Baseline work for assignment is not saved properly

[Raj Limaye]

In Task Usage view, I added a column "Baseline Work".
The sum of Baseline work of all assignments of a task must be equal to the
task.basellinework.
I found it inconsistant. For most of the Tasks, the sum of
assignment.baselinework was same as task.baselinework. However, for few tasks
(about 20%), this was not the case.
I also verified the assignment.baselinework by writing a macro as follows:
Sub test1()
Dim t As Task
Dim ts As Tasks
Dim a As Assignment
Set ts = ActiveProject.Tasks
For Each t In ts
If Not t Is Nothing Then
For Each a In t.Assignments
a.Number2 = a.BaselineWork / 480
Next a
End If
Next t
End Sub

 

[John]

In Task Usage view, I added a column "Baseline Work".
The sum of Baseline work of all assignments of a task must be equal to the
task.basellinework.
I found it inconsistant. For most of the Tasks, the sum of
assignment.baselinework was same as task.baselinework. However, for few tasks
(about 20%), this was not the case.
I also verified the assignment.baselinework by writing a macro as follows:
Sub test1()
Dim t As Task
Dim ts As Tasks
Dim a As Assignment
Set ts = ActiveProject.Tasks
For Each t In ts
If Not t Is Nothing Then
For Each a In t.Assignments
a.Number2 = a.BaselineWork / 480
Next a
End If
Next t
End Sub

---------
The values in Number2 field were exactly same as in the baslinework field.

Can someone explain why the sum of all assignment.baselinework for a task
does not add to task.baselinework everytime?

Raj,
I'm not surprised that the values in the Number2 field were exactly the
same as the BaselineWork field because that is exactly what the macro
does - it copies the BaselineWork values to the Number2 field. In other
words, the macro doesn't provide any useful information.

Remember that all baseline fields are static - a snapshot in time. If
for some tasks, the sum of assignment Baseline Work is different then I
suspect that at some point in time either the baseline on the task was
reset or one or more of the assignment baseline values was reset.
Perhaps an assignment was added or deleted.

You are right, the task Baseline Work should always equal the sum of the
task's assignment Baseline Work - I can't think of a valid scenario
where that wouldn't be true.

The question is, which is "correct". Is the task Baseline Work value the
true baseline value or is the sum of the assignments Baseline Work the
true value? If assignments were modified, then the task value is
probably the true baseline. If the assignments were not modified, then
the task value probably needs to be corrected.

Hope this helps.
John
Project MVP

 

[Raj Limaye]

John,
Your response was very useful - especially the suggestion in last paragraph
on which baseline value is correct.
Last night I experimented on some other project files and I could not
reproduce the problem. I therefore take your explaination that somehow the
assignment values were reset. However, by adding or deleting the assignments
I dont understand how that can happen.

 

[John]

John,
Your response was very useful - especially the suggestion in last paragraph
on which baseline value is correct.
Last night I experimented on some other project files and I could not
reproduce the problem. I therefore take your explaination that somehow the
assignment values were reset. However, by adding or deleting the assignments
I dont understand how that can happen.

Raj,
I repeat the statement that baseline fields are static - a snapshot in
time. If resources were added or deleted in a subtask and that subtask
was re-baselined to reflect the change, the change would NOT be captured
in the Summary Line baseline unless it to was re-baselined. Remember,
baseline values are not rolled up - sometimes users forget.

Hope this helps.
John
Project MVP

 

[John]

John,
Your response was very useful - especially the suggestion in last paragraph
on which baseline value is correct.
Last night I experimented on some other project files and I could not
reproduce the problem. I therefore take your explaination that somehow the
assignment values were reset. However, by adding or deleting the assignments
I dont understand how that can happen.

Raj,
My apology for my reply earlier today. I had just answered a post about
Summary Line information and I apparently still had Summary Line on my
brain when I answered your post.

At first I thought it was possible that someone had manually edited the
Baseline Work for an assignment in the Task Usage view but if that
happens, the task Baseline Work is automatically updated to reflect the
change (unlike baseline values at a Summary Line). Given that, the only
way that I can see the task level baseline value being different from
the sum of assignment baseline values is because of corruption in the
file. Even if you were able to correct the problem, I suggest you take
steps to eliminate possible corruption. Try the ideas presented in FAQ
43 - File Bloat? Might be corruption on our MVP website at:
http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm

Hope this helps.
John
Project MVP