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  • 1.  Exclude tasks when creating a new project baseline

    Posted Apr 26, 2018 04:01 AM

    Hello,

    I´d ask your advice for the situation I have in one of my customers:

     

    The typical situation is as follows:

     

    Management approves a delay in the project end date initially planned due to delays in certain project tasks. This approval is formalized in a specific document, and then, the PMO is in charge of updating all the baseline dates whose delays has been justified and approved.

     

    In CA PPM it is possible to take a new baseline for each task approved for change, the problem with this approach is that the project baseline finish date is not updated unless a new project baseline is taken, but if a new project baseline is taken, the other tasks with start/finish dates different from its baseline that have not been approved for change, also change. Due to that, after the project baseline is taken, the customer must adjust manually each task not approved for change, modifying its current start/finish dates to its baseline dates, taking a new baseline task, and then restoring the current start/finish task.

     

    I have thought making a CA PPM process to automate the customer manual tasks.

     

    Have you had a similar situation? Which would the best practice in this situation.

     

    I´d appreciate any advice very much.

     

    Thanks in advance.

     

    Pilar



  • 2.  Re: Exclude tasks when creating a new project baseline

    Posted Jul 20, 2018 03:41 AM

    Just throwing out an idea ... can you set up a Milestone that represents the Project end date. When a new end date is approved for the project, you move the milestone and it is one of the items that you re-baseline to show the approved updates. When that Milestone is re-baselined, could a process start, to update the project finish baseline with the finish date of the newly re-baselined milestone? I am not technical enough to set this up, let alone test it, but maybe this is a spark that can ignite an idea that gets you where you need to be?



  • 3.  Re: Exclude tasks when creating a new project baseline

    Posted Jul 20, 2018 04:02 AM

    Hi Maria, 

     

    If I understood your concern properly, then you want to know, if we can taken a snapshot (which is technically known as baseline) of a project for only 5 tasks, while the project is actually having a total of 10 tasks that it contains. 

     

    I would say that it is not possible as Baselines are snapshots of the total actual and planned effort and total actual and planned cost estimates for a project at the moment of capture. Baselines are static. This design is hard-coded and I do not think it is possible to change the same through some customization. You can use GEL scripts to update the Baselines table(s) but that is not recommended by CA. 

     

    Thanks,

    Abhisek Dhar



  • 4.  Re: Exclude tasks when creating a new project baseline

    Posted Jul 20, 2018 09:50 AM

    One can, out of the box, update task baselines in CA PPM, OWB, MSP - baselines aren't necessarily static forever, allowing one to take into account significant changes due to major events outside the project team's control, such as a customer significantly altering due dates and/or requirements.  Updating Task baselines allows one to keep the baselines unchanged for completed work, changing only those dates for incomplete work.

     

    However, these Task baseline updates do not impact the Project Baseline Start or Baseline Finish dates, as Pilar appears to have discovered.

     

    Sue, good idea - I'd expand on this by having the process kick off whenever a Task Baseline Finish date changes.  It could then check to see if the latest task/milestone is <> project Baseline Finish, and then update project Baseline Finish accordingly.

     

    No need for a special milestone that people must remember to put into their project and then remember to include when they perform task baseline updates.

     

    Another thought, rather than alter the behavior of the out of the box Project Baseline Finish Date field, create a new date attribute on the Project Object, call it "Project Baseline Finish Date Revised" (or something better) and make it 'read-only.'  Copy the new date to this new attribute, leaving the out of the box attribute unchanged:

     

    • Keeps the out of the box capabilities unaltered, avoiding any problems that one might have with Gantt, MSP and/or OWB
    • Provides a means to detect, report on projects where PBLFD <> PBLFDR
    • Maintains record of what the original finish date was supposed to be
    • Avoids CA issues that Abhisek is referring to

     

    What do you think?