From the course: Project Management Foundations: Schedules

Baseline the schedule - Microsoft Project Tutorial

From the course: Project Management Foundations: Schedules

Baseline the schedule

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- After stakeholders approve the project plan, it's important to save that plan, which is known as the baseline. That's because it's the measuring stick you use to compare actual progress to what you plan. Whatever you include in the baseline should go into your change control process. Then, when you make changes to the baseline, they're recorded as change requests. A project plan is more than a schedule, so there are several methods you can use to save baseline files, depending on the type of file. If you're trying to save documents like specifications or requirements, you can store the original versions in a designated baseline folder. Then, if something changes, you can edit a copy of the baseline document and flag the revisions as change requests. Saving baseline values for your project schedule is a different story. Project scheduling programs usually have a feature for saving a baseline. When you save a baseline in this way, the program saves the current approved values, like start and finish dates, task duration, work hours, cost, and so on. The benefit of saving a baseline becomes apparent as you record your progress or adjust the schedule. You can compare your planned values and current values to look for changes in dates and costs. In this example, an activity that took longer than planned delays the activities that follow. The start variance shows the amount of delay. In addition, the gray bars in the Gantt chart show when activities were supposed to occur. The blue bars show when the work actually occurred. You can see the delays because the blue bars are further to the right than the gray ones. If you see delays or increasing costs compared to the baseline, you can identify ways to bring the project back in line.

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