P6 Professional User Guide

Note:

If you do not select a value for the primary baseline, the current project is used as the primary baseline.

Assign baselines for comparison

1)Choose Project, Assign Baselines.

2)In the Project field, select the project to which you want to assign baselines.

3)In the Secondary and Tertiary fields, select an existing baseline of the current project.

Note: The Current Project is automatically used as the Primary baseline; thus, it does not have to be set.

Comparing Current and Baseline Schedules

After a project is updated, you can quickly evaluate progress and performance onscreen. Use a layout that shows current and baseline bars to identify tasks that start or finish later than planned. In the list of activities, include columns for the planned value, actual costs to date, and earned value to identify tasks that are behind schedule or over budget. For detailed reporting, create schedule and activity matrix reports and resource and cost graphics. Run the Earned Value report to analyze cost and schedule variance using the project or primary baseline. Displaying baseline and current bars in the Gantt Chart indicates how the schedule is progressing according to the original plan.

A target comparison makes it easy to see variances between the current and baseline dates. Add columns in the Activity Table for almost any data item from the baseline project. Display activity bars that represent baseline dates. You can display target and variance data on the activity bars.

Note: When the current project is open, you can view, but not change, baseline data. To modify the baseline, you must first restore it as a separate project. You can also update baseline project data using the Update Baseline utility.

Setting preferences for baseline values

Choose to calculate the earned value from the Budgeted (or Planned) or At Completion values of the project or primary baseline. For example, based on the settings chosen, you can add the budgeted, original, or planned duration to the BL Start date to calculate the BL Finish date, or you can use the duration at completion to calculate the actual baseline finish date.

To choose the type of baseline you want to use to calculate earned value,

1)In the Projects window, select a project.

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