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The project performance is tracked against an integrated set of project baselines that support the achievement of the project’s triple constraint goals and objectives.

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Quick reference

Baseline Management

The project performance is tracked against an integrated set of project baselines that support the achievement of the project’s triple constraint goals and objectives.

When to use

When project planning is complete, the scope, schedule, and cost baselines are established and communicated to project team members and stakeholders.  As the project progresses through the project lifecycle, the actual performance is continually measured against the baseline.  When required, a project change is requested from the stakeholders, and if approved, the baselines are modified to reflect the new goals, objectives and constraints.

Instructions

We get what we measure.  But to measure a project, you need to know the expectations for project performance – cost, schedule, and scope.  The project baselines are the “measuring tool” for project performance.  Baseline management is an integration and control activity. Risks are identified and risk resolution activities are incorporated into the baselines.  A project baseline has three components, the scope baseline, the schedule baseline and the cost (or resource) baseline.  These three are integrally linked.  A change in one baseline inevitably will cause a change in at least one of the other baselines. 

Project control

The purpose of project control is not to ensure perfect compliance with a project plan; it is to ensure the project goals and objectives are achieved.  The project plan is the project team’s intent for how to achieve the goal and objectives.  The plan is expressed in the project baselines.  Project performance is measured against the baselines in order to determine if the project will still be able to achieve the project goals and objectives.  Variances from expected project performance could be due to under-performance or over-performance by project team members, an error in the plan, or the consequences of an unforeseen event.  The project manager and core team must consider the variances, the plan, and the project objectives to determine how to react to variances.  When appropriate, the reaction needs to be to modify or change the project baselines.

Project baselines

The project baselines represent the triple constraint of project management, scope, schedule, and resources.  Some organizations will integrate the baselines into one comprehensive baseline, usually using the Earned Value Management system.  However, most organizations do not have an integrated project management baseline methodology and instead maintain separate baselines for scope (deliverables), schedule, and cost or budget.  In this case the project manager and core team must manually integrate the baselines. 

  • The scope baseline is normally comprised of the scope statement, WBS and WBS dictionary. 
  • The schedule baseline is normally comprised of a milestone chart or Gantt chart.  (My preference is to use a milestone chart with high-level summary tasks in the baseline.) 
  • The cost baseline is normally the project budget, excluding management reserves but including pre-positioned risk mitigation reserves. 

Some organizations also include the Core Team membership as an additional resource baseline.  Baselines are controlled documents.  This means changes must be approved by the designated approval authority.  Many organizations will allow the project manager and core team to make minor changes but reserve major changes for approval by stakeholders.  The definition of “major” and “minor” varies from organization to organization.

Definitions

  • Performance Measurement Baseline (PMB): “Integrated scope, schedule, and cost baselines used for comparison to manage, measure, and control project execution.” PMBOK® Guide
  • Scope Baseline: “The approved version of a scope statement, work breakdown structure (WBS), and its associated WBS dictionary, that can be changed only through formal change control procedures and is used as a basis for comparison to actual results.” PMBOK® Guide
  • Schedule Baseline: “The approved version of a schedule model that can be changed only through formal change control procedures and is used as a basis for comparison to actual results.” PMBOK® Guide
  • Cost Baseline: “The approved version of the time-phased project budget, excluding any management reserves, which can be changed only through formal change control procedures and is used as a basis for comparison to actual results.” PMBOK® Guide

These definitions are taken from the Glossary of the Project Management Institute, A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, (PMBOK® Guide) – Sixth Edition, Project Management Institute, Inc., 2017.

  • 00:05 Hi, I'm Ray Sheen.
  • 00:06 Let's talk some more about controlling project baselines.
  • 00:11 The project management body of knowledge, the PMBOK Guide, defines a performance
  • 00:16 measurement baseline as Integrated scope, schedule and cost baselines used for
  • 00:20 comparison to manage, measure and control project execution.
  • 00:25 A few observations, the project plan is integrated.
  • 00:28 When one side of the Scope Schedule Resources triangle changes,
  • 00:32 it will likely change at least one other side.
  • 00:35 When you manage, measure, and control, you want to ensure that the plans you're using
  • 00:39 has a baseline and reference are as accurate as possible.
  • 00:42 Otherwise, any conclusion should reach about the project
  • 00:45 performance are in doubt.
  • 00:47 And in particular, there's a challenge when merging measuring and
  • 00:50 controlling to know what type of responses needed.
  • 00:53 When a problem arises, the project manager is inevitably faced with the dilemma which
  • 00:57 side of the triangle do we miss in order to to achieve the goals or
  • 01:01 objectives of the other two sides?
  • 01:03 The project leader in core team, must determine the best overall solution,
  • 01:08 update the baselines and control the project to the new baselines.
  • 01:12 Let's put baselines into context.
  • 01:14 The goal of a baseline and predicted project is not to create the perfect
  • 01:18 project plan that never requires changes or updates.
  • 01:21 The goal is to achieve the project objectives as
  • 01:24 stated in the project charter.
  • 01:26 These objectives typically include some schedule on budget goals.
  • 01:29 The baseline assist the project team to communicate and
  • 01:32 control project activities to ensure that goals are achieved.
  • 01:36 But don't become so locked in to a plan that you refuse to change it when it no
  • 01:41 longer delivers the project objectives.
  • 01:43 We started this module with the PMBOK definition of the performance
  • 01:46 measurement baseline.
  • 01:47 What I'm referring to is the approved project plan.
  • 01:50 This definition said it was an integrated baseline of scope, schedule and budget.
  • 01:54 The PMBOK goes further to define those three baselines in more detail.
  • 01:58 If you're planning on suing for the PMP exam, you should be familiar with these.
  • 02:02 Project management body of knowledge the PMBOK guide, defines the scope baseline
  • 02:07 as, the approved version of scope, statement, work breakdown structure.
  • 02:11 And its associated WBS dictionary,
  • 02:13 that can be changed only through formal change control procedures.
  • 02:17 And is used as a basis for comparing to actual results.
  • 02:20 So this baseline is found in the scope planning documents.
  • 02:23 I normally only place the scope statement in a high-level WBS under baseline
  • 02:28 control.
  • 02:28 So as to allow the project leader and
  • 02:30 core team a little flexibility on detailed tasks.
  • 02:34 The PMBOK defines a schedule baseline as, the approved version of a schedule model
  • 02:39 that can be changed using formal change control procedures and
  • 02:43 is used as a basis for comparison to actual results.
  • 02:47 This definition does not state which schedule tool or
  • 02:49 schedule model you should use.
  • 02:51 I recommend baselining the milestone chart.
  • 02:54 Milestones are important and our great way to track the progress on project.
  • 02:58 And I don't want to have the process to change request every time there is a minor
  • 03:02 change to the game charter network diagram.
  • 03:04 The PMBOK occupies as improved version of the time phase project budget excluding
  • 03:09 measure reserves which can be changed only through formal change control
  • 03:14 procedure and is used as a basis for comparison to actual results.
  • 03:18 In addition to the budget, I think a more important baseline to track for
  • 03:22 resources is the manpower and assignment of people on the team.
  • 03:25 But this is the one that PMBOK focuses on.
  • 03:28 Of course, when working with earn value management,
  • 03:32 the plan value is the cost baseline.
  • 03:34 So let's discuss how the project leader and
  • 03:37 core team can control the project baselines.
  • 03:40 To control the project you need to have a plan.
  • 03:42 Based upon the plan, we know how much progress should have been made.
  • 03:45 Now this is obvious.
  • 03:47 Next, we need to know how much progress has actually been made on the project.
  • 03:51 The project leader in core team should know
  • 03:54 this from their status reports at the team meetings.
  • 03:57 When there's a difference between the plan and the actual performance, a variance,
  • 04:02 the team needs to decide what action needs to be taken, if any.
  • 04:05 Based upon the variance, the team should forecast the end of the project.
  • 04:10 Many times, it turns out that the variance is not significant, and
  • 04:13 no changes are needed to the project baselines.
  • 04:16 But sometimes, the variance is significant.
  • 04:18 Before I make a final decision on how to respond to the variance,
  • 04:21 I'll re-assess the risk register.
  • 04:24 I'll check for any of the risk triggers being affected by the variance.
  • 04:27 I will also consider if there's a new risk to be added to the risk register,
  • 04:30 because of what has just occurred.
  • 04:32 If so, follow your risk management processes.
  • 04:35 Now, I can finally determine if a change is needed to the baseline.
  • 04:39 If so, prepare project change request and
  • 04:42 follow your organization's practice for how changes are reviewed and approved.
  • 04:48 Regardless of which baselines you're controlling and the level of detail,
  • 04:52 make sure they support the project objectives.
  • 04:55 Also, when it's time to change,
  • 04:57 then follow your organization's project change control process.

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