If you need to create a baseline to compare your Gantt chart's planned start and end dates of tasks to actual start and end dates, this article will show you how.
By creating a Visor Gantt chart that uses planned task start and end dates (rather than actual start and end dates) you will input a baseline in your Gantt chart.
Adding baselines is included in all Visor plans, including our Free plan.
How To Create a Baseline Gantt View
Step One:
Open your current project view and click the “+Add a Field” button. Then under the list of current fields displayed, click “+Create New”
Step Two:
Select Date as the Field Type and name the field Planned Start Date, or something similar.
Repeat steps one and two to add a Planned End Date field.
Your workbook now has fields for:
- Start Date
- End Date
- Planned Start Date
- Planned End Date
Step Three:
Return to your workbook and click the “+Add View” button.
Select the Gantt view from the View Type menu and give it an appropriate name:
In the Gantt setup screen select your Planned Start and Planned End Date fields as the date fields:
Click "Continue" and carry out the remainder of the Gantt chart setup. Now you have a Gantt chart structured according to your tasks' Planned Start Date and Planned End Dates:
Step Four:
You can then Protect these fields so they cannot be updated, remaining static, and accurate to your original planned dates. Just click the drop-down icon on the Planned Start Date field, then click “Protect field:”
Repeat the field protection process for your Planned End Date field.
Next to the fields you’ll see a small shield icon indicating that the field is now protected:
These fields are now protected from editing across all of your views. To unprotect the field navigate back to the drop-down on the field and click "Unprotect Field"
Comparing Baseline vs. Actual Date
Now you have two views of your project, one using planned start and end dates, the other using actual start and end dates. You can simply flip between these two views to compare actual progress vs. what was originally planned.
You can also add actual start and end dates to your baseline view to make comparisons side by side, as in this example:
Using Jira Custom Fields For Planned/Actual Dates
If you are working on a Jira integrated project in Visor you can take this a step further. In Jira you can add custom fields to issues for:
- Planned start date
- Planned end date
- Baseline status
The selections under baseline status could be, for example, On Schedule, Behind Schedule, Ahead of Schedule. On Schedule, Delayed Start, Delayed End.
You can then create a rule that when the actual start date or end date is greater than what was planned it updates the Baseline status from “on Schedule” to a matching value. For example if the actual Start Date is greater than the Planned Start Date, set the Baseline status to Behind Schedule/Delayed Start.
You can then use formatting in Visor to color tasks with a delayed or behind schedule status as red to quickly flag tasks that need to be accelerated, discussed, or have timelines adjusted. You can also use this field in Visor to filter down just to tasks that are falling behind planned timelines.