RE: MS Project

Hello Michelle,

Hope you enjoyed your Microsoft Project Intro Intermediate course with Best STL.

Thank you for your question regarding multiple baselines.

To recap, a baseline is a group of nearly 20 primary reference points (in five categories: start dates, finish dates, durations, work, and cost estimates) that you can set to record the original project plan when that plan is completed and refined.

As the project progresses, you can set additional baselines (to a total of 11 for each project) to help measure changes in the plan. For example, if your project has several phases, you can save a separate baseline at the end of each phase, to compare planned values against actual data.

Because the baseline provides the reference points against which you compare actual project progress, the baseline should include your best estimates for task duration, start and finish dates, costs, and other project variables that you want to monitor.

The baseline may also represent a contractual obligation for the project. Baseline information that consistently differs from current data may indicate that your original plan is no longer accurate, possibly because the scope needs review or because the nature of the project has changed. If project stakeholders agree that the difference warrants it, you can modify or rework the baseline at any time during the project.

You may find that setting multiple baselines is especially useful for long projects or for projects in which the baseline is rendered irrelevant by significant changes to scheduled tasks or costs.

I hope this resolves your question. If it has, please mark this question as resolved.

If you require further assistance, please reply to this post. Or perhaps you have another Microsoft Office question?

Have a great day.
Regards,

Rodney
Microsoft Office Specialist Trainer