Why Save A Baseline In Microsoft Project?

Save a Baseline in Microsoft Project: Why It Matters

Imagine you’re managing a high-stakes project — maybe rolling out new software, launching a product, or delivering for a government client. Everything looks good in the planning phase… until reality happens. Tasks slip, costs creep up, and executives want answers.

That’s where baselines come in. A baseline is a snapshot of your project plan at a moment in time. By saving one, you lock in the original dates, costs, and workloads. Later, you can measure exactly how your plan compares to reality — no guessing, no finger-pointing.

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What Does a Baseline Capture?

When you save a baseline in Microsoft Project, it records five key values for every task:

Duration
Start date
Finish date
Work (planned effort)
Cost

These values are stored in dedicated Baseline fields, which means you can always go back and compare your “plan vs. actual.”

💡 Tip: In the Set Baseline dialog, you’ll see the option simply called “Baseline.” Behind the scenes, this is technically Baseline 0 — the only baseline that Microsoft Project’s standard variance fields use.

When Should You Save a Baseline?

At project kickoff: Capture the approved plan before execution starts.
After major scope changes: Save a new baseline if leadership formally re-approves the project plan.
For performance reviews: Use interim baselines to compare progress across quarters or phases.

How to Tell if a Baseline Already Exists

Follow these quick steps:

Right-click on the Select All button (top-left corner).
Choose More Tables from the shortcut menu.
Select the Baseline table and click Apply.
If you see “NA” in the Baseline Start and Baseline Finish columns → no baseline has been saved yet.

Step-by-Step: Save a Baseline in Microsoft Project

Here’s the official process:

Click the Project tab to display the Project ribbon.
In the Schedule section, click the Set Baseline pick-list.
Select Set Baseline from the menu.
In the dialog box, make sure Baseline is selected at the top.
- (This is “Baseline 0” behind the scenes — the one used for all standard variance calculations.)
Keep Entire Project selected (recommended).
Click OK.
Save your file.

At this point, Microsoft Project captures your official baseline across every task.

Common Mistakes to Avoid 🚫

Using the wrong baseline slot → If you save into Baseline 1–10 instead of the default Baseline (0), your data will be stored but variance reports (Start Variance, Finish Variance, Cost Variance, etc.) will show zeros.
Overwriting Baseline (0) without approval → Don’t replace your official baseline unless leadership approves a formal re-plan.
Forgetting to baseline before updates → If you skip this, your “original plan” disappears the moment task dates or costs change.
Baselining only selected tasks → This creates gaps and makes reporting unreliable. Use Entire Project unless you have a specific reason.

Why This Matters in Execution

With a saved baseline, you can:

Generate variance reports (Baseline vs. Actual).
Run Earned Value metrics (CPI, SPI).
Provide executives with a clear story of how the project is tracking.

Without a baseline, you’re flying blind — and you’ll struggle to prove whether schedule slips were real or just poor record-keeping.

If you would like to have a formal class on using Microsoft Project, here is a link for my classes.