From .xer to a contractual Key Dates Register

The programme is a contract deliverable, not just a planning file. Parsing P6 and MS Project natively, lifting milestones into a Key Dates Register, and keeping both honest at every update.

Schedule · 5 min read · updated 2026-06-12 · FIDIC 2017 Red Book references unless stated

1. The programme is contractual data

Under FIDIC 2017 Sub-Clause 8.3 the programme is a prescribed deliverable with prescribed content, and the Contract Data carries the dates the project is legally measured against: the Time for Completion, Sections and their times, and any Milestones. The planning file and the contract are two views of the same obligation — they must agree.

When they drift apart — a sectional completion in the Contract Data that no longer matches any milestone in the network — every downstream instrument (progress reports, EOT analyses, payment milestones) inherits the confusion.

2. Parse the network natively — do not retype it

Retyping or screenshotting a programme destroys the things that make it evidence: calendars, logic, float, the baseline record. Work from the native file: the P6 .xer or MS Project export carries activities, relationships, calendars and the baseline exactly as the planner issued them.

Keep every issued version. The baseline plus the sequence of updates is the as-planned/as-built record that delay analysis will later stand on.

In ControlsIQ

Drop the .xer or .csv into your project Workspace — activities, calendars and baseline parse natively, and every uploaded programme stays available for comparison and analysis.

3. Lift the milestones into a Key Dates Register

A Key Dates Register turns the network's milestones into a contractual checklist: completion and sectional completion dates, access and possession dates, employer-dependency dates (drawings, permits, free-issue materials), and any PC-specific milestones. Each entry should carry the date, the source (Contract Data clause or activity ID), and the consequence of missing it.

This register is where programme management meets contract management: an employer-dependency date slipping is not a planning note — it is a potential claim event with a notice clock.

In ControlsIQ

Milestones lift straight from the parsed baseline into the Key Dates Register — critical milestones, sectional completions and contractual key dates — and those dates drive the deadline arithmetic in Notice Tracker.

4. Keep both honest at every data date

At each update: check the milestones still exist in the network (renamed or deleted milestones silently orphan the register), check forecast dates against the register, and treat any slippage on a key date as a trigger for the events-and-notices workflow rather than a colour change on a dashboard.

In ControlsIQ

Schedule Comparison between the baseline and the current update shows movement on every milestone; Schedule Health checks the update's structural discipline at the same time.

Run this workflow — free See the platform

Educational content for construction professionals. This guide summarises common contract mechanics and industry practice; it is not legal advice, and contract forms differ — your contract’s wording, including its Particular Conditions, governs. ControlsIQ outputs are designed to support professional judgement, not replace it.