randluke said:
When you baseline a task should the dependencies of the task baseline as
well. Or do you need to baseline them manually?
This is the issue I have. The dependencies for the task I am baselining are
in a different summary task in the project schedule. So I baseline the task
and its summary task baseline changes as well. But the dependencies in the
other summary task do not change.
If it is an approved change control shouldn't I manually change the
dependencies?
randluke,
Let me put it this way. Dependencies (i.e. predecessors/successors) of a
task are something you do with a task in relation to other tasks whereas
parameters of a task are properties defining the task itself. Properties
are baselined, dependencies are not. And actually, task linkages (i.e.
dependencies) have absolutely nothing to do with baselining. All
baselining does is take a snapshot of specified task parameters (e.g.
start, finish, cost, duration, etc.) and stores the initial value in
special baseline fields.
Or maybe this explanation is a little easier to understand. Start and
Finish fields for a task are determined by the duration and links to
other tasks. When a task is baselined, the Start and Finish fields are
captured in the Baseline Start and Baseline Finish fields. That data in
effect captures the effect of whatever links are tied to that task.
In the presence of formal change control, baseline fields are captured
for the formal record. If a change is later made, the impact of that
change can easily be compared to the original baseline. If none of the
baseline parameters are impacted by the change, (and that would be a
very rare instance but it is possible), then there is not a recognizable
change to the plan that need to be controlled. However, 99.999% of the
time any change to the plan will result in a change to the formally
tracked parameters and therefore change control is maintained.
Hopefully this helps.
John
Project MVP
