Schedules, just like our lives, rarely occur exactly as planned. In the world of Project Management, the better we are at planning, the better the results. However, there are still variances and unforeseen events which alter a schedule during execution. One way to look ahead is to see how our project has changed over time. A baseline is essentially a snapshot of a project at a given point in time which can be compared to the current project to highlight changes in the schedule. When you look at the trends between the baseline and the current project, you can identify and mitigate trends. A well-designed report can highlight which activities or areas are more prone to slippage, and point the way to prevent similar slippage in the future.
As a project progresses, what was once a planned activity becomes actual work reported on the schedule. This work performed can be tracked in a number of ways, all under the classification of "actuals". This can mean the actual number of hours worked, the actual duration of activities, actual resources and money spent, and so on. When the planned work is updated with actual reports of progress in the field, this process is called applying actuals, progressing the schedule, or statusing.
In this chapter we will cover:
- Creating and assigning baselines
- Assigning baselines to projects and users
- Managing baselines
- Statusing projects' date, costs, and resource hours
A baseline at its core is a snapshot of your project at one point in time. You can use the baseline to compare your current project to that baseline, to see how the project is progressing compared to the original plan.
Two separate functions are present in the baseline feature of P6; Maintaining Baselines and Assigning Baselines. Simply, baselines are created in one place and assigned to the project for comparison in another place. This is separated because there are typically two different roles or users who would perform these functions as part of a balanced quality check. Since a baseline is used as a calculation for variances, the capability to create your own baseline is risky. For example, if original duration is six days and you realize there have been eight days on that activity; the variance between your original duration in the baseline and the current project actual duration is -two and you are late. If someone were to change the baseline to have eight days original duration, your project activity would not show as late, and you have lost the benefit of learning from that. First, let's create or maintain baselines.
You can get to the baselines by pressing the 
icon, or by clicking Project | Manage Baselines…
When you open this window, it shows you all the currently open projects, and under each project, a list of all its respective baselines. In the screen above we have three projects open: P6 Handbook, City Center Office Building Addition, and A New Test Project. (Note that the projects are sorted according to their Project ID).
The first project has two baselines, the second has one, and the third has no baselines assigned.
To create a baseline, choose the Add button.
You are presented with two choices: Save a copy… will create a new baseline that is a copy of the project, whereas Convert another project… will take an existing project, convert it to a baseline, and allow you to attach it to the selected project. As a project is converted to a baseline of the current project, that project is delisted from the project selection list. This second functionality is needed, for example, when a project and its baseline are exported from another system and imported into yours. When a project is exported, its baselines are not attached. The only way, therefore, to import a project and its baseline is to promote the baseline to be a project, and then export it separately. This selection is also most helpful when you wish to compare this current project with any point in the past, or another similar project or template. Upcoming versions are expected to include a choice to determine copying baselines upon import.
In the previous screenshot we have just added a baseline to the test project. By default, the Baseline Name will be the same as the project name, but with extra text at the end such as - B1. If we add another baseline, it will be called - B2 and so on. This is the default behavior of P6.
Note, however, that you can change this name at any time to something more helpful to users. For example, if the baseline has a Data Date of 13-Nov-2011, you can prefix the description with the date so that it is clearer; you can then append an additional clarification to the end. An example would be "2011-11-13 – A New Test Project – Daniel's Snapshot". This pattern will allow the baselines to be easily sorted in a date order. Or you could define the timeframe of the snapshot/baseline more clearly such as "A New Test Project Fiscal Year End 2011".
Baseline Type is a drop-down which allows you to set the type of baseline. This is used in grouping, sorting, and filtering. You can create new baseline types or edit the available baseline types through the menu Admin | Admin Categories…
The Data Date cannot be changed. It is the data date of that file at the time of creation of that baseline.
The Last Update date is the time that the baseline was last updated. This can change if you choose to update the baseline.
Copy baseline simply copies the entire baseline and names it with the next "B" number. All other properties of the new baseline match the copied one. However, the Last Updated Date is blank.
Restore baseline will take the baseline, remove it as a project baseline and restore it as a full-fledged project file. You may then modify that project as desired, and later on re-attach it as a baseline to the original project. Remember, as any "live" project is converted and attached or re-attached as a project baseline, it will be de-listed from the list of available projects.
While an original project baseline can be helpful, sometimes the information in a baseline needs to be updated to reflect changes in the project. It is a best practice to keep the baselines pristine and unchanged once the project is being executed—often this should be handled as a re-baseline effort. This is so that all original planning is captured for historical data and accurate variance reporting and trending. But, if during planning, the original baseline needs to be changed, then a baseline update is more appropriate than a re-baseline effort.
While the ability to update baselines does not exist in the P6 Enterprise web client, both the Professional and Optional clients give you the ability to update baselines with a fine level of detail.
After clicking the Update button on the main Baseline screen, a new window will open up, as shown in the previous screenshot. This screen has many options.
The first section determines what entities to update, and whether UDFs (User Defined Fields) should also be updated. This includes Project details, Work products and documents, WBS, Project risks, issues, and thresholds. Updating these entities is fairly straightforward—the data and values in the original project are simply used to update information in the baseline.
However, the process of updating activities is more involved. First, you may choose to update all activities or to only update those that match a filter.
The Filters dialog box allows you to choose from a set of pre-defined filters, or make your own. These filters are the same ones you use to filter activities in the main P6 Activities screen.
You can choose to add new activities which are in the project, but are not in the baseline. They will be added to the baseline, but without any actuals from the current project file applied to them.
You can also choose to delete activities that are in the baseline but which are no longer in the current project. Presumably these would be activities which have been removed from the project scope and that you no longer want.
Adding and deleting activities as needed helps to ensure that your baselines are still comparing similar items.
When updating activities, there is a button called Update Options… which will yet again bring up many options, as shown below.
Here you can choose what activity properties to update at a fine level of detail. On this screen you can also choose how to handle resource assignments for the activities.
With such flexibility, of course, comes great responsibility. There should be a consistent policy of how baselines will be updated, and this knowledge should be understood and accepted by everyone who will be using baselines for project analysis. Often this is a required quality check and the security of creating or assigning baselines is a task done by the Project Management office or a Change Management/Controls board with strict procedures.