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Tracking a Project - No1
 SETTING
A BASELINE
To set the baseline, choose
- Tools - Tracking - Save Baseline.
- Choose the 'Save Baseline' and
'Entire Project' options.
SETTING
THE CURRENT DATE GRIDLINE
As the final part of our setup, let us modify the appearance of
the current date line so our
view will show clearly where the tasks are
scheduled, relative to the present.
- Choose Format - Gridlines
- Select Current Date from the list down
the left hand side
- Choose, for example, the colour red and
a solid line (second option) on the right
hand side of this screen.
- Click OK to accept.
The current date will be clearly displayed. We are
now set up and ready to enter 'Actuals'. This will be handled
in the next tip.
Preliminary Discussion
Before showing how to set a Baseline, we need to discuss the meaning
of the three sets of dates that Microsoft Project works with during
this implementation phase: The 'Current', 'Baseline' and 'Actual'
dates.]
1. The Current Schedule - (Start,
Finish, Duration, Work and Cost)
Throughout the planning phase these fields were used to hold your
data. Think of them as the current forecasts (the best representation
of the plan while you are developing it). During the implementation
phase continue to view them this way, since they still reflect
your best estimate of the remainder of the project.
2. The Baseline Schedule - (Baseline
Start, Baseline Finish, Baseline Duration, Baseline Work and Baseline
Cost)
The Baseline is merely a copy of the final forecast values. The
Current and Baseline schedules therefore agree completely when
the project work begins. As it proceeds, they may begin to differ!
3. The Actual Schedule - (Actual
Start, Actual Finish, Actual Duration, Actual Work and Actual
Cost fields)
These fields are provided to capture the values which are known
from progress reporting. We do not need another set of bars to represent
the Actuals as the Current forecast is updated to agree with them
once they have been entered. The entire set of schedules is shown
in the diagram below.
USING
APPROPRIATE SCREENS
It will be helpful to use the Views specially designed to assist
with setting the Baseline.
- Choose View - Tracking Gantt.
- ChooseView - Table - Tracking.
This View is designed to show you the Gantt bars for both the Current
and Baseline schedules. Then replace the table by means of; View
- Table - Tracking. This table provides columns designed to
capture 'Actual' information for each task.
We will exploit the split screen capabilities of the program to
help amplify the selected task. If the screen is not already horizontally
split,
- Choose Window - Split.
- Click in the lower part of the screen and select Views -
More Views - Task Details Form.
This form is similar to the regular Task Form but contains additional
radio buttons allowing you to enter or examine the set of dates
described above.
To make this screen a customized View so that you
need only select that view to produce it:
- Choose View - More Views - New
Enter an appropriate View Name (e.g.My Tracking View)
- Enter 'Tracking Gantt' in the 'Top' field
- Enter 'Task Details Form' in the 'Bottom' field
- Check the 'Show in Menu' box so this view will appear
in the 'View' menu.
- Click OK
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