Baselines
Baseline User Interface
When the Project Baseline feature is enabled in an environment, the user interface for Project Baselines will become available to users.
Creating a Baseline
A new Baseline can be created for a Project by navigating to the Project Information form and selecting the Tasks tab.
From the Tasks ribbon select the Baselines drop down button and select New Baseline.
The Quick Create form for the new Baseline will appear and will automatically populate the Baseline Values fields with the current Start, Finish, Effort and Duration values for the Project.
Enter a Name and a Description for the new Baseline and select whether you would like this new Baseline to be the Reportable Baseline for this Project.
If no Reportable Baseline currently exists for this Project then the default value for Is Reportable will be Yes. If a Reportable Baseline already exists for this Project, the default value for Is Reportable will be No.
Click Save and Close to create your new Baseline.
Note
There can only ever be one Reportable Baseline for each Project. If you select to create a new Baseline that is the Reportable Baseline, then any previously created Reportable Baseline for that Project will be updated so that it is no longer the Reportable Baseline.
When the core Baseline record has been created, this will trigger a background process that copies the Project and Task data to the Baseline tables. While this process runs, the newly created Baseline will appear greyed out and a spinner icon will appear on the ribbon.
As soon as the background process completes (and the Baseline is marked as Complete), the Baseline will no longer be greyed out and will be selectable from the ribbon button.
If the Baseline that was created was set as the Reportable Baseline, it will be denoted in the ribbon with a Reportable icon.
Note
Only users with the security roles identified in the Project Baseline configuration setting will have visibility of the New Baseline button.
Editing a Baseline
To Edit a Baseline that has been previously created for a Project, navigate to the Project Information form and select the Tasks tab. From the Baselines ribbon button, select the Edit icon next to the Baseline that you wish to edit.
The Baseline form will display. The Editable fields for a Baseline record are;
- Name
- Description
- Is Reportable
Note
There can only ever be one Reportable Baseline for each Project. If you select to make a Baseline Reportable, then any previously created Reportable Baseline for that Project will be updated so that it is no longer the Reportable Baseline. If you select to make a Reportable Baseline no longer Reportable, then your Project will no longer have a Reportable Baseline.
Select Save & Close to save your changes to the Baseline record.
Note
Only users with the security roles identified in the Project Baseline configuration setting will have visibility of the edit Baseline button.
Deleting a Baseline
To delete a Baseline that was previously created for a Project, open the Project Information form and navigate to the Tasks tab.
From the Baselines ribbon button, select the Edit icon next to the Baseline that you wish to delete.
From the Baseline Form, select to Delete the Baseline.
You will be prompted to confirm that you wish to delete the Baseline.
Deleting a Baseline will automatically also delete any of the data previously captured in the Project Baseline and Project Task Baseline tables (for the deleted Baseline).
If the deleted Baseline was marked as the Reportable Baseline for the Project, then the Project will no longer have a Reportable Baseline.
Viewing a Baseline
Project Baseline Data (Information Form)
Project level Baseline data will be shown on the Project Information form for the Reportable Baseline (only).
This information includes;
- Baseline Start
- Baseline Finish
- Baseline Effort (Hours)
- Baseline Duration Weekdays (Days)
- Finish Variance (Days)
Note
After first creating a Reportable Baseline, you will need to refresh the Project form in order to see the Baseline information.
Project Baseline Data (View)
Reportable Baseline data for Projects is also exposed to the 'All Active Projects - Baselines' View. When this View is selected, it will display Baseline information including;
- Baselined
- Baseline Created On
- Baseline Created By
- Baseline Finish
- Finish Variance (Days)
- Baseline Effort (Hours)
- Effort Variance (Hours)
Task Baselines
Task Baselines can be viewed from the Tasks tab on the Project Information Form.
From the Baselines ribbon button, select the Baseline that you wish to view the Task Baseline data for.
The Tasks Gantt will re-render to display current task information along with task information from the Baseline data. In the example below, the black lines below the current tasks in the Gantt show that some tasks have moved forward in time from when the Baseline was taken.
Any previously created Baseline can be selected to be viewed in the Gantt, even if it is not the Reportable Baseline.
To switch to no longer viewing a Baseline in the Gantt, select the Hide Baselines option from the Baselines ribbon button.
For technical information regarding how to configure Task Baselines click here.
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