Saving Baseline (Project for the Web)
One of the biggest advantages of the MS Project (and Project Online) to the other compactor products in web based platforms is the possibility of having Baselines. Without a Baseline controlling the plan and having Planned vs Actual stats wouldn't be easy.
Please add the option of saving baseline on any given status of the plan without overwriting them so w can compare current status with multiple baselines.
Naser
shared this idea
Hi everyone!
Thanks for the feedback on baselines. I’d love to hear more, and get a discussion going to understand the needs and usage here.
What’s the most important set of information in a baseline? How often do you take baselines? How often do you compare baselines?
For those of you who have not previously used the desktop client or Project Online, how have you been tracking baselines on your projects?
Thanks!
~J
23 comments
-
Anonymous
commented
Baselines are crucial, especially for bigger teams: PMO needs to compare planned vs real at the end of each project's phase, so they create a baseline at the beginning of each phase and compare it to real at the end. PMs change short-term plans and dates within the projects but the baselines give PMO a chance to check how effectively they delivered at the end, no matter the changes.
-
Adrienne Radesky
commented
Microsoft Project Team- is there any update on baselines? This is so important to tracking changes made in Project 4 the Web (actuals). I am having to export my tasks lists manually and comparing the variances manually to understand the changes.
-
Michael
commented
It is important for clients to track the original estimated hours that was sold for the delivery of the project to ensure we deliver on target and do not go over. The wbs on the project can change alot throughout the project and so can not be used to hold as the original estimates. I am being asked about this a lot with PSA also
-
Steve
commented
Baseline management is critical in analyzing a project team's performance in Agile or Predictive project management. Multiple baseline "snapshots" for point-in-time reporting and analysis is important.
-
Anonymous
commented
Project for Web. Add simple 'Baseline task' button in list and board view, to enable simple tracking of project slippage.
-
Anonymous
commented
Project for Web. Add simple 'Baseline task' button in list and board view, to enable simple tracking of project slippage.
-
Vincent Boutin
commented
We set project baselines at every gate to keep track of the original gates/launch dates commitment. We then use these values to measure our selves (KPI) thru power BI reports. this is a must for us. we won't move to the new project version without this feature.
-
Jerome
commented
I agree.
my users are using baseline intensively.
if they dont have this with the new version, they'll just not use it at all.
its a must have feature.
by the way everything in project online must be supported, cutting features is generally a very bad idea. -
felipe binimelis
commented
Baseline provides the snapshot to compare how we're going and we can move the dates during the project without forgetting the original plan.
We need to get baseline at least from Schedule Gantt chart, -
Alex Lyaschenko
commented
Hi ~J,
My response is below:Project on the Web developed as part of Power platform and it ic ritical to be able mesure project's progress with Power BI reports.
There are 3 main mesures which normally used on porfolio level (in priority order):
- Progress against latest commitment (aka Baseline)
- Progress against last reporting period (aka Snapshot)
- Progress against original commitment (aka baseline).It is critical to be able to control who can do baselines. Often baseline controlled by a group (aka role) who is responsible for that.
Other function is allows users to create own snapshots any point of time and them mesure some parameters (dates, durction, Status).
Thanks
Alex Lyaschenko -
Ben Howard
commented
So the need is simple, I need to compare what I planned to what happened and to my latest estimates, for duration, dates and effort values. The is a point in the lifecycle of the project where I have to put my "stake in the sand" and that's my current "target plan", it's how I'll measure whether I'm on track to deliver or not. At various other points in the lifecycle my target plan might/will change, especially with approved changes, and so I'll need to have opportunity to save multiple targets plans. If terms of comparing them, I'll need to visualise this (typically a tracking gantt type view) but I also need to compare the changes in terms of numbers (eg difference in number of tasks (summary, milestone, normal) between a target plan and the current plan, difference in effort/duration,start,finish dates). I want to be able to answer the following question, i) where I am in terms of my current plan (to tracking to my current schedule) and then more formally, where am I against my target plan (and the ability to track against multiple targets especially at the end of the project during the project wash up). Personally I only see the need for two target plans (original and current target). I only want a nominated single person to be able to save a target plan.
-
Naser
commented
Please don't step into the limited number of Baselines trap!
Let us save Baseline as many times as we want and just use different IDs or versions to keep records of baselines.
Remember that sometimes we need to save a baseline only due to changes in some tasks not entire project which concludes a new number/version of baseline.
Even the concept of "Protected" or "Non Protected" baseline can be managed differently. I'd suggest you add an extra field that indicates if the baseline approved or not? By doing this later (once you implemented more advanced security and access groups settings) access to that field can be limited to specific user group.
In other word, theoretically we can have unlimited number of baselines which some of them are signed-off/approved and some not. -
Esteban Galindo
commented
Hi,
We take a baseline two times in the life of a project, which are our two most important review and approval stage gates. We use those baselines every two weeks to compare our current schedule to the "committed one" and report accordingly. Most of the time comparisons are about dates only, but from time to time, there is a project in which we load all the resources information (people and money) and use the baseline also to find resources differences; this use of baselines, however, is not common for us and we use it only on very specific cases. -
Michael
commented
Do you have any suggestions as to how we are supposed to be doing baselines?
-
Michael
commented
There is no way to do this at present which is one of the reasons it isn't being adopted. If you provide baselines, please ensure that they can't be "co-edited" by anyone. That removes the main purpose of a baseline.
-
Vincent Normand
commented
I need to be able to compare "What was planned" vs "What actually happened".
What’s the most important set of information in a baseline?
Work hours and Duration in daysHow often do you take baselines?
2-3 times during the realisation of a projectHow often do you compare baselines?
I do not do that for now. -
Andrea
commented
absolute must have
-
Knut Fredrik
commented
Without baseline you will not be able to track the project in a good way. This is a must functionality.
-
Rüdiger Koch-Kukies
commented
The ability to save baselines allows for the application of the earned-value-method.
-
nuno costa
commented
This is another basic function that must be implemented as soon as possible.
The P4W represents a huge interface improvement but is not ready to be in Production Environment.The interface of P4W + some of the PWA functions = Extraordinary Project Management Software.
By now it is not possible use P4W as a project manager.