Project 2013 For Dummies

Chapter 14

It All Begins with a Baseline

In This Chapter

Saving plan information with a baseline

Making use of multiple baselines

Setting and resetting baselines

Saving interim plans

When you go on a diet (hasn’t everyone?), you step on the scale the first day to record your starting weight. Then, as the diet progresses, you have a benchmark against which you can compare your dieting ups and downs.

Project lets you benchmark project data so that you can compare the actual activity that takes place on tasks against the original plan. This saved version of the plan data, or baseline, includes all information in the project, such as task timing, resource assignments, and costs.

The interim plan in Project is essentially a timing checklist. It includes the start and finish dates of tasks, and the estimated start and finish dates for tasks not yet started.

This chapter shows you when, why, and how to save a baseline and an interim plan for the project.

All about Baselines

After you complete all the planning necessary to develop a robust schedule (and other documents) for a project, and ...