Can We Share The Schedule With Other Softwares?

Why Planning in the Right Format First Makes Everything Easier

Here’s the integration question that comes up constantly: “How can we share our InTakt schedule with other software?” And I absolutely love this question because the answer reveals the fundamental difference between integration that works and integration that fights you constantly. The answer is: you can export from InTakt to Excel, Primavera P6, Microsoft Project, Asta, Phoenix, Vplanner, and other platforms with a single button click. It’s phenomenal. But more importantly, you should build your plan in InTakt first and then export to your baseline. Not the other way around.

This sequence matters enormously. When you plan in time-by-location format using InTakt building your production plan with zones, trade flow, and buffers then export to CPM format for contractual reporting, the workflow is clean and fast. When you try to go the opposite direction building in CPM and converting to production format you fight format incompatibility constantly. Build in the format designed for production. Export to the format required for contracts. This is the integration strategy that actually works.

When Software Integration Becomes a Battle

The real construction pain here is maintaining parallel scheduling systems that never stay synchronized. You have a production plan that superintendents use to coordinate work. You have a CPM schedule that contracts require. Someone updates one. Nobody updates the other. Within weeks, the two schedules show completely different dates and sequences. Nobody trusts either one. Field teams coordinate through text messages because the “official” schedules are outdated fiction. And you’re paying for multiple software systems that create confusion instead of coordination.

The pain isn’t just wasted software costs. It’s the coordination chaos that parallel unsynchronized systems create. Trade partners ask “which schedule is right?” Project managers don’t know whether to believe the production plan or the CPM export. Owners see CPM schedules that don’t match what’s actually happening in the field. Everyone loses trust in formal planning because the systems they see don’t reflect construction reality. And updating both systems manually takes hours nobody has, so neither system stays current.

The Pattern That Creates Integration Failure

The failure pattern is treating integration as a data conversion problem instead of recognizing it’s a workflow design problem. We think if we just find the right export settings or write the right conversion scripts, we can magically keep CPM and production plans synchronized. We focus on file formats, data mapping, and technical conversion details. And we miss that the real problem is trying to maintain truth in two places simultaneously when those places organize information fundamentally differently.

What actually happens is the dual-maintenance burden becomes unsustainable. Someone updates the production plan based on field coordination. They forget to update the CPM schedule. Or they try to update the CPM but realize the changes don’t map cleanly because CPM organizes by deliverables while production plans organize by location. So, they approximate. The approximation creates divergence. The divergence grows until the schedules are telling different stories. And everyone stops trusting formal planning because it’s clearly disconnected from reality.

Understanding the One-Way Integration Flow

Let me show you how integration actually works when you do it correctly. Start in InTakt where you can see live data, buyout status, procurement tracking, trade partner preparation processes, deferred submittals, and your complete production plan. When you do your pull plan, it becomes one of these sequences in your production plan. From there, you can pull up lookaheads showing the next six weeks. You can generate weekly work plans showing specific commitments. You’re running your Last Planner System directly in the production planning tool. Everything’s integrated already no parallel systems, no dual maintenance, one source of truth.

Now, what if you need to export to other applications? This happens all the time for contractual requirements. Click the export button. Choose your format: Excel for spreadsheet analysis, Primavera P6 for owners who require XML files, Microsoft Project for teams using Microsoft tools. Click export. The file automatically shows up in your downloads. It’s that simple. One click, immediate export, ready to import into whatever system your contract requires.

The Minor Cleanup That Maximizes Schedule Health

Here’s what happens after export: there are usually one or two small things you can fix to get a really high schedule health score in CPM. Not major reconstruction. Not complete replanning. Minor adjustments that align the exported data with CPM best practices. Maybe adding a constraint that CPM expects. Maybe adjusting a lag that InTakt handled differently. Small fixes that take minutes, not hours.

This is vastly different from trying to convert CPM to production format where you’re fixing fundamental structure problems, not just scoring optimizations. When you export from InTakt to CPM, you’re going from clean production planning to contractual reporting format. The structure is solid. You’re just polishing presentation. When you try to go the opposite direction, you’re trying to fix structural problems that CPM’s format created. The difference is enormous.

Software Compatibility That Actually Works

We’ve recently tested exports with multiple platforms: Primavera P6, Asta, Phoenix Project, Microsoft Project, and Vplanner. There are many more software options available. The point isn’t that InTakt connects to every possible scheduling platform the point is that the export process is standardized and simple. It’s a click of a button. You export. You import into your required schedule software. You have a compliant baseline that satisfies contractual requirements while maintaining your production plan in the format designed for actual coordination.

This compatibility matters because it removes the “we can’t use InTakt because our contract requires P6” objection. You can use InTakt for production planning even when contracts mandate CPM formats. You build in InTakt. You coordinate in InTakt. You execute from InTakt. And you export to P6 or MS Project when you need to submit contractual schedule updates. The tools work together instead of forcing you to choose between good planning and contract compliance.

Why Building in InTakt First Matters

The sequence is critical: build your plan in InTakt, then export to baseline. Not: build in CPM, then try to convert to production format. Why does this direction matter so much? Because InTakt is designed for production planning. It’s time-by-location format shows work flowing through zones. It visualizes trade sequence diagonally through space. It filters to lookaheads and weekly work plans automatically. It integrates with Last Planner System natively. When you plan in this format, you’re thinking about production flow from the start.

When you plan in CPM first, you’re thinking about deliverable completion dates and logic relationships. Nothing wrong with that for certain purposes, but it’s not production planning. You’re organizing by what gets delivered, not by where work happens. When you export from InTakt to CPM, you’re converting production thinking to contractual reporting. When you try to go the opposite direction, you’re trying to retrofit production thinking onto a schedule that was organized around completely different principles. One direction is simple translation. The other direction is fundamental restructuring.

Creating Compliant Baselines Effortlessly

The export creates compliant baselines that satisfy contractual requirements. Not approximate schedules that kind of look right. Actual compliant baselines with proper activity structure, correct relationships, appropriate constraints, and valid logic. The export isn’t just dumping data into a different format. It’s translating time-by-location production planning into time-by-deliverable contractual reporting while maintaining the underlying planning intelligence.

This means you can submit schedule updates that pass owner review and satisfy contract requirements without ever planning directly in CPM. You’re planning in the format that creates actual coordination. You’re exporting to the format that satisfies contracts. Both needs get met without forcing you to choose between production effectiveness and contractual compliance.

Supporting Small Updates and Full Baselines

The export function supports both full baseline exports and small update exports. Need to submit your initial baseline schedule? Export the complete production plan. Need to submit a monthly schedule update? Export just the changes since last month. The flexibility lets you satisfy various reporting requirements without manual reconstruction each time. The production plan stays current because you’re using it daily for coordination. The CPM exports stay current because generating them takes minutes, not hours.

This regular export capability prevents the drift that kills parallel systems. When updating CPM takes hours of manual work, people delay updates until they’re forced by contract milestones. By then, the CPM is weeks or months outdated. When exporting takes one click, you can generate updated CPM schedules weekly or even daily if needed. The current production plan becomes current CPM export without manual reconstruction barrier.

Why Single Source of Truth Works

Watch for these signs that your scheduling integration is working properly:

• One system serves as source of truth for planning (InTakt for production)
• Other systems receive exported data for reporting (CPM for contracts)
• Updates happen in the source system, not in multiple places simultaneously
• Exports generate quickly without manual reconstruction
• Field teams coordinate from production plan, owners receive contractual reports
• Nobody questions “which schedule is right” because one feeds the other

When you see these patterns, integration is serving coordination instead of creating confusion. The workflow supports both production planning and contractual reporting without forcing dual maintenance or creating divergence.

The Technical Details That Matter

Let me be specific about export formats and what they enable. Excel exports give you complete project data in spreadsheet format for custom analysis, reporting, or integration with other tools. P6 exports create XML files that import directly into Primavera for owners who contractually require that platform. Microsoft Project exports create MPP files for teams using Microsoft tools. Each export includes activities, durations, relationships, dates, and all the data needed for that platform to render the schedule properly.

The exports aren’t lossy conversions that drop information. They’re complete translations that maintain planning intelligence in the target format. When you import an InTakt export into P6, you get a functional P6 schedule with proper logic, not a corrupted file requiring reconstruction. The export quality means you’re truly satisfying contractual requirements, not just technically submitting files that fail owner review.

Building Integration That Serves Projects

This connects to everything we teach at Elevate Construction about creating systems that serve actual needs instead of creating process overhead. Scheduling integration should enable better coordination, not create administrative burden. When you build in production format and export to reporting format, integration serves coordination by maintaining one truth and rendering it in formats various stakeholders need. When you try to maintain multiple parallel truths, integration becomes coordination enemy instead of coordination enabler.

If your project needs help setting up scheduling workflows that integrate production planning with contractual reporting requirements, if your team struggles with parallel scheduling systems that never synchronize, if you’re manually maintaining CPM and production plans separately, Elevate Construction can help design workflows where one system feeds the other automatically. The integration matters. The workflow direction matters. Get it right and software enables coordination instead of creating confusion.

A Challenge for Scheduling Leaders

Here’s the challenge. Stop maintaining parallel scheduling systems that drift out of sync within weeks. Start building one production plan in the format designed for coordination, then exporting to formats required for reporting. Choose InTakt or similar time-by-location tools for production planning. Use CPM exports for contractual reporting. Let the production plan be truth. Let the exports be views of that truth in required formats.

Train your team on the workflow: plan in InTakt, coordinate in InTakt, update in InTakt, export to CPM as needed. Don’t train them to maintain both systems independently. That creates dual-maintenance burden nobody can sustain. Single source of truth. Multiple views of that truth. This is integration that works because it respects that coordination and reporting are different needs requiring different formats without requiring duplicate planning effort.

The export works. The integration is clean. The workflow is simple. And it’s all available right now for teams ready to stop fighting software integration and start using integration to serve coordination. As W. Edwards Deming said: “It is not enough to do your best; you must know what to do, and then do your best.” Know that building in production format first, then exporting to reporting format, is what works. Then do that. The integration becomes effortless instead of endless.

On we go.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I start in CPM and export to InTakt?

You can, but it’s harder because CPM is time-by-deliverable format and InTakt is time-by-location format. Converting requires restructuring, not just translating. Going from InTakt to CPM is simple export. Going CPM to InTakt requires fixing fundamental organization differences. Build in InTakt, export to CPM when needed.

How often should I export to CPM for contract compliance?

As often as contracts require schedule updates typically monthly, but some projects require weekly or only at milestones. Since export is one click, you can generate updated CPM schedules anytime without manual reconstruction. The frequency depends on contractual requirements, not technical limitations.

Will my owner accept an InTakt export instead of native CPM?

Most owners who require CPM schedules accept properly formatted P6 or MS Project files regardless of what tool created them. They care about format compliance and schedule quality, not which software generated it. InTakt exports create compliant schedules that pass owner review.

What if I need to make changes in the CPM schedule?

Don’t. Make changes in InTakt, then export updated CPM. If you start editing the CPM independently, you’ve created parallel systems that will diverge. InTakt is your source of truth. CPM exports are views of that truth. Maintain truth in one place, generate views as needed.

Does export work for small schedule updates or only full baselines?

Both. You can export complete schedules for baseline submissions or partial exports for update submissions. The flexibility lets you satisfy various reporting requirements. Export what you need when you need it without manual reconstruction each time.