Setting and Reviewing Project Baseline

The Forecast Baseline feature allows one to pre-scope a project's financials to create a realistic proposal for any potential client. Baseline can help with scoping and can assist with avoiding scope creep.

This article includes:

• Overview of Project Baseline
• Step 1: Adding a Baseline to the Project
• Step 2: Configure your Baseline settings
• Step 3: Creating a new phase
• Step 4: Plan your project's costs
• Step 5: Exporting your Baseline
• Step 6: Reviewing your Baseline estimations

Overview of Project Baseline

Baseline is a feature in Forecast that gives the ability to financially pre-scope a project. With Baseline,  an additional level is added to financial monitoring. Calculate or transfer a proposal into Forecast, scope out a project based on this proposal, and compare it to the actuals when the project is running. Baseline makes sure that the team working on this project does not plan and deliver more work, than what has been sold to the client.

Within the Baseline page, it is possible to calculate and pre-scope two fundamental components of project management: work and expenses.  After defining the project phases, it is possible to scope the financials based on the roles involved in the project, and all the expenses that might occur for that project and each particular phase. 

Step 1: Adding a Baseline to the Project

Baseline as a feature can be added to a project in two ways, either when creating the project or afterward, from the project settings.

When creating a project

1. 1. Click Projects in the top bar. 
   2. Select All Projects from the dropdown. 
   3. From the Projects page, click New Project.
   4. Alternatively, from anywhere in the platform, click on Create and select Project.
   5. Fill in the name field and, optionally, the other fields. 
   6. Click on the More Settings dropdown button.
   7. Select Yes under the line 'Work With Baseline'.

Adding a Baseline after the project is created

1. 1. Click Projects in the top bar.
   2. Select All Projects from the dropdown.
   3. Click on the project you wish to add Baseline to.
   4. In the left side panel, click Settings.
   5. Select Financials. 
   6. Under Baseline in the Settings - Financials page, toggle to enable the Baseline feature for this project.

Step 2: Configure your Baseline settings

Project Baseline comes with its settings that can be changed at any point. Please be advised that some of those settings affect the entire project and not just the baseline. You can access the Baseline settings from the Settings button on the Baseline page.

Step 3: Creating a new phase

After enabling the Baseline, it's time to scope the project by defining the phases the project will be working upon together with its objectives and deliverables. Whenever a phase is created in Baseline, it also gets created in the Scoping page, to assist with scoping your project work.

To create a new phase

1. From within the project, expand the left side panel and click on Baseline.
2. Click on the New Phase button that is located on the right-hand side of the page.

To delete a phase

1. 1. From within the project, expand the left side panel and click on Baseline.
   2. Click on the three dots icon at the end of the phase line.
   3. Click on Delete.

Step 4: Plan your project's costs

Once the phases are created, they can be used as a framework to calculate and get an idea of the costs involved for this project, specifically looking at overall work and expenses that are expected.

Under each phase, Forecast provides two options to plan:

• Work: based on the rate cards related to the roles that are expected to work on that project's phase.
• Expenses: potential expenses expected for that particular phase. 

Planning Work

The work option calculates the number of hours inputted for the role(s) selected for that phase, and it will present an estimate of Cost, Billable Time, and Profit.  The calculation for each of these categories varies. To review those calculations, hover over each of the options (cost, billable time, etc.) and a tooltip will appear depicting the formula. 

To plan work:

1. 1. 1. Click on the Select Role dropdown.
      2. Select the Role that will be required to work during this phase of the project.
      3. Enter the number of estimated hours this role will, potentially, work for in the field next to it the role name.
      4. Click on the "+" button.

To remove planned work

1. 1. Click on the three dots icon at the end of the line.
   2. Click on Delete.

Planning Expenses

From the Expenses section, it is possible to enter and pre-scope any potential expenses that the project could acquire throughout its phases. The expenses cost will be added into the entries phase cost and Billable T&M and Expenses.

To plan expenses

1. 1. Click on the Select Expenses dropdown.
   2. Select one of the pre-created expense options.
   3. Fill in the cost field and optionally fill in the Markup and/or Revenue field.
   4. Click on the "+" button.

To remove planned expenses

1. 1. Click on the three-dots icon at the end of the line.
   2. Click on Delete.

Step 5: Exporting your Baseline

A project baseline should be documented and controlled with processes, to ensure minimal changes going forward. A change request form and an approval process can be great tools to implement to ensure that project stays on track. It is recommended to export the Project Baseline so it can be reviewed later on and measure progress against what was scoped in the past. 

From time to time, significant changes may occur, which will require a new Baseline to be generated. In this scenario, it is also recommended to save the previous baseline first, before creating a new one, in order not to lose any historical data.

Before exporting your baseline, ensure you have toggled all the information you need in the export by clicking on the eye icon on the top right of the page. 

To export the baseline as a CSV

1. 1. From within the project, expand the left side panel and click on Baseline.
   2. Click on the Export as CSV button.

Step 6: Reviewing your Baseline estimations

Once Baseline is finalized, it is possible to review the estimations for the project within the Baseline page as a breakdown, within the Scoping page, and on the Budget page.  

Reviewing the Baseline Totals Breakdown

The Baseline totals are shown at the top of the Baseline page. This includes: 

• Project Dates: The project dates that have been input when creating the project.
• Total Work Estimate: The total number of hours that have been estimated in the Project Baseline.
• Total Baseline Revenue: This is the Total Work Estimate multiplied by the rate associated with the role.
• Total Baseline Cost: This is the expected cost of the project and it is calculated based on the internal hourly cost setting.
• Total Baseline Profit: This is calculated based on the Total Baseline Revenue - Total Baseline Cost.
• Fixed Price / Baseline Target: This will either be the Fixed price set for fixed-price projects or the Baseline target set for Time & Material projects.
• Value of Service: Calculated as Time x Rate + revenue of expenses. If cost exceeds revenue on an expense, Value of Service will be based on the cost.
• Difference: How much of the fixed price/target can still be estimated in work.

Reviewing Baseline while Scoping the Project

After presenting the quote to a client and it is agreed upon, a Project Manager might run into a hindrance that can impact their work. One of the biggest challenges Project Managers face when Scoping a project is understanding what has been sold to a client. Often, the Project Manager only sees a lump sum assigned to the project budget, without enough context as to why it’s set that way.

To resolve this issue, Forecast's Baseline allows the Project Manager to see the prices agreed with the client for each phase of the project, and ensure that the Project Scope can deliver the client's vision on time and on budget. 

The estimated hours from the Baseline and the planned billable time will appear for each corresponding phase in the manner depicted in the screenshot below. 

As the project manager scopes the phases, they will be able to compare the estimated hours against what has been sold to the client to ensure that the teams are aligned from the start. 

To display Baseline on the Scoping page

1. Click on the Scoping tab of the project.
2. Click on the eye icon. 
3. Select the Baseline Info.

Baseline information in the Project Budget page

Apart from the scoping page, Baseline info can also be displayed within the Budget page of the project. To show Baseline in the three following areas of your Budget page, it must be enabled first:

• On the budget graph, in both Money and Time views as well as on the Time & Expenses and Expense Details views, a blue dotted line will now appear. This line will depict the Baseline information for each of the tabs. 
• On the Totals table, the Baseline column will show the total amount of the baseline.
• On the Details table, the Baseline section will give a breakdown of the baseline information per month or day, depending on the setting.

To display Baseline within the Budget page

1. From within the project, expand the left side panel and select Financials.
2. Click Overview. 
3. Click on the eye icon.
4. Select the Baseline option.