Baseline Plan

Quick reference

• 00:04 Hi, I'm Ray Sheen.
• 00:06 I'd to talk about another aspect of project planning and project control.
• 00:10 And that's called the baseline plan.
• 00:14 The Project Management Body of Knowledge, the PMBOK Guide, defines a baseline as,
• 00:20 the approved version of a work product that can be changed only through formal
• 00:24 change control procedures and is used as a basis for comparison to actual results.
• 00:30 The baseline plan is the final result of the project planning process.
• 00:34 There's a baseline for everything that the project team will do and
• 00:38 be measured against.
• 00:39 It's sometimes referred to as a performance measurement baseline.
• 00:43 It's often expressed with three components to represent the project management triple
• 00:47 constraint.
• 00:48 There is a Scope Baseline, and that is the plan for all of the tasks and
• 00:52 activities that identify the deliverables.
• 00:55 A schedule baseline that shows the start and end date of the activities and
• 00:59 any other project milestones.
• 01:01 And a cost baseline that indicates how much money each of these activities cost
• 01:07 and when the spending will occur.
• 01:09 The combination of these three is the performance measurement baseline
• 01:12 that is put under configuration management control and
• 01:15 cannot be changed without a formal project being processed.
• 01:20 A project baseline is an integration function of project management.
• 01:24 For a very small one or two person project a formal baseline may not be needed.
• 01:29 But on large projects with many project team members and stakeholders the baseline
• 01:33 is the integration of the project planning components.
• 01:37 The inputs used to create the project baseline will come from several sources.
• 01:42 The primary source is the project core team.
• 01:44 Each member will plan the activities for
• 01:46 their portion of the project, the baseline that brings all of these together.
• 01:52 I often have used templates and
• 01:53 checklist to guide the integration of the project planning inputs into a baseline.
• 01:58 I also will use the project charter to be certain
• 02:01 that the core team did not overlook a deliverable, and that the resulting
• 02:05 integrated project baseline is within the boundaries and constraints of the charter.
• 02:10 The integration activities of creating a baseline is often at synchronization
• 02:14 activity.
• 02:15 Each element of the project makes sense by itself, but
• 02:18 it must be blended with the other elements.
• 02:21 For instance, there are linkages between tasks.
• 02:24 One task cannot start until another task is completed.
• 02:27 Several tasks must finish to complete a deliverable.
• 02:31 Also there are often milestones that must be aligned.
• 02:34 Each of the core team members are completing tasks and
• 02:36 preparing deliverables that is supporting a particular project milestone.
• 02:40 The timing of the milestones needs to be synchronized.
• 02:44 A major element of this synchronization is resource usage.
• 02:48 Multiple task may require support from the same shared resource pool.
• 02:52 The overlap and timing of this tasks can overlord that resource pool and
• 02:57 lead to shortages.
• 02:58 The timing of the use of shared resources
• 03:01 is resolved as part of creating a project baseline.
• 03:04 Ultimately, the creation of a baseline plan is a risk management activity.
• 03:09 Inevitably, there will be tasks that are not properly linked,
• 03:12 milestones not in alignment and resources that are over allocated.
• 03:17 These are project management risks.
• 03:19 They may not lead to a failure of the project to complete the work, but
• 03:23 they may lead to a failure to complete it in a timely manner and within budget.
• 03:28 These risk become evident when integrating the baseline, and
• 03:31 can be proactively resolved during planning, rather than overlooking them and
• 03:35 then causing an issue during the project execution.
• 03:39 So let's discuss how we use the baseline plan.
• 03:42 One way is to communicate the intent of what we will do in the project.
• 03:45 We can communicate with both stakeholders and team members the expectations for
• 03:50 project performance.
• 03:51 In addition, the baseline provide strong guidance to the team.
• 03:55 The baseline is what is expected and what will be measured.
• 03:59 The core team is counting on each person to accomplish their part of the baseline.
• 04:04 Changes can be made, but not easily because it begins to affect everyone and
• 04:08 everything else.
• 04:10 However, the baseline should provide for
• 04:12 some flexibility to manage the day to day give and take of project work.
• 04:17 I don't put microtask level detail in the baseline.
• 04:20 Remember, to change the baseline requires a processing of a formal change request.
• 04:26 I don't wanna deal with change request and change boards just because someone
• 04:31 needs to move a microtask one day or two because of a doctor's appointment.
• 04:35 So I have some level of flexibility for the core team to manage.
• 04:39 This is a judgement call.
• 04:41 Too much flexibility and the project gets out of sync.
• 04:44 But not enough flexibility and
• 04:46 the project team members start doing stupid things in order to meet
• 04:50 details within the baseline, which leads to a reduction in project performance.
• 04:56 An interesting aspect of baseline management that I've observed
• 04:59 is that the more detail you have at a baseline plan,
• 05:02 the fewer reviewers that are required.
• 05:04 Everyone knows exactly what to do, and they stay in lock step following the plan.
• 05:09 The project is rigid, but since the expectations are very clear,
• 05:14 integration meetings are only needed for real problems.
• 05:18 When the plan is loose and has more flexibility, more reviews are required.
• 05:23 Inevitably, elements to the project will get out of sync when there is very little
• 05:27 detail in the plan.
• 05:28 So you can do a very detailed plan and only a few reviews and
• 05:32 meetings, but little flexibility.
• 05:34 Or quickly create a high level plan, but then conduct frequent reviews and
• 05:39 meetings along the way to integrate project activities and deliverables.
• 05:45 You know at it's core, the project baseline is a risk management tool.
• 05:49 It integrates and synchronizes the project planning elements.
• 05:53 It sets expectations and
• 05:55 is the performance measure of baseline used to check project progress.

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