Navisworks TimeLiner alternative

Planners looking for a TimeLiner alternative usually want one of two different things: a better way to visualise a schedule, or a way to stop building the schedule by hand. Those are separate problems and they need separate tools.

Short answer

Navisworks TimeLiner, Synchro and comparable 4D tools link an existing Primavera P6 schedule to model geometry so the sequence can be simulated. They require the schedule as an input. Sensali sits upstream of them: it reads the Navisworks model and the project engineering data and generates the schedule itself, exporting a Primavera P6 XER file with activities, relationships and resources. If the problem is manual linking, a 4D tool helps. If the problem is that the schedule takes weeks to write, generation is the alternative.

Last updated 20 August 2026 / Sensali, Perth, Western Australia

4D linking versus schedule generation

4D linking (TimeLiner, Synchro)Sensali
Requires an existing scheduleYes, it is the inputNo, the schedule is the output
Primary purposeVisualise and communicate a sequenceProduce a dependency-correct sequence
Model useGeometry attached to activities for playbackGeometry, hierarchy, containment and connectivity read to derive logic
Activity creationManual, by a planner in P6Generated per unit and per process area
RelationshipsInherited from the schedule you supplyGenerated with type and lag from construction methodology
ResourcesInheritedCrew sizing from project staffing data at 1:1
OutputSimulation and rule based linksPrimavera P6 XER file, ready to import

The two are complementary. A generated schedule imported into P6 can be linked straight back into TimeLiner or Synchro for simulation, and the linking is easier because activities already carry a process area structure that matches the model.

When a 4D tool is not the answer

  • The schedule does not exist yet and writing it is the bottleneck, not viewing it.
  • Manual sequencing takes weeks per facility and is repeated for every system.
  • Two planners produce two different schedules from the same model, and nobody can prove which dependencies are real.
  • Every model revision forces the schedule to be reworked by hand before it can be re-linked.

Compared with the manual process

The conventional path is a planner reading drawings, deciding what depends on what, re-keying tags and quantities, then typing activities into Primavera P6. Sensali replaces the extraction, reconciliation, area assignment and sequencing steps with one pipeline, measured at 98.8% accuracy on automatic process area detection across four full facility models, producing 220 activities and 190 relationships to date.

Read next

The full pipeline is described on Navisworks to Primavera P6, the sequencing rules on construction sequencing automation, and the file format on Primavera P6 XER export.

Run this on one of your completed projects

We are working with a small number of EPC and project controls teams to validate Sensali. NDA available before any model or project data is shared.

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