages of Aurora-Viewer Over Conventional XER Viewers

Keep shaping Aurora-Viewer by trying it out and sharing your thoughts via our feedback form at the bottom of the page!

Our free Primavera P6 XER file viewer for Windows has been updated.

The most up-to-date version of the Viewer for XER files now:

• shows the Project Overview Report by default after the user imports a .xer file

This report has been updated to also include:

• a ‘minimum non-zero duration’ row within the ‘activity details’ section
• a ‘zero duration jobs not marked as milestone’ row within the ‘job types’ section
• a ‘calendars’ section

This version also supports even larger models, enabling you to open and explore more extensive Primavera P6 schedules with ease. Plus, we’ve enhanced the Project Overview report:

• Displays by default immediately after importing an XER file
• Adds a “minimum non-zero duration” row in ‘Activity Details’ section
• Includes a “zero duration jobs not marked as milestone” row in ‘Job Types’ section
• Features a brand-new Calendars section

Other Aurora-Viewer notable features include:

• Gantt Charts
• Tabular / spreadsheet view
• Single-element view

The installation includes a “videos” subfolder with demonstration videos. See the Single-Element-Display video to learn how to better navigate and understand your schedule.

The Aurora-Viewer can be accessed by heading over to the Aurora-Viewer page.

Simply download and then open or double-click the installer to install it.

Feel free to submit the feedback form found at the bottom of the page so that we can better understand how to improve Aurora-Viewer!

[Updated 07/31/25]

Aurora-Viewer: Free Primavera P6 XER file viewer for Windows

Aurora-Viewer allows users to open and view Primavera P6 schedules in the “.XER” file format, without needing a full Primavera license; for free. Aurora-Viewer currently includes:

• Gantt Charts
• Tabular / spreadsheet view
• Single-element view

The installation includes a “videos” subfolder with demonstration videos. See the Single-Element-Display video to learn how to better navigate and understand your schedule.

It can be accessed by heading over to our Aurora-Viewer page. Simply download and then open or double-click the installer.

We are continually improving the Aurora-Viewer and look forward to your suggestions and other feedback.

Many of the lessons learned from working in some of the most complex project management and scheduling domains, ranging from submarine construction to aircraft production and MRO, will be presented at two upcoming events in Australia.

The presentations will explore how more detailed modeling capabilities, developed through work with expert schedulers in these complex environments, can provide more accurate scheduling during both planning and execution.

Lessons learned will be shared at the Maritime, Air, Space Technologies (MAST) Australia Conference in Adelaide, November 19–21, and at Project Controls Expo Australia in Melbourne, November 26–27.