Best Practice for Re-Baseline

[Redneck David]

I am scheduling for a group of engineers, 3-months into a project they have
seriously re-considered their approach to product development. I bet this is
the first time this has ever happened

I think re-baselining to appropriate in this case.

What is the best practice for handling tasks that are already 100% and those
that are in-progress. Should I filter those out? Or should I let the
baseline reflect actuals.

Today's Engineeering Thought:

The optimist says the glass is half-full.
The pessimist says the glass is half empty.
The engineer says the glass is designed wrong.

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

Redneck David --

An option that our company recommends in a situation such as yours is to do
the following:

1. For historical purposes, back up your original Baseline into one of the
10 available Baseline fields, named Baseline1 to Baseline 10.

2. Rebaseline only unstarted tasks, which I think is what you had in mind.

To back up your original Baseline, do the following:

1. Click Tools - Tracking - Set Baseline.
2. In the Set Baseline dialog, select the "Set interim plan" option.
3. Click the Copy pick list and select the Baseline set of fields.
4. Click the Into pick list and select one of the 10 additional sets of
Baseline fields, such as Baseline1.
5. Click the OK button.

Just a thought. Hope this helps.

 

[Dip]

Hello Dale:

Your thread is most enlightening for me!

1) So, is it possible to track all these 10 baselines to the original
baseline (plan) with the actual occurring tasks ? May we print actual vs plan
on a single sheet?

2) I tried to put actual start dates and % completions into the plan, but
the whole plan "shifts" according to the actual gantt. Are there any settings
to keep the original plan and the actual in one sheet.

Thank you,
Dip

 

[Steve House]

The working baseline describes the schedule that you orginally thought you'd
be able to do. The current Schedule reflects that actual way that things
have gone for those parts of the plan that have been worked - historical
fact - plus forecast for things still to come. The future may or may not be
the same as what was originally planned since events to date might cause
things to be delayed or allow things to be pulled forward. That is why the
plan shifts as you enter actual start dates and % completions - if a task's
prdecessor starts late and/or takes longer than originally scheduled, the
schedule of the task in question needs to adjust to compensate. If the
carpenters won't finish the walls until 3 weeks after originally scheduled,
it makes no sense to have the painters show up on the original date and
stand around twiddling their thumbs for three weeks waiting on the
carpenters to finish. So the schedule shifting in response to posting
actuals is functioning exactly as it should. To see both the original plan
and to compare it to the schedule as it's unfolding with time, choose a view
such as the Tracking Gantt view that plots both the Schedule and the
Baseline.
HTH

 

[Dip]

Hello Steve:

The explanation was very clear and I am doing schedules this way now. I had
some trouble when the tracking gantt did not show both (baseline and present
schedule). But i was able to format them to show both.

Thank you,
Dip

The working baseline describes the schedule that you orginally thought you'd
be able to do. The current Schedule reflects that actual way that things
have gone for those parts of the plan that have been worked - historical
fact - plus forecast for things still to come. The future may or may not be
the same as what was originally planned since events to date might cause
things to be delayed or allow things to be pulled forward. That is why the
plan shifts as you enter actual start dates and % completions - if a task's
prdecessor starts late and/or takes longer than originally scheduled, the
schedule of the task in question needs to adjust to compensate. If the
carpenters won't finish the walls until 3 weeks after originally scheduled,
it makes no sense to have the painters show up on the original date and
stand around twiddling their thumbs for three weeks waiting on the
carpenters to finish. So the schedule shifting in response to posting
actuals is functioning exactly as it should. To see both the original plan
and to compare it to the schedule as it's unfolding with time, choose a view
such as the Tracking Gantt view that plots both the Schedule and the
Baseline.
HTH

--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://project.mvps.org/faqs.htm for the FAQs

Hello Dale:

Your thread is most enlightening for me!

1) So, is it possible to track all these 10 baselines to the original
baseline (plan) with the actual occurring tasks ? May we print actual vs
plan
on a single sheet?

2) I tried to put actual start dates and % completions into the plan, but
the whole plan "shifts" according to the actual gantt. Are there any
settings
to keep the original plan and the actual in one sheet.

Thank you,
Dip

 

[Steve House]

The default tracking gantt shows both the Baseline schedule and the
Schedule. If you've re-baselined the project it still sahould show your
current baseline. I'm a believer in the idea that Baseline 1 through
Baseline 10 are to provide storage for old baselines in case you need an
audit trail and the current "working baseline," that is, the baseline of the
project as you now conceive it to be and the one to be used to measure
progress, should always be stored in the "Basline" slot. Rebaselining is
thus a two-step process. Step one is to preserve the original baseline by
copying from "Baseline" into your choice of a vacant slot in the group from
Baseline 1 to Baseline 10 using the copy tools under "Save Interim Plan."
Then step two is to save the new baseline into the plain "Baseline" slot
overwriting the old one in the process.


--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://project.mvps.org/faqs.htm for the FAQs

Hello Steve:

The explanation was very clear and I am doing schedules this way now. I
had
some trouble when the tracking gantt did not show both (baseline and
present
schedule). But i was able to format them to show both.

Thank you,
Dip

The working baseline describes the schedule that you orginally thought
you'd
be able to do. The current Schedule reflects that actual way that things
have gone for those parts of the plan that have been worked - historical
fact - plus forecast for things still to come. The future may or may not
be
the same as what was originally planned since events to date might cause
things to be delayed or allow things to be pulled forward. That is why
the
plan shifts as you enter actual start dates and % completions - if a
task's
prdecessor starts late and/or takes longer than originally scheduled, the
schedule of the task in question needs to adjust to compensate. If the
carpenters won't finish the walls until 3 weeks after originally
scheduled,
it makes no sense to have the painters show up on the original date and
stand around twiddling their thumbs for three weeks waiting on the
carpenters to finish. So the schedule shifting in response to posting
actuals is functioning exactly as it should. To see both the original
plan
and to compare it to the schedule as it's unfolding with time, choose a
view
such as the Tracking Gantt view that plots both the Schedule and the
Baseline.
HTH

--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://project.mvps.org/faqs.htm for the FAQs

Hello Dale:

Your thread is most enlightening for me!

1) So, is it possible to track all these 10 baselines to the original
baseline (plan) with the actual occurring tasks ? May we print actual
vs
plan
on a single sheet?

2) I tried to put actual start dates and % completions into the plan,
but
the whole plan "shifts" according to the actual gantt. Are there any
settings
to keep the original plan and the actual in one sheet.

Thank you,
Dip