From Critical Path to Converged Intelligence: A Narrative Review of Oracle Primavera P6 Integration with Building Information Modelling, Artificial Intelligence, and Unmanned Aerial Systems in Construction Project Delivery

Abstract

Oracle Primavera P6 is the dominant critical-path-method (CPM) scheduling platform in large-scale construction and infrastructure delivery, yet its proprietary XER and P6-XML data architecture was not designed for native interoperability with the spatial, cognitive, and reality-capture data streams that increasingly define modern project delivery. This paper critically reviews the fragmented and rapidly evolving literature on integrating P6 with three digitally transformative streams: Building Information Modelling (BIM), artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML), and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-based progress monitoring. Adopting a narrative, critical-review approach across peer-reviewed journal articles, conference papers, and industry technical publications, the review finds that practitioners have built substantial bridging infrastructure around P6’s architectural limitations: BIM-P6 integration, typically via Revit-Navisworks pipelines, enables 4D sequencing and clash detection with documented double-digit improvements in duration and cost outcomes; AI/ML models trained on exported P6 schedule data achieve meaningful predictive accuracy for delay and risk forecasting; and UAV-based photogrammetry increasingly closes the loop by feeding as-built progress data back into P6 percent-complete fields. However, the three streams remain largely siloed from one another in both research and practice. Building on this synthesis, the paper proposes an original conceptual framework, the Tri-Layer Convergent Scheduling Framework (TCSF), which positions P6’s CPM data backbone as the coordinating spine for a Spatial Simulation Layer (BIM), a Predictive Intelligence Layer (AI/ML), and a Reality Verification Layer (UAV), connected through a continuous update-and-recalculation loop. The framework is offered as a research and practice agenda rather than a validated model, and the paper closes with implications for construction project management practitioners and a research agenda for closing the interoperability gap.