Compare Resource Plans

From the Project - Resources tab, you can compare published, baseline, and current (working) versions of the resource plan for the project. Once a comparison plan view is selected and loaded, the screen highlights differences between the two plans.

Load a Comparison of Plans

Click the View button and then select a version of the resource plan. It is displayed in the Hours section of the Results pane:

• Current vs. Baseline: This view displays an editable comparison of the current plan to the baseline of the plan.
• Current vs. Published: This view displays an editable comparison of the current plan to the published plan. This includes an editable view of the current plan and a view of the published plan with italicized discrepancies highlighted in yellow. The published plan only includes employee and labor resource class rows and does not include discrepancies with the other rows.
• Published vs. Current: This view displays a read-only comparison of the published plan to the current plan. This includes a read-only view of the published plan and a view of the current plan with italicized discrepancies highlighted in yellow. The published plan only includes employee and labor resource class rows and does not include discrepancies with the other rows.
• Baseline vs. Current: The Baseline view displays a read-only comparison of a baseline of the plan to the current plan. This includes a read-only view of the baseline plan and a view of the current plan with italicized discrepancies highlighted in yellow. When no baselines have been created, this view is disabled.

Change the Baseline

A baseline is a snapshot of the project, specifically task and resource plan data, for a specific point in time. A baseline cannot be restored to replace the current plan, but you can use the data as a basis of comparison. As the project progresses, additional baselines can be saved and compared to other baselines or the current or published plans. For more information, see Manage Baselines.

When you select the Current vs. Baseline or the Baseline vs. Current plan, the view is defaulted to the baseline that is currently selected in the Manage Baselines dialog box.

• To change the displayed baseline, click the Baselines button, and then select the baseline version to view.

Review Discrepancies

When you view a comparison view of two plans, discrepancies between the plans are italicized and highlighted in yellow. Discrepancies include different values, tentative flags, and blank values. If a value exists in the comparison plan but not the base plan, a highlighted blank cell is displayed. Discrepancies in hours and tentative flags are highlighted in their section of the assignment cell. In addition, differences in the Task Start Date, Task Finish Date, and Duration are highlighted in the Assignment Details section.

Hover over a cell with a discrepancy to view the value for both plans. The first values are from the base plan and the second values are from the comparison plan.

The summed totals on the resource rows are highlighted if any of the values beneath it are different or if additional rows are available on the compared plan. Even if the total in both plans match, there may be differences in the task rows that have the same value, so the row is highlighted to flag the underlying difference.