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Your key to tracking (tracking: Viewing and updating of the actual progress of tasks so that you can see progress across time, evaluate slippage of tasks, compare scheduled or baseline data to actual data, and check the completion percentage of tasks and your project.) progress in Project? The baseline plan (baseline plan: The original project plans [up to 11 per project] used to track progress on a project. The baseline plan is a snapshot of your schedule at the time that you save the baseline and includes information about tasks, resources, and assignments.). To track a project, you must have something to track against. The baseline plan contains the original estimates against which you can track your project's actual (actual: Information that shows what has actually occurred. For example, the actual start date for a task is the day that the task actually started.) progress.

When do I create a baseline, and how?

What information is saved to a baseline?

What's the difference between baseline and interim plans?

What can a baseline do for me?

When do I create a baseline, and how?

Ideally, you create a baseline after you've completed and fine-tuned your project plan. Creating a baseline isn't complicated. You simply create a schedule (schedule: The timing and sequence of tasks within a project. A schedule consists mainly of tasks, task dependencies, durations, constraints, and time-oriented project information.). The complicated part is creating a good schedule!

Because the baseline provides the reference points against which you compare actual project progress, it should include your best estimates for task durations (duration: The total span of active working time that is required to complete a task. This is generally the amount of working time from the start to finish of a task, as defined by the project and resource calendar.), start (start date: The date when a task is scheduled to begin. This date is based on the duration, calendars, and constraints of predecessor and successor tasks. A task's start date is also based on its own calendars and constraints.) and finish (finish date: The date that a task is scheduled to be completed. This date is based on the task's start date, duration, calendars, predecessor dates, task dependencies, and constraints.) dates, costs (cost: The total scheduled cost for a task, resource, or assignment, or for an entire project. This is sometimes referred to as the current cost. In Project, baseline costs are usually referred to as "budget."), and other project variables you want to monitor. Enter tasks, establish dependencies (task dependencies: A relationship between two linked tasks; linked by a dependency between their finish and start dates. There are four kinds of task dependencies: Finish-to-start [FS], Start-to-start [SS], Finish-to-finish [FF], and Start-to-finish [SF].), and assign resources (resources: The people, equipment, and material that are used to complete tasks in a project.) and costs, if desired. Then check and adjust the schedule.

When you're satisfied your schedule is the best it can be, and before you start tracking, save the baseline plan by pointing to Tracking on the Tools menu, and then clicking Save Baseline. When you save a baseline, Project simply copies the task, resource, assignment, and cost information in scheduled fields to the baseline fields.

If your project planning stage is especially long, or the project has begun but you've approved scope (scope: The combination of all project goals and tasks, and the work required to accomplish them.) changes, you can save multiple baselines to record changing baseline values over time. You can later compare these against each other and against actual values. (When performing earned value analysis (earned value: A measure of the cost of work performed up to the status date or current date. Earned value uses your original cost estimates saved with a baseline and your actual work to date to show whether the actual costs incurred are on budget.), you can specify which baseline values to use for earned value calculations.)

You can save up to 11 baselines in a single project plan. The baselines are named Baseline (this is the first baseline you would normally save) and Baseline1 through Baseline10. Each time you save a baseline, the date and time are recorded. This makes it easy to see if a baseline has already been used and when it was last saved.

 Note   You may find saving multiple baselines especially useful for projects in which scheduled (scheduled: The most current information about a project, including actual and remaining dates, durations, and costs for tasks that have started and the latest projected dates, durations, and costs for tasks that have not yet started.) tasks or costs have changed dramatically and your initial baseline data is no longer relevant.

What information is saved to a baseline?

The baseline contains all the key information that makes up your project: tasks, resources, assignments (assignment: A specific resource that is assigned to a particular task.), and costs.

A baseline is not a separate file. When you save a baseline, Project simply copies the information in scheduled fields to the baseline fields.

For example, when you save a baseline, Project copies the information from the Start and Finish fields into the Baseline Start and Baseline Finish fields. When you save multiple baselines, Project copies the information into the Baseline1 Start and Baseline1 Finish fields, and so on.

Project saves the following task information to the baseline:

• Task names
• Start and finish dates
• Durations
• Work (work: For tasks, the total labor required to complete a task. For assignments, the amount of work to which a resource is assigned. For resources, the total amount of work to which a resource is assigned for all tasks. Work is different from task duration.)
• Costs
• Split tasks (split task: A task whose schedule is interrupted. For example, a two-day task that does not require contiguous work might be split so that the first day of work is scheduled for Monday, and the second day is scheduled for Thursday.)
• Timephased (timephased: Task, resource, or assignment information that is distributed over time. You can review timephased information in any available time period in the fields on the right side of the Task Usage and Resource Usage views.) work
• Timephased costs

Project saves the following resource information to the baseline:

• Resource names
• Work
• Costs
• Timephased work
• Timephased costs

Project saves the following assignment information to the baseline:

• Start and finish dates
• Work
• Costs
• Timephased work
• Timephased costs

 Note   You can remove all the data from a baseline by clearing the baseline if, for instance, the project has been completed and you want to use the project plan as a template (template: A Project file format [*.mpt] that lets you reuse existing schedules as the starting point for creating new schedules. Task and resource information, formatting, macros, and project-specific settings can all become part of a template.) for a future project. Project removes all baseline values from the project plan; you cannot selectively remove some baseline values but leave others.

What's the difference between baseline and interim plans?

A baseline is the set of original start and finish dates, durations, work, and cost estimates that you save after you've completed and fine-tuned your project plan, but before the project begins. It is the primary reference point against which you measure changes in your project. Baselines are extensive, saving nearly 20 pieces of information, including totals and timephased information for tasks, resources, and assignments.

An interim plan (interim plan: A set of task start and finish dates that you can save at certain stages of your project. You can compare an interim plan with the baseline plan or current plan to monitor project progress or slippage. You can save up to 10 interim plans.) is a set of current project data that you save after the project begins, which you compare against the baseline to assess project progress. An interim plan saves only two pieces of information: the current start and finish dates of tasks. You can save up to 10 interim plans.

If you need to take snapshots of extensive project data during the planning phase, save multiple baselines. For example, you may want to do this at major planning milestones (milestone: A reference point marking a major event in a project and used to monitor the project's progress. Any task with zero duration is automatically displayed as a milestone; you can also mark any other task of any duration as a milestone.). Then, after the project begins, if you need to save just task start and finish dates, you can save multiple interim plans. For example, you may want to do this monthly or quarterly.

What can a baseline do for me?

A baseline is essential for tracking progress. The original estimates it contains are permanent reference points against which you can compare the updated task, resource, assignment, and cost information--including recorded actuals. Examples of actual information are actual task durations, timephased resource costs, and work completed on an assignment.

Once you save a baseline, you can track progress by viewing the variances (variance: The difference between baseline and scheduled task or resource information, they usually occur when you set a baseline plan and begin entering actual information into your schedule. Variances can occur in work, costs, and schedule.) between baseline estimates and scheduled data. For example, if you estimate a task cost of $50 but record a scheduled cost of $60, the cost variance (CV: The difference between the budgeted cost of work performed [BCWP] on a task and the actual cost of work performed [ACWP]. If the CV is positive, the cost is currently under the budgeted amount; if the CV is negative, the task is currently over budget.) is $10. If you monitor variances regularly, you're more able to take steps to keep your project on track. Baseline information, and variances calculated from it, are used in a variety of views (view: The combination of one or more views [Gantt Chart, Resource Sheet, and so on] and if applicable, a table and a filter. Use views to work with information in a variety of formats. There are three types of views: Charts or graphs, Sheets, and Forms.) in Project. To see baseline fields in a sheet view, apply the Variances table or the Tracking table.

Remember, you can't track unless you have something to track against. So if you didn't enter resource costs before you saved a baseline, you will not be able to view resource-cost variances, and so on.

 Tip   Baseline information that consistently differs from current data shows that your original plan is inaccurate. Typically, this happens when the scope or nature of the project changes.

Baselines in Project are a key tool for comparing actual progress with your original plans. Only by making these comparisons can you tell if your project really is on track.