right now i am entering future finish and start dates by entering into baseline start and finsih dates column. because someone gave me those dates which are all in next year. BUT it doesnt calculate the baseline duration column or duration column automatically when i enter those dates. how can i make it calculate the durations?



or am i approaching this wrong way and i should first enter a start activity, enter its start date and duration, and then its finish date will be calculated automatically and then all other activiteis will be following that and i just enter their durations and they will be calculated automatically?

You should not be entering dates. Enter the task and duration. Project will calculate it's finish based upon start+duration. If the task cannot start on the start date of the project, it needs a predecessor task to help determine its start date.

Julie

understood. so when i set basline, the baseline start and finish will be updated and will stay that way forever if i dont update that baseline. and i can then set difffernet baselines baselinle 2 3 4 and so on if i want to. so basline start finihs etc are not for entering dates but just to show correct?

when i set basline, i didnt understand set interim plan and selected tasks options,. can you explain?

Ketanco wrote:
understood. so when i set basline, the baseline start and finish will be updated and will stay that way forever if i dont update that baseline.

Yes.
Ketanco wrote:
and i can then set difffernet baselines baselinle 2 3 4 and so on if i want to. so basline start finihs etc are not for entering dates but just to show correct?
Yes. They are for calculation of variance. Baseline Finish - Finish = Finish Variance.

Ketanco wrote:
when i set basline, i didnt understand set interim plan and selected tasks options,. can you explain?

Interim plans allow you to copy baseline data from one baseline to another. For example, you've planned your project, baselined and started tracking. Then you are told that a key resource that you had planned on having available is not available to you for a month. You wish to preserve the original baseline for comparison later -- so before you re-plan, you save the baseline by copying it into Baseline1. You then replan your project -- without the key resource and re-baseline. You replace the original baseline, so variance is now on the new baseline, but you still have the first baseline preserved in Baseline1.

but then you could have just kept the baseline and without any interim plan just saved a new baseline to baseline 1. why do you go thru interim plan? baseline 1 and basline 2 and 3 do they normally have to have smae resources and only through interim plan you can change resources? if so does this mean, the resources of a project can only be defined in the beginning and once you change resources, you have to mark interim plan when you save baselines?

By default, Project calculates variance comparing current data against Baseline data -- not Baseline1, or Baseline2. So, the ability to copy a baseline into one of the "spare" baselines and then re-baseline is designed to take advantage of the built-in calculation.

The reasons why a project manager re-baselines are many. In most circumstances it is negotiated with the sponsoring organization as it is used for comparison.

If you re-baseline after tracking any variance created by tracking is removed when the new baseline is saved as it sets Baseline data = actual data on the tracked tasks.

I hope this helps.
Julie