Schedule Baseline in Project Management - A Quick Overview

Schedule baseline in project management plays a crucial function throughout the project life cycle, including initiating, planning, executing, monitoring, controlling, and closing. Therefore, this article will guide you through the steps to creating a project schedule baseline, what are the benefits, and more.

What Is the Schedule Baseline in Project Management?

Typically, project scheduling provides an information plan that represents how and when the project will deliver the products or services defined in the project scope and serves as a tool for communication and handling stakeholder’s requirements.

Project managers select a scheduling method, such as an agile approach or critical path. After defining project-specific data that includes

  • Project activities
  • Planned dates
  • Duration
  • Resources
  • Dependencies
  • Project constraints

Project managers entered these things into a scheduling tool to create a scheduling method for the project.

According to the PMBOK ( project management body of knowledge), a schedule baseline is an approved version of the schedule model that is used as a basis for comparison to the actual results.

Schedule baseline in project management plays a crucial function throughout the project life cycle. Therefore, project managers can use the schedule baseline as a project metric to measure project progress.

A schedule baseline is the approved project schedule. Typically, a project schedule baseline is a document that compares the actual schedule to determine if and what changes are needed to stay within the project’s triple constraints, including scope and budget/cost.

Project managers use project schedule baseline documents or visual charts to monitor and measure the performance of a project schedule to understand how it compares to the original plan.

Why Use Schedule Baseline in Project Management?

A project schedule baseline helps project managers stay on schedule. Furthermore, it will help identify project schedule issues and take action to prevent them. Without a schedule baseline, there is no benchmark to compare your project progress.

After beginning the project, many problems may occur. That may affect the project schedule. Therefore, project managers must quickly respond to the changes and stay on track to meet their final deadline.

Every project has many different types of baselines, including scope baseline, cost baseline, and schedule baseline. All of them are crucial during the project life cycle. However, the project schedule baseline keeps you on track and on target in your project. 

However, the project schedule baseline incorporates business assets and resources, So project managers can allocate them correctly to stay on the project schedule to achieve acceptable project outcomes.

What Are the Project Schedule Baseline Components?

What are the project schedule baseline components?

The project schedule baseline is a written approval document from all relevant stakeholders. Typically, project managers add more detained components on a project-to-project basis. However, that can include information such as:

  • Define activities
  • Activity durations
  • Sequence activities
  • Estimate activity durations
  • Contingency reserves
  • Dependencies among activities
  • Planned project start and finish dates for each task
  • Resources requirements
  • Underlying project constraints or assumptions

Way to Use Schedule Baseline in Project Management

When creating a project schedule baseline, project managers may take many components. But that depends on the complexity of the project. On the other hand, it will help project managers meet project management best practices without any issues.

Therefore, project managers can use project schedule baseline for,

  • Compare and determine actual project performance to the baseline to identify variance.
  • Take a more accurate cost baseline.
  • Identify project schedule risks in real-time to make effective adjustments.
  • Better communication schedule tasks, milestones, and shifts

How to Create a Schedule Baseline in the Project Management?

Typically, project managers create a project schedule baseline before starting the project. A schedule baseline is a written document or can be a chart. However, before creating a schedule baseline, you must follow these steps. Those are,

  • Clearly define project scope and objectives.
  • Create project schedule
  • Allocate essential project resources for the project activities
  • Get approval from relevant stakeholders and update the project baseline when necessary during the project life cycle.

Step to Create a Project Schedule Baseline

Step to create a project schedule baseline
  • Identify Essential Project Tasks

To make a successful schedule, project managers need to define every project’s activities and tasks. So, you can use a WBS (work breakdown structure) to work backward from your project outcomes, and you can ensure you include all steps with this tool.

Furthermore, you can hold a planning meeting with your team members and necessary stakeholders to get more input and ensure that everything fits within the scope of your project. On the other hand, you can refer to previous project data as research to understand and determine if you have been thorough enough in your project task selection. It will help you increase the chance of the project’s success.

  • Determine the Duration

This is another crucial step to creating a project schedule baseline because after selecting the project tasks, you should figure out how long it could take your team to complete each one. So, you can use many techniques to help you get a more accurate figure, including analogous estimating, three-point estimates, or formulas. However, you should select the right one for your project.

  • Set Project Milestones

Every project is big, but its tasks are small. So, project milestones are the steps between those two points. Typically, milestones represent the crucial significant point of the project’s end phase and the beginning of the next. Therefore, project managers can use a milestone as a metric to determine any vital step in the project as well as the project’s success.

  • Define Dependencies

Defining dependencies is a crucial step in your project because some project tasks won’t be able to start or stop until another starts or stops. That means some project tasks depend on other project tasks. Thus, these dependent tasks can negatively impact the project if you don’t identify them correctly.

  • Include Essential Project Resources

To complete the project, project managers need resources because tasks don’t complete themselves without the required project resources. 

Project resources typically include,

  • Project team members
  • Materials or equipment
  • Software or tools

These all have associated costs and estimated duration. Therefore, you should determine how long you will need them.

  • Set the Project Baseline

Now, you have a project schedule baseline, and it will need that to compare your project progress after starting the executing phase of the project.

How to Adjust a Schedule  in Project Management

Typically, the project schedule baseline remains how long the project will take to finish. Things change in all projects when necessary. Then, the project schedule ( not the baseline) should be adjust and compared to the baseline and identify crucial differences and impacts. Before making those changes, the project managers should know these things.

  • Scope baseline
  • Project budget
  • Milestones schedule
  • Project schedule
  • Performance measurement baseline

Those things are critical items in every project because each one plays a crucial role throughout the project life cycle. Furthermore, each one is dependent on the other. Therefore, if you adjust one item, it will directly impact other items. Thus, before making any changes, project managers have a good understanding of them.

What Are the Benefits of a Project Schedule Baseline?

What are the benefits of a project schedule baseline?

Using a project schedule baseline, project managers can get multiple benefits. Those are as follows,

  • The schedule baseline in project management is an approved document model.
  • The schedule baseline in project management will help project managers calculate earned value in the project.
  • The schedule baseline in project management will help project managers facilitate communication of the milestones.
  • The schedule baseline in project management will help project managers improve the accuracy of estimates effectively and efficiently.
  • The schedule baseline in the project management will help project managers keep the project team accountable.
  • Serving as a basis for cost estimates, risk assessment, and management.
Author

Kaushalya Rajarathna is the founder of cloudkeypm.com who completed a Bachelor of Humanities and Social Science Degree, Higher National Diploma in Project Management, and a Google Project Management Professional Certificate. Kaushalya is a Senior Content Writer at cloudkeypm.com. She mainly focuses on project management knowledge areas, project management tools and software, and general areas when writing articles.

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