Tracking Project Baselines and Variance
Since projects can change over time, it’s helpful to take a snapshot of your original estimates before any work starts. This snapshot is called a baseline. After you’ve set up all your tasks, you can capture a baseline and compare it against actual work and any schedule changes later on.
When you click Set Baseline on the project, you capture the complete original project, including all intended tasks and costs for the schedule. This baseline becomes your point of reference as an idealized goal for the project.
Recording this starting point is important so you can track changes and see how things compare as the project moves forward. Comparing baseline values to current ones helps you see if your estimates were off or if costs are running higher than expected.
You can see baseline and variance views on the Schedule subtab of projects, as well as on Gantt chart views.
Baseline values are stored for both the project and for individual project tasks. The following baseline values are stored:
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Planned Hours
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Planned Cost
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Planned Start Date
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Planned End Date
By default, the standard project task form and standard project form don't show baseline fields. You must customize these forms to show these fields.