Creating Schedule Baseline For Projects: How To Do It (+Examples)

In my previous article, I talked about all that you need to know about the work breakdown structure for projects. In this article, I want to talk about all that you need to know about how to create a schedule baseline for projects. Follow me as we will look at that together in this article.

As a project manager, it is your responsibility to get management approval for your project schedule so that you can begin your project on the right footing, setting the stage for proper monitoring and measuring schedule performance throughout the life cycle of the project.

The schedule baseline is the key mechanism for gaining that approval, and so your ability to generate the appropriate baseline will be critical to project success.

Schedule baselines…

A schedule baseline is the management-approved version of the project schedule; it is drawn from the schedule network analysis and includes baseline start and finish dates. It provides the basis for measuring and reporting schedule performance.

It is a formal part of the project management plan.

How to create it …

Obtaining approval from the stakeholders for your project will be vital as you move through the project life cycle and monitor the schedule performance.

By establishing a schedule baseline, you will further enhance the project’s integrity by securing approval from the project management team and stakeholders. 

#1 Gather your preliminary project schedule 

 There is a need for you to gather your preliminary project schedule while including the project’s start and finish dates.

You have to make sure that all of its components are. accurate and up-to-date, including the resources, duration, calendar predecessor dates, task dependencies, cost estimates, and constraints.

You have to confirm the resources have not been overly allocated.

#2 Distribute it 

There is a need for you to distribute the proposed schedule baseline to the appropriate stakeholders and project management team for approval.

This approval is a formal requirement, and as such, it should be received in writing from the project sponsor. 

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