Capture a Baseline in Project Central

A schedule Baseline is a snapshot of the forecasted planned dates of a Project. The Baseline will record the current system start date and end date of a work item:

Tip: A Baseline is usually captured at the beginning of a Project once the Project Schedule has been approved.

Tip: Baselines can also be captured from a work item's Summary page. This is the recommended option for users who wish simultaneously to capture Baselines for a work item and all of its Descendants.

The Baseline can be used to measure Project performance by reporting on schedule variance (how far a Project is ahead or behind the original schedule). As the start and end dates of a Project change, the Baseline dates can be referred to in order to see how the current dates differentiate from the original schedule. This is useful for planning future Projects as Project Managers will gain more visibility into how much time is needed for similar Projects compared to how much time was originally budgeted.

Up to 13 Baselines can be recorded for a single work item: one current Baseline (in bold font at the top of the list) and 12 supplemental Baselines:

Some Project Managers prefer to utilize multiple Baselines in order to record the changes in a Project's lifecycle. This allows them to view the original Baseline as well as any changes to it that occurred afterward. This way, they can measure the impact of each change in the Project that resulted in new schedule dates.

Example: Paula has created a Project that is expected to last for six months. She immediately captures a Baseline for the Project, which reflects the initial system start and end dates. During the Project, her team members reach out to her whenever they need more time. For instance, the initial draft sketches took longer than expected so they needed another week. Also, some materials took longer to arrive so they needed an extra few days. Whenever this happened, Paula pushed back the end date of her Project schedule and captured a new Baseline in an empty Baseline slot.
The Project ended up completing after seven months, which was one month later than expected. While reflecting on the Project after completion, Paula looks at each of the Baselines she captured. She can see each time she was forced to change the Project schedule as well as the date in which the change occurred. This provides her with a reference to the obstacles that prevented the Project from completing on time. When she plans a similar Project in the future, she will better understand these obstacles and be able to plan the Project schedule more accurately.

This page covers the following topics:

• Capturing Baselines from Project Central

• Displaying Baselines in Project Central

• Making a supplemental Baseline the current Baseline

• Deleting a Baseline

Capturing Baselines from Project Central

Schedule Baselines can easily be captured for the listed work items in a Project Central layout. When capturing a Baseline from Project Central, every selected work item will have a Baseline captured for it. If no work items are selected, a Baseline will only be captured for the work item that you have opened the drop-down menu for.

Note: Prior to the 2023R1.2 release, capturing a Baseline from Project Central would automatically capture a Baseline for all of the selected work items' Descendants as well. This is no longer the case; capturing a Baseline in Project Central will now only capture a Baseline for the selected work items themselves, not their Descendants. If you would like to capture Baselines for Descendant work as well, you will need to select it from the Project Central Layout (Step 3 below).
If you would like to capture a Baseline for all of a work item's Descendants, you will need to use the Summary page.

To capture a Baseline from Project Central:

Before You Start: PowerSteering users will require the "Set Baseline dates" Project permission to capture Baselines. Also, they will require the "View Project Central" Project permission to access Project Central for a work item.

1. Navigate to a work item.

2. Select Project → Project Central → your preferred Project Central Layout:

   

3. (Optional) Select the checkboxes of the work items that you would like to capture Baselines for:

   

   Note: If you are not interested in capturing a Baseline for more than one work item, skip this step.

4. Open up the drop-down menu of a work item:

   

   Note: If multiple work items have been selected (Step 3), selecting the drop-down menu of any of them will result in a Baseline being captured for all of them. If you have opened the drop-down menu of an unselected work item, a Baseline will only be captured for the selected work items.

5. Select Capture baselines:

   

6. Select which Baseline slot you would like to save the Baseline in:

   

   Note: If a Baseline already exists in the selected Baseline slot, it will be overwritten by the newly-captured Baseline. If you are interested in recording only one Baseline for the work item, you should always select the current Baseline (the choice at the top of the list with bold font). If you are interested in recording multiple Baselines at once, you can select an empty non-current (supplemental) slot with a number (1-12). Be aware that you can make a supplemental slot the current Baseline at any time, as well as delete any Baselines from the list.

   Note: If multiple Baselines have been selected (Step 3), the Baseline will be saved in the selected slot for all of them. For example, capturing a Baseline as "Baseline 3" will save a Baseline for "Baseline 3" for each of the selected work items. Keep in mind that the saved dates will reflect the current system dates of the individual work items.

7. Select the Capture baseline button:

   

8. (If a supplemental Baseline slot was selected) Determine whether you would like your new Baseline to replace the current Baseline:

   

   • Yes: The new Baseline dates will replace and overwrite the current Baseline dates (in bold font at the top of the list). The selected supplemental Baseline slot will still have the captured dates saved in it, which will be the same as the current Baseline dates. These dates will be displayed in the "Baseline" columns in Project Central as well as in the supplemental Baseline column that matches the slot it was saved in (i.e. "Baseline 1". See Displaying Baselines in Project Central below for more information).

   • No: The new Baseline will remain in the selected supplemental slot and the current Baseline will remain the same. It will be displayed in the supplemental Baseline column that matches the slot it was saved in (i.e. "Baseline 1". See Displaying Baselines in Project Central below for more information).

After selecting Yes or No, the Baseline(s) will be saved to the work item(s). Current Baselines can be displayed in the "Baseline" Project Central columns:

Supplemental Baselines can be displayed in columns that correspond with the slot they were saved in (i.e. "Baseline 1", "Baseline 7", etc.):

See Displaying Baselines in Project Central below for more information on displaying Baseline columns.

Displaying Baselines in Project Central

Once Baselines have been captured in either Project Central or the Summary page, they can be displayed in a Project Central Layout as columns. Three Baseline columns will be displayed for the selected Baseline: "Baseline Start", "Baseline End", and "Baseline Duration":

Columns that simply include "Baseline" in the column header will display information for the work item's current Baseline (pictured above). Columns that include the word "Baseline" as well as a number 1-12 will display information for one of the work item's supplemental Baselines:

Any of these columns can easily be added to a Project Central Layout at any time.

To display Baselines in Project Central:

Before You Start: PowerSteering users will require the "View Project Central" Project permission to access Project Central for a work item.

1. Navigate to a work item.

2. Select Project → Project Central → your preferred Project Central Layout:

   

3. Select Columns from the top left-hand corner of the screen:

   

4. Hover your cursor over Baselines:

   

5. (Optional) Select the Baselines checkbox if you are interested in displayed columns for all Baselines (the current Baseline and all supplemental Baselines 1-12):

   

   Note: If you are only interested in displayed specific Baseline columns, skip this step. If you are interested in displaying columns for all of the Baselines, you have completed the procedure and you may skip the remaining steps.

6. Select Baselines from the menu:

   

7. Select the checkboxes of the Baselines you would like to display:

   

   Note: Keep in mind that the Baseline at the top of the list (simply titled "Baseline") is the work item's current Baseline and the Baselines numbered 1-12 are the supplemental Baselines.

8. Click anywhere outside of the drop-down menu once you have selected all of your preferred Baseline columns.

After clicking outside of the drop-down menu, your columns will be displayed in Project Central:

Tip: If you would like to save these columns to a new or existing Project Central Layout, see Save a Project Central Layout for help.

Making a supplemental Baseline the current Baseline

Any of the supplemental Baselines (non-current Baselines that are numbered 1-12) can replace the current Baseline at any time. When this happens, the current Baseline dates will inherit the dates of the selected supplemental Baseline. The selected supplemental Baseline will remain as it is.

Tip: If you would like to capture a new Baseline and make it the current Baseline, simply follow the steps in Capturing a Baseline from Project Central and select the top Baseline slot (in bold font) in Step 6. If you would like to make a previously-saved supplemental Baseline the current Baseline, follow the steps below.

To make a supplemental Baseline the current Baseline:

Before You Start: PowerSteering users will require the "Set Baseline dates" Project permission to capture Baselines. Also, they will require the "View Project Central" Project permission to access Project Central for a work item.

1. Navigate to a work item.

2. Select Project → Project Central → your preferred Project Central Layout:

   

3. (Optional) Select the checkboxes of the work items that you would like to replace Baselines for:

   

   Note: If you are not interested in replacing a current Baseline for more than one work item, skip this step.

4. Open up the drop-down menu of a work item:

   

   Note: If multiple work items have been selected (Step 3), selecting the drop-down menu of any of them will result in a Baseline being replaced for all of them. If you have opened the drop-down menu of an unselected work item, the Baseline will only be replaced for the selected work items.

5. Select Capture baselines:

   

6. Select the slot of the supplemental Baseline (non-current, numbered 1-12) you would like to make the current Baseline:

   

7. Select the Make Current button:

   

After selecting Make Current, the dates of the selected Baseline in Step 6 will overwrite the dates of the current Baseline. These new dates can be seen in the Project Central columns:

In this example, both of the work items were selected and "Baseline 4" was selected in Step 6. The dates from "Baseline 4" have now overwritten the dates in the current Baseline (simply titled "Baseline").

See Displaying Baselines in Project Central above for information on displaying Baseline columns.

Deleting a Baseline

Any of the previously-recorded Baselines can be deleted at any time.

To delete a Baseline:

Before You Start: PowerSteering users will require the "Set Baseline dates" Project permission to capture and delete Baselines. Also, they will require the "View Project Central" Project permission to access Project Central for a work item.

1. Navigate to a work item.

2. Select Project → Project Central → your preferred Project Central Layout:

   

3. (Optional) Select the checkboxes of the work items that you would like to replace Baselines for:

   

   Note: If you are not interested in replacing a current Baseline for more than one work item, skip this step.

4. Open up the drop-down menu of a work item:

   

   Note: If multiple work items have been selected (Step 3), selecting the drop-down menu of any of them will result in the selected Baseline being deleted for all of them. If you have opened the drop-down menu of an unselected work item, the Baseline will only be deleted for the selected work items.

5. Select Capture baselines:

   

6. Select the trash can icon next to the Baseline slot that you would like to delete:

   

7. Select Delete from the "Delete Baseline" window to confirm the deletion:

   

After selecting Delete, the Baseline will be deleted for all of the selected work items. If the deleted Baselines had columns displayed in the Project Central Layout, they will be empty:

In this example, both work items were selected in Step 3 and the trash can icon next to "Baseline 4" was selected in Step 6.