MY CARTSet a Baseline in Microsoft Project 2013: Video
This video shows you how to set a baseline in Microsoft Project 2013.
Creating Project Baselines in Project 2013: Overview
At this point in your project development, you should have an initial project plan created. Before you begin to record the actual progress made (actual work performed) on the tasks within your project file, you should save a copy of the original project plan. This copy is the project baseline. You can use the baseline as a reference point later on as you begin to track the actual work performed on the project. This allows you to compare the actual values, durations, and work associated with the completion of the project’s tasks to your original baseline plan. This data can then be displayed and printed using the different views and reports within Microsoft Project.
To save a baseline copy of your project file, click the “Project” tab in the Ribbon and then click the “Set Baseline” drop-down button in the “Schedule” button group. In the drop-down menu that appears, select the “Set Baseline…” command. In the “Set Baseline” dialog box that appears, select the “Set baseline” option button and then select the name of the baseline copy that you want to create from the adjacent drop-down. You can have up to eleven different baseline copies of your project file that you can create for comparison purposes. Next, in the “For:” section, select the “Entire project” option button. You can then click the “OK” button to save your current project file as the selected baseline.
Once you have a baseline created, you can then compare the saved values in the baseline against the actual work values that you record. For example, you can see the variance between your baseline task durations and your actual task durations when using the “Variance” view of the table within a Gantt Chart view of your project file.
