Baseline View Actions

The Baseline view allows you to view the base project schedule by visually depicting task start dates, finish dates and durations in a gantt chart style. The default hierarchical structure of tasks displays in the left pane and a time-phased bar for each task displays in the right pane. On the chart, parent tasks are displayed as black bars with child tasks as blue bars beneath. For details about adding and deleting baselines, see Manage Baselines.

Two stacked timescale levels dictated by the Scheduling Calendar are displayed at the top of the gantt chart. Available levels include day / week, week / month, and month / quarter.

The Baseline chart view also offers a variety of task actions.

Navigate Calendar

  • Zoom In / Out: Click the button to select timescale to view the Gantt chart.
  • Display: Hover over a task bar to display start date, finish date, and duration. Hover over a dependency arrow to display predecessor task name, line number, and successor task name and line number.
  • Go To Start Date: Right click on a selected task row to automatically scroll the Gantt chart to the closest location to the task start date.

  • Scroll Backward: Click to display additional dates prior to the earliest date visible. If the current timescale is:

    • Week/Day - Goes 60 days back from current Gantt display start and places the display on the first Monday after the beginning of the calculated month

    • Month/Week - Goes 120 days back from current Gantt display start and places the display on the first Monday after the beginning of the calculated month

    • Quarter/Month - Goes 365 days back from current Gantt display start and places the display on the first Monday after the beginning of the calculated month

  • Scroll to Date: Click for scrolling to display your specified date.

  • Scroll Forward: Click to display additional dates after the last date visible to the user in the Gantt display. If the current timescale is:

    • Week/Day - Goes 60 days forward from current Gantt display end and places the display on the first Monday after the end of the calculated month

    • Month/Week - Goes 120 days forward from current Gantt display end and places the display on the first Monday after the end of the calculated month

    • Quarter/Month - Goes 365 days forward from current Gantt display end and places the display on the first Monday after the end of the calculated month

Modify Task

Exercise care when changing start date or finish date as duration may also change. For more information, see Start Date, Finish Date, and Duration Relationships.

  • Modify: Hover over either edge of a subtask. When the double arrow icon appears, click and drag the edge of a task bar to change the start date or finish date.
  • Move: Hover over a subtask. When the hand icon appears, click and drag the task to a different place on the calendar. This shifts the task and changes its start and finish dates.
  • Create Dependency: Hover over either edge of a subtask. When the pencil icon appears, click and drag to the edge of another task to create a dependency.
  • Hover over a task name to display the task name, start date, finish date, and duration.

  • Hover over a dependency arrow to display predecessor task name, line number, and successor task name and line number.

Baseline Comparison

You may view the current project task plan beside a selected baseline version of the plan. The Gantt view displays the baseline chart shown as a shadow to the current timeline Gantt chart. Click the Baselines button in the Project controls row and the Manage Baselines dialog box displays. Select the baseline to be used from the list. If no baselines have been created, the resulting selection box will be empty and no comparison can be done. For more information about building and using baselines, see Manage Baselines.