What are Project Baselines?

Modified on Thu, 10 Apr at 11:29 AM

Project Baselines

A Baseline in Cora PPM is a Snapshot of where the Project is at in a point in time, enabling a user to see the difference between the original baseline and current task dates. This snapshot can be referred to for schedule monitoring and for reporting purposes across your portfolio. Cora PPM allows for multiple baselines to be created and referenced throughout the project’s life cycle. Baselines can be referred to in a variety of report within Cora.

Throughout the project life-cycle, it is recommended that the user takes regular baselines to allow comparisons against the original planned schedule. Different Baselines can then be compared to track the level of progress made over a particular time frame.

Baseline Types

There are three different Baseline types in Cora:

Programme or Project Specific Baseline: generated by Project Owner, and configurable.
System Baseline: can by generated by the Cora PPM Administrator, and includes ALL Programmes and Projects on the system
Auto Baseline: Cora PPM can automatically create baselines on pre-defined intervals Weekly/Monthly/Quarterly. These are used in Conjunction with Update Reminder mails

Approved Baselines

Cora PPM allows for the creation of Approved Baselines. These can be triggered by a Portfolio User and allow control in terms of which baseline is used for reporting purposes. Approved Baseline is generated after an agreed change in Project schedule.

Reports

Baseline Report: Core Baseline Report which tracks changes down to Task Level
Report Builder: Ability to Include Baselines in Report Builder
Financial Analysis Report: Ability to Include Baselines

Create a Project Baseline

The Baseline functionality allows you to take a Snapshot of a Particular Programme or Project at a point in time. This snapshot is referred to as the “Project Baseline”. Different Baselines can then be compared to Track the level of Progress Made over a particular timeframe. Navigate to Home -> Project Baseline or Home -> Utilities -> Project Baseline, Click ADD

Insert the name and identify if establishing the baseline is relevant to this project or to sub-projects.

NB: You must be a Portfolio Manager to approve baselines

Add New Baseline - This Project	Choosing this option will result in a Baseline being created for the Programme or Project that you are currently viewing. This baseline will also include any sub-projects or programmes that are available and will present them in drill down format on the baseline report
Add New Baseline - All Sub Projects	Choosing this option will result in a Baseline being created for the Programme or Project that you are currently viewing. This baseline will ignore any sub-programmes or projects that are linked to the Programme or Project that you are currently viewing.

Approve Project Baseline

This functionality allows the "Portfolio Manager" approve the Project Baseline, i.e. you have created the first version of your baseline and the management group are happy to proceed with this schedule also. Navigate to Home -> Project Baseline or Home -> Utilities -> Project Baseline. Check the Approved box. Click SAVE

The Baseline status is then Approved and available to utilise in the Gantt, widgets and also allows you to report against the last approved baseline.