Manage Schedule Baselines - Overview

The schedule baseline defines the planned timeline for each scheduled task, agreed upon by all stakeholders involved in it. The baseline serves the project managers to measure and analyze the project performance by comparing the delivered work and the current progress with it.

Typically the first approved project schedule published by the general contractor serves as the primary baseline. But in the course of the project development, the schedule requires revisions for various reasons, including project scope changes, conflicts and clashes between different divisions of work, weather, and availability and delivery of material, equipment, labor, and other resources.

Linarc allows you to reset the baseline start/end dates and duration of selected individual tasks for each schedule revision. Each revision is saved as a schedule baseline. Once you change the timeline of a task, the timelines of the respective dependent tasks get adjusted automatically, and the checkpoints and the milestone dates get updated. The changes are immediately synced with the subcontractor schedules, and the subcontractors are notified about the schedule changes.

You can compare the baselines created and published at various points in time to analyze the schedule variances and their effects on the project performance. 

Linarc uses the baseline start /end dates and duration and the actuals of each task for calculating variance and related parameters to show in different reports. These parameters help project managers quickly assess the project's schedule performance, take various corrective measures, devise risk mitigation plans, etc., to minimize schedule and budget overruns.

You can create and maintain up to five baselines throughout the project's life cycle.

Note:
The schedule baseline feature is available only to the general contractors.

To view baselines added to a project

• Open the project management console
• Click 'Schedule' on the top
• Choose 'Baselines' from the left

The 'Base Lines' screen shows the list of baselines added at various points in time, with their details:

• Baseline - The identification number of the baseline. The first approved schedule is saved as the primary baseline and is numbered as 'Baseline - 0.' The successive baselines are serially numbered.
• Baseline dates - Start - The earliest start date set for a task in that baseline
• Baseline dates - End - The most late end date set for a task in that baseline 
• Baseline dates - Duration - The period between the earliest start date and most late end date set in that baseline.
• Baseline dates - Variance Days - The schedule variance added by the effect of this baseline to the overall project schedule 
• Project Progress - The current overall progress state of the project in percentage 
• Status - Whether the baseline is saved as a draft or published. Only published baselines take effect on the master schedule

Search and Filter options - Use the Find, Filter, and table customization options on the right to search, filter, add/remove columns, etc. See Search, Filter, Column Customization, and Table Views for guidance on this.

See the following sections for more help on setting up and using baselines:

• Add new baseline
• View and compare baselines