BY now, you’ve completed the planning phase of your project. The scope is set, along with the project goals and objectives. The tasks and deliverables are scheduled. The budget is approved, and you’ve procured the necessary human, equipment, and material resources. Your project plan reflects all these details and has been signed off by upper management or by your customers.
After all this, you’re ready to charge forward with your team and actually start doing the work prescribed by the project. You are now leaving the planning phase and entering the execution phase.
The execution phase consists of four major activities:
Tracking. You track progress on tasks so that you know when tasks are actually completed by the assigned resources.
Analyzing. You examine any differences between your original plan and how it’s actually progressing. You monitor the differences in schedule or cost to anticipate any potential problems.
Controlling. You take any necessary corrective actions to keep the project on a steady course toward completion by its deadline and on its budget.
Reporting. You keep stakeholders informed. Whether you’re providing task and assignment details to your team members or presenting high-level progress information to executives, you regularly report various aspects of project information.
You used Microsoft Project 2010 in the planning phase to organize, schedule, and budget your project. Now you can use it in the execution phase to enter progress information, analyze performance, and generate status reports. With a close eye on progress and performance, you can adjust the project plan as necessary to ensure that your scope, schedule, costs, and resources are all balanced the way you need.
To execute your project with Project 2010, do two things:
Save the baseline information of your project as currently planned.
Enter progress information as your resources complete their assigned tasks.
With both baseline and progress information in hand, you can use the power of Project 2010 to guide your project toward a successful outcome.
The project plan, having been adjusted to perfection, is considered your baseline. Think of it as your original plan. It represents the most ideal balance between scope, schedule, and cost.
The project plan at this point in time is also your scheduled, or current, plan. This is the only point in the project when the original plan and the current plan are the same.
They’re identical only at this time because the current project plan is fluid. For the automatically scheduled tasks in your project, as soon as you enter progress information—such as one task’s actual start date or another task’s percentage complete—your project plan is recalculated and adjusted to reflect the new information from those actuals.
For example, suppose that Task A has a scheduled finish date of May 3. It’s linked with a finish-to-start task dependency to Task B, so Task B’s scheduled start date is also May 3. However, Task A finishes 2 days early, on May 1. After you enter the actual finish date of Task A, the scheduled start date of Task B, which has the default ASAP constraint, changes to May 1. The scheduled start dates of any other successor tasks are recalculated as well.
Note
If you enter an actual duration, start or finish date, or percentage complete on a manually scheduled task, its information, or the information of any tasks linked to it, is not recalculated.
This constant recalculation is essential for you to always know where your project stands in current reality. But what if you want to know what your original start dates were? What if you want to compare the original baseline plan with the current schedule to analyze your progress and performance?
The answer is to save baseline information. By setting a baseline, you’re basically taking a snapshot of key scheduling and cost information in your project plan at that point in time—that is, before you enter your first actuals and the scheduled plan begins to diverge from the original baseline plan. With the original baseline information saved, you have a basis for comparing the current or actual project plan against your original baseline plan.
The difference between baseline and current scheduled information is called a variance. Baselines, actuals, and variances are used in a variety of ways, including earned value analyses, to monitor project schedule and cost performance. In fact, you cannot perform earned value analyses at all unless you have first set a baseline.
Saving a baseline is not the same as saving the entire project plan. When you set a baseline, you copy the contents of the following fields for all tasks, resources, and assignments to their corresponding baseline fields:
Duration to the Baseline Duration field
Start to the Baseline Start field
Finish to the Baseline Finish field
Work to the Baseline Work field
Cost to the Baseline Cost field
These are the most frequently used (and useful) baseline fields that will give you a good basis for analyzing schedule and budget performance as you execute your project.
You can set a baseline for the entire project and also for additional tasks after they’re added.
To save the first set of baseline information for your project plan, follow these steps:
On the Project tab, in the Schedule group, click Set Baseline, and then click Set Baseline in the drop-down menu that appears.
The Set Baseline dialog box appears, as shown in Figure 11-1.
Be sure that the Set Baseline option is selected.
In the box under the Set Baseline option, verify that Baseline (not Baseline 1 or Baseline 2) is selected.
Under For, be sure that the Entire Project option is selected.
Click OK.
Although nothing seems to happen, as soon as you click OK, information is copied to the 14 corresponding baseline fields. The value stored in the Cost field is copied to the Baseline Cost field, the value stored in the Work field is copied to the Baseline Work field, and so on.
But what if you set a baseline and later add another set of tasks? Even after you initially set the baseline, you can still add tasks to it, as follows:
In the Gantt Chart or another task sheet, select the tasks that you want to add to the baseline.
On the Project tab, in the Schedule group, click Set Baseline, and then click Set Baseline in the drop-down menu that appears.
In the dialog box, be sure that the Set Baseline option is selected.
Under the Set Baseline option, be sure that Baseline is selected.
The Baseline box lists the date you last set the baseline. If you want to add tasks to a different baseline—for example, Baseline 1 or Baseline 2—click that baseline in the list.
Under For, select the Selected Tasks option.
When you select the Selected Tasks option, the Roll Up Baselines check boxes become available. (See Figure 11-2.) This option ensures that the summarized baseline data shown in summary tasks is accurate and rolled up the way you expect.
Select the check box that reflects how you want the baseline information of the selected tasks to be rolled up to summary tasks.
By default, after the initial baseline is set, a summary task is not updated when a subtask is modified, added, or deleted.
If you want the selected tasks to be rolled up to all associated summary tasks, select the To All Summary Tasks check box.
If you want the selected tasks to be rolled up only to a selected summary task, select the From Subtasks Into Selected Summary Task(s) check box.
Click OK, and then click Yes to confirm that you want to change the existing baseline.
Note
When setting a baseline, click the name of the baseline that has a Last Saved date. Under For, select Entire Project or Selected Tasks to specify whether you want to overwrite the baseline information of the entire project or only of selected tasks. The current schedule information in your project plan overwrites the baseline information in the selected baseline.
After you save baseline information, you can review it in various ways. Initially, baseline information is identical to the scheduled information. As your team starts to complete work on the project, the baseline and scheduled information are likely to diverge. It is this deviation—and the amount of it—that you’ll be interested in as you monitor and control the project.
The following lists methods for reviewing baseline information:
Add the Baseline bar to any Gantt view. Display any Gantt view. On the Format tab, in the Bar Styles group, click Baseline, and then click the Baseline you want to use. (Baselines that have been set are marked with a Last Saved date.) A new bar appears under the Gantt bar showing scheduled values in the chart portion of the Gantt view. For example, in the Gantt Chart, the default is for a gray baseline bar to appear beneath the blue schedule bar, as shown in Figure 11-3.
Apply the Tracking Gantt. On the View tab, in the Task Views group, click Other Views, and then click More Views. In the More Views dialog box, click Tracking Gantt, and then click Apply. The Tracking Gantt shows the baseline Gantt bars underneath the scheduled Gantt bars. (See Figure 11-4.)
Figure 11-4. The Tracking Gantt shows baseline start, duration, and finish in its Gantt bars in relation to the scheduled Gantt bars.
Another way to apply the Tracking Gantt is to right-click the view bar along the left edge of the Project 2010 window, and then click Tracking Gantt.
Apply the Baseline table to a task sheet. On the View tab, in the Data group, click Tables, and then click More Tables. Click Baseline, and then click Apply. This table shows baseline information for duration, start, finish, work, and cost. (See Figure 11-5.)
Add baseline fields to an existing table. You might find it helpful to add a baseline field next to the equivalent scheduled field in the Entry table, for example. (See Figure 11-6.) You can add the Baseline Duration field next to the Duration field and the Baseline Start field next to the Start field.
Figure 11-6. Showing baseline fields next to the equivalent scheduled fields in a table can help you see at a glance whether and how much of a variance exists.
To do this, click the column heading next to which you want to add the baseline column. On the Format tab, in the Columns group, click Insert Column. In the temporary drop-down menu that appears in the new column, type bas to quickly move to the baseline fields. Click the baseline field you want to add—for example, Baseline Finish. (The names of all baseline fields begin with the word “Baseline.”) Clicking the field applies the field to the new column and also dismisses the drop-down menu.
Sometimes you track your project for a period of time and then a big change occurs. Maybe your company undergoes a major shift in priorities. Maybe an emergency project takes you and your resources away from this project. Maybe funding is stalled and then starts up again. In such cases, your original baseline might not be as useful a tool as it once was. And although you don’t want to replace it entirely, you want to use a more up-to-date baseline for your everyday tracking requirements.
Even if nothing catastrophic happens to your project, you might still have good uses for multiple baselines. In addition to taking a snapshot at the beginning of your execution phase, you might want to take snapshots again at the end of each month or each quarter. These snapshots can more precisely show periods of time when you experienced greater variances between baseline and scheduled information.
You can save up to 11 different baselines. To set an additional baseline, do the following:
On the Project tab, in the Schedule group, click Set Baseline, and then click Set Baseline again.
In the dialog box, be sure that the Set Baseline option is selected.
Inside Out: The estimated baseline fields are useful only for manually scheduled placeholder tasks
The estimated baseline fields (Baseline Estimated Duration, Baseline Estimated Start, and Baseline Estimated Finish) do not provide any information that distinguishes them from the regular Baseline Duration, Baseline Start, or Baseline Finish fields. The estimated baseline fields for automatically scheduled tasks are the same as the regular baseline fields, which is expected.
However, the information in the estimated baseline and regular baseline fields are the same for manually scheduled tasks as well.
The only instance in which the estimated baseline field contains information different from the regular baseline fields is in the case of a placeholder task—that is, a manually scheduled task for which there’s one or no bits of scheduling information (duration, start date, finish date, or task link).
If only the duration is entered, Project 2010 makes the estimated start date the same as the project start date and calculates the estimated finish date based on the duration. (See Figure 11-7.) This is the same scheduling that would occur if this were an automatically scheduled task.
Figure 11-7. The estimated baseline fields show distinguishing information only for manually entered placeholder tasks.
If no duration is entered, Project 2010 assumes by default an estimated duration of 1 day and makes the estimated start and finish date the same as the project start date.
In the Set Baseline list, click Baseline 1, for example. (See Figure 11-8.)
If a baseline has a Last Saved date after it, you already saved information in that baseline. If you select a baseline with a Last Saved date, you’ll overwrite the previous baseline information with current schedule information.
Under For, be sure that the Entire Project option is selected.
You can now add columns to a sheet to review the contents of the baseline fields you’re now using. Click the column heading next to which you want to add a new baseline column. On the Format tab, in the Columns group, click Insert Column in a task sheet. In the temporary drop-down menu that appears in the new column, type bas to quickly move to the baseline fields. Click the name of the baseline field you want to add to the table—for example, Baseline1 Duration or Baseline5 Start. The column and the contents of the field for each task are displayed in the table.
Note
If you use earned value analyses, you can select any of 11 saved baselines for the earned value calculations. For information about earned value analysis, see Chapter 14. For information on selecting which baseline to use for calculating earned value, see Setting the Baseline.
By using the Multiple Baselines Gantt, you can view Gantt bars reflecting different baselines. Showing stacked and differentiated Gantt bars for all the baselines you’ve set provides you with a visual representation of schedule changes from one set of baseline information to another.
On the View tab, in the Task Views group, click the Other Views button, and then click More Views. In the dialog box, click Multiple Baselines Gantt, and then click Apply. Each baseline is represented as a different color Gantt bar, as shown in Figure 11-9.
When you set a baseline, remember that it saves duration, work, and cost information, as well as the start and finish information for each task. Because of this, be aware that each baseline you save significantly increases the size of your project file. Setting the first baseline can nearly double the file size. Setting the second baseline can add another third on top of that.
If you have certain situations in which you don’t need to save the entire baseline, but could just use a quick snapshot of your start and finish fields at a certain point in time, consider saving an interim plan instead. An interim plan is similar to a baseline plan in that it saves task information at a certain point in time that you can use for comparison purposes later. It differs from a baseline in that it saves only the start and finish fields, and therefore doesn’t create such a big hit on your project file size.
If your plan includes manually scheduled tasks, the start and finish dates saved in interim plans are those that you manually entered. If you haven’t entered at least two dates or a duration, and if there are no links, Project 2010 makes a “best guess” estimate at a start and finish date, and those are entered as the interim start and finish dates. In other words, the values in the Baseline Estimated Start and Baseline Estimated Finish fields are used for the start and finish dates in the interim plan.
You can save up to 10 different sets of start and finish dates with 10 different interim plans. Think of these interim plans as mini-baselines. An interim plan saves the current start and finish dates and stores them in the custom Start1–10 and Finish1–10 fields.
An interim plan is best used as a quick tool for seeing the effects of a series of changes; for example, a set of progress updates or adjustments you made to bring in the project finish date. Save an interim plan just before making such changes, and then make the changes you want. Set up a Gantt view showing the current start and finish Gantt bars with the Start1 and Finish1 Gantt bars so you can easily see the differences your changes made to the task dates.
To set an interim plan, follow these steps:
On the Project tab, in the Schedule group, click Set Baseline, and then click Set Baseline again.
Select the Set Interim Plan option.
By default, the Copy box displays Scheduled Start/Finish.
This indicates that the dates in the currently scheduled Start and Finish fields will be saved as this interim plan. If there are no valid values in the Start and Finish fields, as in the case of a manually scheduled placeholder task, the values in the Baseline Estimated Start and Baseline Estimated Finish fields are used. You can copy from a different set of Start and Finish fields. In the Copy list, click the set you want.
By default, the Into box displays Start1/Finish1.
This specifies where the start and finish dates of this interim plan will be stored. You can copy the Start and Finish fields into a different set of Start and Finish fields. In the Into box, click the set you want.
Under For, click Entire Project or Selected Tasks.
You can copy start and finish dates from other baselines into an interim plan. This can be useful if you have an old baseline that you want to reuse, but you want to retain its start and finish dates. To do this, click the old baseline in the Copy list, and then click the set of Start and Finish fields in the Into list.
You can also copy start and finish dates from an interim plan to one of the baselines, which can be useful if you used interim plans as a substitute for baselines in the past. You can take advantage of having multiple baselines by using your interim plan information. To do this, click the interim plan containing the start and finish dates in the Copy list. Then, in the Into list, click the baseline to which you want to move the information.
You can clear baseline and interim plan fields as follows:
On the Project tab, in the Schedule group, click Set Baseline, and then click Clear Baseline.
The Clear Baseline dialog box appears.
Select the Clear Baseline Plan or Clear Interim Plan option.
In the corresponding box, click the name of the sets of fields you want to clear; for example, Baseline 3 or Start5/Finish5.
Select the Entire Project or Selected Tasks option.
Click OK.
The fields are cleared accordingly.
Rename the Fields Used in Your Interim Plan
If you set an interim plan using the Start1 and Finish1 fields, for example, remember that you cannot then use the Start1 and Finish1 fields for any other purpose. It’s a good idea to give the fields a name so that you don’t forget and try to create another use for them. To name the custom fields used in an interim plan, follow these steps:
On the Project tab, in the Properties group, click Custom Fields.
In the Type field, click Start.
In the Field list, click the custom start field—for example Start1 or Start4—that you are using for your interim plan.
Click the Rename button, and then enter a name for the custom start field; for example, Interim Plan2. (See Figure 11-10.)
Click OK in the Rename Field dialog box.
In the Type field, click Finish.
Repeat steps 3–5 for the custom finish field you are using for your interim plan.
