Hi,
I understand purpose of having baseline - it is used for comparing actual data with original data.
However, I tried this and found out that Primavera maintains baseline data even if we did not create it.
1. I make a plan.
2. I enter actual progress.
3. Now, I open columns like - BL Project Duration, BL Project Start, BL Project Finish - These are the baseline columns and these columns are showing original plan data even I did not create baseline. Even the original data is showing in the gantt chart in baseline bars correctly. Howcome? It implies we don't really need to manually create any baseline.
Can Zoltan or anyone else expert there explain this please.
I have attached a screenshot as well to confirm what I said
The dates shown in the "planned dates" columns are dependent upon the Activity status (completed, in progress etc). In you example once you set an activity to completed the actual dates will become the planned dates, but why do you onl ywant to capture when dates become actual? you need to measure how dates have changed form when a baseline schedule is set - not from when they become actual.
you need to maintian and assign a scheduel as a baseline, The actual data wil be in your current schedule
Thanks for the reply Santosh and Reymund. However, I just tried changing the actual dates however neither BL -- dates, nor Planned -- dates change . Remember, in my example, baseline has not been created/assigned.
So, if this is the case, as i said before, that you dont create baseline then enter actual values - you will find out that the BL -- columns still show the original dates (unchanged). So, this makes the use of creating/assigning baseline valueless!!! I am right??/
Troon,
no you msut have a baseline if you want to capture a snapshot of the schedule at any point in time. If you do not use one, the baseline dates shown will always be from the current schedule, and those dates will change as your execution schedule changes.
P6 is a bit problematic when it comes to such, I highly recommend reading the article published by Ron Winter here: http://www.ronwinterconsulting.com/Understanding_P6_Dates.pdf
Hi.
A baseline is similar to a target. Your target has to be fixed so that you can shoot your aim.
What happens with your example is your target moves when you move your aim.
Therefore, a baseline must be assigned in order to have a fixed baseline.
Regards
Thanks @Zoltan, That means the creating/assigning and using baseline is then NOT necessary at all when we can have all the original plan information AVAILABLE to us anyway, at all times, even when we are in execution phase.
yes thats is the defualt if you dont want it just uncheck the baseline bar
Hi @Zoltan, Thanks for your reply. There I wonder then why would we create and assign baseline when baseline information & bars are already there for comparison purpose.
I always created and used baseline for comparision purpose but recently I found out that even if we dont create baseline, we still have original plan information for comparison!!!
Hi @Alexandre. Thanks for your reply. Yes I read that long story about the Planned dates. Didnt quite undertood the use of planned startfinish columns though :) Still, if BL columsn are showing planned dates, which is still fine because we an use them for comparison with actual data, then why create/use baseline?
Thanks all
if you ask for baslineline information to be shown and there is not a baseline attached then it wil use the current scheduel for that information
Hello Troon,
I suspect the BL Start / Finish fields actually display the Planned Start / Finish dates.
Planned dates were described with full details by Row Winter in his "Understanding P6 Dates" story.
They are not really usefull in my opinion, unless you want to import a planning from MS Project and the planning was already baselined in MSP.
Did you check Project, Assign baseline to see how the Project Baseline is defined?
Alexandre