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Every tree or two months, my Schedule Variance increase, my planner modify the baseline eachtime two reduce the variance, is it correct to do it? and if it's correct in which case we have to do it please?
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Provisions in contract allows/force the Contractor to Re-Baseline
ex; when progress consistently drops for say 10% each updating period/month for define/agreed number of months.
Otherwise, Baseline should not be updated.
In updating schedule and keeping its contracted completion period (as in Baseline), work on remaining durations and out of sequence logic.
Changing logics (when necessary) has to be documented and approved by both parties.
There is no fixed ratio or method, each contract is different, and the contract documentation may provide guidance on what is the mechanism for seeking extentions of time and/or cost recovery - you could in concept use these as the basis for performing a re-baseline, but again the contract should be the document that guides you on this.
As for maintainingg two different schedules - whether they are baseliens, current forecasts isn't important. Typically the reason for having two seperate schedules is to maintain a level of contingency between the internal schedule and the contract/client schedule ,to keep some time up ones sleeve in case of any issues (see here for descriptions on some methods used for this: http://www.austprojplan.com.au/schedule-contingency-methods/).
But consider this scenario, your project is tracking to the internal schedule and physically completed works are showing as 90%, but in order to maintain the contract/client schedule forecast of the contract end date, the same task needs to be showing a value less than 90%. What happens when the client inspects the site, and realises that the contract schedule you've been providing is not representing the true position of the project? then it actually makes the entire schedule questionable.
Thank you for your reply,but when you told me that we must rebasline when the scope varied significantly, could you give me a rate to reforcasting for example when the varition will reach over 5% in term of budget or quantities in the scope ?
Is it correct to have two baselines, one between us and our contractor and another internal for our company if it's correct I think that the forcast of the internal baseline will be more important than the external?
When you start playing games of running multple versions of "the truth" eventually all but one of them will fail. I go back to my earlier comment - poor performance is not an excuse to rebaseline.
Valid reasons for changing the baselines are:
1) The scope has varied significantly to warrant a replanning, reforecasting exercise, where significant changes to
are deemed acceptable by all parties to the project
2) Where the original baseline has become so detached from the reality of the projects actual position that its not serving its purpose as a measurement tool. But if you're at this point then prior to getting into this pickle, you should've take the steps in (1) above
Hello again,
As I don't have more information about the case, I cannot judge this baseline edit but in theory it should not be changed except if this manipulation is enclosed in the contract itself. It is a matter of bad etiquette (miscordial and mispolite) to change it without the parties' consensus.
You might disagree with such manipulations because they affect Schedule Variance which ultimately affects the different visions about EMV (Earned Value Management). In return, he might have cultural-specific, contract-specific, strategic-specific or industry-specific reasons behind it.
Perhaps Santosh, Anoon or other planners have more insights about it.
Best regards,
AA
Iunderstand but, when you have the same baselineinternal and for the client,is judicious to revise the base line to reduce de variance between the forcast and progress ?
Hello Bryc Ali,
You should always have a minimum of two baseline as a contractor:
The internal; the one you use for your own calculations (contractor)
The official; the one you use for the contract agreement on performances and specifications (contractor-owner)
The internal is used from the user's point of view for self-calculation and estimations (you would you use for yourself to benchmark/understand reality behind it).
With the internal baseline, you can 'elastically' operate minor changes (change the baseline) in order to meet the points on the official document (official agreed baseline). With the internal baseline you might justify some 'changes' you made or you might use it as a reference document if somebody manipulated the initial data.
The official baseline could be changed with "valid reasons" as the agreement allows, in general with a consensus (contractor and owner agree). The official baseline should not be changed (it is unethical and it could lead to unfairness/miscalculations).
I hope this helps,
AA
I'm a contractor but i have to share my schedule with my client, what do you mean with internal baseline ?
It depends on what you are. I mean, if you are a Contractor, then it must be necessary to revise your baseline when needed (regardless how often). You do this in order to control your cash flow. I'm just talking of your internal baseline schedule. For official Baseline (the one that you submit for approval or acceptance), then you cannot simply change it whenever you want to. This one needs "valid reasons" and consensus for whatever changes or variations that may occur.
Email: PPadmin@planningplanet.com
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