baseline selected tasks

[kj]

I need to baseline a portion of my schedule. I use the CNTRL key to select
non-contigious tasks. The problem is that there seems to be limit of how
many tasks I can so select. After a dozen , I cannot select more. psl help

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

kj --

To do what you want, you need to use a little trick. Here's how to do it:

1. Apply the Gantt Chart view.
2. Right-click on the Duration column header and select Insert Column from
the shortcut menu.
3. In the Column Definition dialog, select the Marked column and then click
the OK button.
4. In the Marked column, set the value to Yes for every task you want to
baseline.
5. On the far right end of the Formatting toolbar, click the AutoFilter
button.
6. Click the AutoFilter arrow button on the Marked column and select the
Yes value.

The preceding step will display only the tasks whose value you set to Yes in
the Marked column.

7. Click the Select All button (upper left corner above the task list) to
select all displayed tasks.
8. Click Tools - Tracking - Save Baseline (or Set Baseline in Project
2007).
9. In the dialog, choose the "Selected tasks" option and click the OK
button.
10. Click the AutoFilter button again to disable the AutoFilter.

The above process will save the baseline for only the selected tasks and now
you can exceed the limit imposed by manually selecting the tasks using the
Control key. Hope this helps.

 

[DavidC]

Dale,

Are there any traps with simply copying the start and finish dates from the
tasks for which you want a baseline, and past those into the baseline start
and finish fields?

Regards

DavidC

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

DavidC --

Yes. When you baseline a project, the software captures the current values
for every task in the following fields:

Start
Finish
Duration
Work
Cost

Since I have given you a simple and elegant way to baseline only selected
tasks, why in the world would you think it is simpler to copy and paste
values?

 

[DavidC]

Thanks for the reply. Since I dont use project for costing, it is exactly
the trap that I was unaware of. Yes your method is simpler, and I can see it
working for situations I often have where a project develops over time. An
example is one I have been working on for a year now and has two years to go.
I started with a basic schedule around the start of the project and am now
developing it into the construction phase. This will develop further to be
complete soemtime early next year when the contractor has engaged the last of
their contractors and we finally get the schedule from those contractors.
This means that the baseline will change and new activities added for which
they will not have a baseline. To baseline the project once all the
contrator schedules are in place would mean losing the baseline for the
earlier activities which are still current. The option I know is to use the
other baselines but then how does that then show the baseline for the
original activites in Baseline 1 and the baseline for the next set of
activities added in baseline 2 etc.

Thanks thought for your thoughts.

Regards

DavidC