Current baselines in Project 2007

[Dredman]

In October of 2005, a user named Haris posted the question below. He received
a workable answer, but it was not straightforeward. My question is, is there
a straightforeward way to view curent baseline in Project 2007 without
creative manipulation?

Don
----------Haris's question----------
Hi,
I'm trying to create a Project view in order to support Project Monitoring
for PMs. I need to show actuals and the baselines for the project. There are
11 fields for Baseline, how do i set up the view so that the recent baseline
is displayed in the view? (if possible) or do i have to update the view
everytime a new baseline is created? If so, any work arounds?
Looking forward to some help.

Regards,
Haris

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

Dredman --

There's no automatic way to set up a View that shows the current Baseline
against the current project schedule. Because of this, you already know
that you would need to customize the View every time you open someone's
project and determine which Baseline they are currently using. A better
approach, I believe, would be to always use the Baseline set of fields to
hold the current Baseline for the project, and to use the Baseline 1-10 sets
of fields to back up original Baselines. For example, I am ready to begin
tracking progress in my project so I save the Baseline in the Baseline set
of fields. Later, as a result of an extensive change control process that
adds many new tasks, I need to rebaseline my project. Before rebaselining
it, I back up the original Baseline in the Baseline 1 set of fields. Then,
I rebaseline the entire project using the Baseline set of fields. If there
is another change control process requiring me to rebaseline the project, I
back up the Baseline into the Baseline 2 set of fields, and then I
rebaseline the project using the Baseline set of fields. This way, the
Baseline set of fields ALWAYS contains the current Baseline for any project.

To back up the Baseline into the Baseline1 set of fields, here's how to do
it:

1. Open a project and click Tools - Tracking - Save Baseline.
2. Select the "Set Interim Plan" option.
3. Click the Copy pick list and select the Baseline item on the list.
4. Click the Into pick list and select the Baseline1 item on the list.
5. Select the "Entire project" option and click the OK button.

If your people use the Baseline set of fields for the current Baseline, then
you can simply use the Tracking Gantt to compare the current project
schedule against the most current Baseline. Hope this helps.

 

[Dredman]

Dale --

Thanks for your usual prompt response. Youur solution is similar to one of
the responses received by M. Harris, so I guess that's what I will do also.
The solution I have now is really inelegant, requiring lengthy nested IIF
statements. Thanks again.

Donald L. Redmond, PMP

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

Donald --

You are more than welcome for the help, my friend!

 

[Jeff]

I agree with using the baseline to always equate to the current
baseline and to use the numbered baselines to track each project-
baseline historically. However I have one stight difference in
usage. Each time I baseline, I do so twice. Once to the baseline and
once to the next consecutive numbered baseline. By updating the
baseline history in advance I am free to make changes to the project
without worrying about backing up original baselines or getting the
order of changes and baselining correct. The difference is subtle,
but it works for me.

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

Jeff --

Thanks for this excellent suggestion!