Actara

XER in Excel : View, Navigate, Visualize, and more.

Why Actara

A schedule is a shared target , the fastest way to build a one-team mentality. When logic is visible, interdependencies are clear, and handoffs are transparent, teams align and execution gets smoother.
In real projects, everyone becomes a planner at times. People need to ask “what happens if…?”, test a change, explain a handoff, or run a quick planning session. But XER files often turn the schedule into something only specialists can read, so the schedule stops being a communication tool.
Actara is built around one mission: make planning accessible by making schedule logic transparent, easy to visualize, and easy to share so anyone on the project can review the logic, build understanding quickly, and do planning when it matters, right inside Excel.

What Actara does

  • XER View in Excel: open XER files and work in a familiar spreadsheet format

  • Navigate fast: predecessors, successors, resources, and codes in one place

  • Visualize the network: draw logic so dependencies are obvious

  • Identify the core network: focus on the chain that truly drives outcomes

  • Quick Risk: fast, lightweight risk signals to support decisions early

  • Compare two XERs: understand what changed between versions (logic/dates/structure) and why it matters

How planners & PMs use it

  • Planning sessions (workshops where everyone can see the logic)

  • Baseline reviews (logic checks, missing links, odd lags, float behavior)

  • Update reviews (what changed since last cut, what it impacts)

  • Schedule storytelling (explain the plan clearly to non-schedulers)

  • Quick risk conversations (early signals, not heavy simulations)

  • Shareable analysis (easy to send screenshots/exports to the team)

How to Install:

1. Download the ZIP (recommended).
2. Unzip it to a normal folder (e.g., Documents\Actara).
3. Right-click the add-in file (.xlam) → Properties → check Unblock → Apply.
(If you don’t see “Unblock”, it’s already fine.)
4. Open Excel → File → Options → Add-ins → Manage: Excel Add-ins → Go… → Browse…
5. Select the .xlam file → OK (enable it).
6. If prompted, Enable Macros / allow the add-in.

About me

I’m Abbas Shakourifar, a project management professional focused on execution planning, risk assessment and decision support.
I work with teams to make complex projects cost, schedule and risk understandable, testable, and defensible, especially when decisions are high-stakes.
If you’d like to connect, Look here:

My Main Offerings:

If you need support on a complex project, I provide specialist services in:

  • ESAR : Estimate and Schedule Assurance Review (baseline and update reviews, logic and constructability checks, schedule quality)

  • CSRA / QRA : Cost and Schedule Risk Analysis (risk-informed planning, uncertainty drivers, scenario testing)

  • Claims & Disputes : Forensic schedule analysis, delay evaluation, and schedule-based support for contract negotiations and dispute resolution.

Feedback & updates

Actara is a contribution to the planning and project management community. You don’t need to follow, subscribe, or give anything back.
If you want to share feedback or report an issue, please use the Actara Network LinkedIn page. I read everything there.
I’m happy to hear ideas, but I don’t promise a feature roadmap ; Actara is meant to stay simple, useful, and lightweight.

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Actara Network is not affiliated with Oracle or Primavera P6.