Baselines are taken and managed from the Baselines section of an initiative's Properties page — or the program's, in the Simple Model. A baseline can be taken by hand at any time, or automatically when a stage gate is approved, and editable baselines can be updated later as agreed changes come in. For what a baseline records, and where it's compared, see Baselines.
This article covers both the Advanced and Simple Models. Baselines need to be enabled first, and taking and updating them needs baseline permissions in your team role — see Configuring Baselines.
Taking a baseline
To take a baseline:
- Open the initiative's Properties page. In the Simple Model, open the program's.
- Under Baselines, click New Baseline. The Take a new Baseline panel opens.
- Enter a Name and Description.
- Check Make this the Active Baseline to start comparing against it straight away.
- Save the baseline.
Large hierarchies can take a while to record. A baseline can't be taken while the initiative's figures are still recalculating.
Stage gate baselines
A stage gate can take a baseline automatically when it's approved, where the stage has Record Baseline turned on, and make it the active baseline, where it has Set As Active Baseline — see Configuring the Stage Gate Process.
A stage gate baseline records the whole initiative and everything beneath it, the same as a baseline taken by hand. It's named with the stage's gate identifier and name, followed by Approval. Each stage keeps one baseline per initiative: if the stage is approved again, the new baseline replaces the earlier one.
Stage gate baselines also hold the figures shown when you look back at a stage, such as in the Initiative Workbook. For that reason, they can't be updated, edited, archived, or deleted from the Baselines table. Moving an initiative back to an earlier stage deletes the stage gate baselines of the stages it resets — see Changing an Initiative's Stage.
Updating a baseline
Editable baselines can be updated with the current values of an initiative, benefit, or schedule, without taking a new baseline. If the baseline being updated isn't the active one, it's made active, so the change shows.
Updating from an initiative
On the initiative's Properties page menu, select Update [type] Baseline. The option is named after the initiative's type — for example, Update Program Baseline, or Update Project Baseline in the Simple Model. This updates the baseline with the initiative's current values, and those of everything within it.
Where editable baselines are enabled at more than one level above the initiative, a list opens instead. Choose which baselines to update, and confirm.
The option isn't available where:
- The level above the initiative isn't part of the baseline. Add that level to the baseline first.
- The active baseline is a stage gate baseline. Make a different baseline active to update it.
Updating from a benefit
On the benefit's menu, select Add / Update Baseline. This adds the benefit to the baseline, or updates it where it's already there, with its current plan, forecast, actual values, and details. Where there's more than one baseline it could go into, choose which to add it to or update.
Updating from the schedule
On the schedule, click Save Schedule & Update Baseline to save your changes and update the baseline with the schedule at the same time. See Schedules.
Updating costs
Costs don't have their own update option. A cost's baseline values are updated when the initiative it belongs to is updated in the baseline.
Managing baselines
The Baselines section of the Properties page lists the initiative's baselines, with when each was Recorded On, and which is Active. In the Advanced Model, two more columns show:
- Received Updates — the baseline has been updated since it was taken.
- Show Updates — for an editable and non-editable pair, whether the updated copy is the one in use.
Select Actions on a baseline's row, or click its name, to:
- Edit — change its name and description, or make it the active baseline. For a pair, Show Updates chooses which copy is used: on for the updated copy, off for the original.
- Archive — remove it from use, so it can't be made active. Its data is kept.
Check Include Archived to see archived baselines. An archived baseline can be restored, or permanently deleted along with its data. Delete Archived deletes all of them at once.
Archiving an initiative archives its baselines too, and keeps their data. Deleting the initiative deletes them.
For comparing baselined values, see Baselines.