The TV show Grand Designs should be essential viewing for the prospective project manager. Every detail of these mammoth undertakings is looked at and by the end of the show we find out if the project ran to time and whether it came in under or over budget. The show also serves as a vivid illustration of how external forces can conspire to throw a project off course. There are often re-runs to be found on some of the minor channels, where such intrusions as inclement weather, late deliveries and parts that don't fit properly do their best to turn the project manager grey. I do not remember seeing a single episode where everything went as scheduled.

Of course it should be remembered that the construction of a building worthy of being featured on Grand Designs is a sizeable project with a multitude of tasks, and simple logic tells us that the more tasks a project has, the more chance there is of something going wrong.

Yet while you may not be called upon to schedule a project that involves choosing a pre-fabricated home off the shelf in Germany and having it transported and erected in England, even more modest projects can be thrown off schedule. For while MS Project is a superb application with which to schedule your project, until they develop a 100% accurate crystal ball that can foresee all things ahead, then that schedule will be at risk of derailment. This uncertainty is one of the reasons why setting a baseline in Microsoft Project a good idea.

But what is a baseline, and how is one set?

Basically, a baseline is a sort of yardstick against which certain factors of a specific project can be measured. It is a snapshot of the original plan, in which initial projections for such factors as cost and timescale can be compared against the actual outcome. The information provided by setting a baseline can be useful on several levels.

At the start of the project
The baseline acts as a sort of project map that shows direction you expect the project to take. This will make everyone involved who needs to know aware of what the expectations are with regards to factors such as time and cost.

During the project
As the project progresses, you can evaluate the actual situation against the projections contained within the baseline. This is a useful way of keeping a close check on how the project is adhering to the projections. It will also sound alarm bells if any factors run seriously off course. If this happens, then the earlier it comes to light, the better are the chances for the success of the project. Monitoring the real situation against the projections in the baseline is like an early warning system for project managers.

After the project
The information from a completed project, in which the actual outcome can be compared against the initial projections of the baseline, provides a lot of useful information that can be used to improve the scheduling of future projects. If, for example, your project came in over budget, the initial projection can be examined, and questions asked as to why it was out. This can improve the estimating skills of the project manager as well as demonstrating the margin of error.

To set a baseline in Microsoft Project, you must first set the stored values that will define your project. These are: start date, finish date, work, duration and cost.

If you are setting a baseline for only a certain number of tasks, then you should select those tasks you wish to be included. If you want to create a baseline for the entire project then you need not select any tasks. For this article I am setting a baseline for the entire project

From the Tools menu select Tracking and from the next menu click on Set Baseline. Click on OK and you have set a baseline for your entire project. The baseline will not suddenly become visible, and your Gantt chart will look the same as it did before you set the baseline.

To view your baseline, go to Project/Project Information, and click on Statistics in the dialog box. This will bring up the projections you set in the five stored values above..