Baseline

How can I establish a baseline in smartsheet?

I am using smartsheet for construction scheduling. Like many industries there are delays. However, in construction delays come with a cost, a dollar amount that needs to be paid when projects go over their time line.

I establish my schedule when I start a project. Throuhgout the project there are delays, rain days, missing information, people don't show up etc. I need to attribute each delay to a particular indiviual or cause and show how the delay moved the schedule.

In a lot of scheduling programs there is a basline, the original schedule. This gets locked in at the beging. As the schedule changes, there is a second line the developes in the gant chart which shows how the schedule is changing and there is a note you can attach to each change.

How do I show the baseline in smartsheet, and show the changes as they occur with notes?

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Comments

Travis

Hi gcworks! While there is not a built in baseline function, there are workarounds you might be able to use. Check out this thread where this topic has been discussed: https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/baseline-functionality

An approach many customers take within Smartsheet is at the beginning of the project, create 3 new columns ‘Baseline (or Original) Start Date’, ‘Baseline End Date’, and ‘Date Difference’ which is a text/number column. These new columns won’t be used in the Gantt Dependencies so they won’t change as the timeline changes. Highlight all of the dates in the Start and End Date columns then copy them to the Baseline columns. Create a formula in the Date Difference that subtracts the Baseline Start Date from the Start Date to give you how far off you are from the Baseline.

Nicole Ellis

Hi. I've been reading about the need for Baseline functionality, as I am looking for the same. However, in addition to schedule, I need to baseline the original planned cost (budget). Any suggestions how I can do both, since this is not an inherent feature to Smartsheet?

Kennedy Stomps

Hi Nicole-- I think you could do this similarly to finding the Baseline dates, as Travis suggested above, except you'll want to set up a column for Planned Cost, a column for Actual Cost, and a column for the Difference. Then, you can use a formula to subtract the Planned Cost from the Actual Cost to tell you how far off you are from your expectations. Hope this helps!

SCM

Hi. I'm a relatively new to using any project management software including SmartSheet and I'm not 100% sure I understand the workaround to make baselines and have it calculate slippage. Is there a tutorial somewhere that covers this?

Also, add my vote for Baseline fuctionality to be added to the next release.

Thanks.

Gwyneth C

Hi SCM,

I've added your vote.

And, in answer to your question about tutorials, we do have two blog posts that you may find helpful:

Quick Guide: Mimicking Baseline Functionality in Smartsheet

https://www.smartsheet.com/blog/quick-guide-mimicking-baseline-functionality-smartsheet

Smartsheet Tips: Tracking Baseline Schedule Variance

https://www.smartsheet.com/blog/smartsheet-tips-tracking-baseline-schedule-variance

Hope this helps!

-Gwyneth

Daryl McCann

Can you put a formula in your start & finish dates to equal your Planned Start & Planned Finish dates so that it automatically reflects what you have in your Planned columns until the time you have to adjust it or would that screw up your total days diffeence formula by creating a circular reference?

Kevin McDonald

+1 for Baselines! It is the only thing I need to do in Smartsheet so far that I can't.

kefir

+1 for proper support for (many!) baselines.

Si Spence

Hi Gwyneth, can you offer any update to Baseline functionality yet please? This really is a basic PM tool and much needed in SS. Thank you.

Gwyneth C

Hi Si,

Apologies for the delayed response.

Nothing new to report. Please do submit an Enhancement Request if you haven't done so already (available for you to do directly from Community under "Quick Links"). An enhancement request is the best way to communicate requests like this to the product team and let them know of your specific use cases.

-Gwyneth

HCCM1

Is there still no support for baselines??

I just completed a live chat with a representative and she was completely unaware of the concept.