Baseline Templates

Baseline templates let you save the phases, roles, hours, expenses and deliverables you use again and again. Project teams can then start a new project Baseline from a saved template instead of a blank page. This saves time on engagements you scope often and gets you to a quote faster.

This article includes:

• Finding Baseline Templates
• Understanding the template list
• Creating a Baseline template
• Saving a project Baseline as a template
• Starting a project Baseline from a template
• Editing, duplicating and deactivating templates

Before you start

• Only Admins can create, save, edit, duplicate, deactivate and reactivate Baseline templates.
• Anyone who can already work on Baselines can insert a template into a project's Baseline. If you can't open the Baseline (for example, if you work in sales), ask your Admin to give you the Access baselines permission. This permission doesn't give access to financial information.
• To insert a template, the project must have Baseline turned on, with a start date and an end date set.

Finding Baseline Templates

1. Click Admin in the top bar.
2. Select Templates from the dropdown. The Baseline Templates tab opens.

Understanding the template list

The Baseline Templates page lists every template in your library, with the most recently updated first. To find a template, use the search to look it up by name.

Creating a Baseline template

Step 1: Add the template details

1. On the Baseline Templates page, click Create template.
2. Enter a name for the template. The name is required and must be different from every other template's name.
3. You can also add a description so your team knows when to use the template.
4. If the template should include deliverables, turn on Include deliverables.

Step 2: Set up your phases

The template starts with one phase. It begins in week 1 and runs for 20 days.

1. Enter a phase name.
2. Set the week the phase starts in and its duration in working days.
3. To add another phase, click Add Phase.

Templates store phase timing as a project week and a number of working days, not as fixed dates. When someone inserts the template, Forecast calculates real dates from the project's start date.

To remove a phase, click its remove control. This also removes the phase's deliverables, time estimates and expenses. A template needs at least one phase, so you can't remove the last one.

Step 3: Add deliverables (optional)

If Include deliverables is on, follow these steps:

1. Within a phase, click Select deliverable, then Add new deliverable.
2. Enter a Deliverable name, and optionally a Deliverable description.
3. Repeat for each deliverable in the phase.

A phase can have more than one deliverable. A deliverable is only saved if it has a name.

Step 4: Add time estimates

1. Within a phase, click Add Time Estimate.
2. Select a role and enter the hours.
3. To remove a line, click ×.

Step 5: Add expense estimates (optional)

1. Within a phase, click Add Expenses Estimate.
2. Enter the expense name, then choose a category. Both are required.
3. Enter the revenue and cost.

Step 6: Review and create

The Template summary panel on the right updates as you build. It shows:

• The number of phases and deliverables
• The total work estimate
• The overall duration
• The number of expense lines

When you're happy with the template, click Create Template. The new template appears in the list, with Usage set to 0.

If you click Cancel with unsaved changes, Forecast asks you to confirm before discarding them.

Saving a project Baseline as a template

If a project's Baseline worked well, you can save it to the template library so your team can reuse it. Forecast saves a full copy of the Baseline's phases, time estimates, expenses and deliverables. The original project isn't changed.

How to save a Baseline as a template

1. Open the project and expand the left sidebar to select Baseline.
2. Click the arrow next to Edit Baseline, then select Save As Baseline Template.
3. Review the template name. Forecast fills it in as "[Project name] — from [Client name]", and you can change it.
4. Add a description if you'd like.
5. Click Save template.

The new template appears in Admin › Templates › Baseline Templates, where you can edit it like any other template.

What's saved

• Phases are saved by project week and duration, not fixed dates. A phase that starts mid-week is saved from the start of that week. If any phase starts before the project start date, all phases are shifted so the earliest one starts in week 1.
• Time estimates are saved as roles and hours. Rates aren't saved, because they come from each project's rate card when the template is used.
• Expenses are saved with their name, category, revenue and cost.
• Deliverables are saved if the project has deliverables turned on.

Starting a project Baseline from a template

You don't need to build every Baseline from scratch. You can start from a template your Admin has saved. The template brings in its phases, roles and hours, expenses and deliverables, and everything stays editable after you insert it.

How to insert a template

1. Open your project and expand the left sidebar to select Baseline.
2. On the new, blank Baseline, click Insert Baseline Template in the top right of the page.
3. Browse the list, or search for a template by name. Each template shows a summary line, for example 2 phases · 45h · 4 roles · 59 days · 12 weeks · 2 deliverables.
4. To see a template's contents before inserting it, click Preview. The preview shows each phase with its timing, its deliverables, its roles and hours, and the number of expense estimates.
5. Click Insert template.
6. Confirm the insert.

The template's contents now appear on your Baseline, where you can edit them like anything you'd added by hand.

If there are no templates to choose from, your Admin hasn't created any yet. Admins can click Manage templates to go straight to the template library.

How inserted content is set up

• Phase dates are calculated from the project start date. Each phase starts at the beginning of its template week and runs for its set number of working days.
• Rates come from the project's rate card.
• Expenses use the revenue and cost saved on the template.
• Deliverables are only added if the project has deliverables turned on.

Tip: Phases are placed by the template's timing, even if they run past the project end date. Review your phase dates after inserting a template.

Editing, duplicating and deactivating templates

As your delivery approach changes, you can edit your templates to match it. You can also duplicate a template to create a variation, or deactivate templates your team no longer uses. Changes to a template only affect future use. Projects that have already used it stay as they are.

Editing a template

1. Open a template using either of these options:
   • Click the template's name.
   • Click the three dots on its row and select Edit.
2. Make your changes to the details, phases, deliverables, time estimates or expenses.
3. Click Save changes.

Tip: You can also edit an inactive template, so you can fix it before you reactivate it.

Duplicating a template

1. Click the three dots on the template's row and select Duplicate.
2. Forecast fills in a name in the format "[Template name] (copy)", along with the original template's description. You can change both.
3. Click Create.

The duplicate is a new, active template with Usage set to 0. To change its phases, estimates or expenses, edit it as described above.

Deactivating a template

1. Click the three dots on the template's row and select Deactivate.

Deactivated templates no longer appear when someone inserts a template into a Baseline. They're also hidden from the template list by default. To see them, turn on Show inactive. Deactivating a template doesn't change its contents. It also doesn't affect projects that have already used it.

Reactivating a template

1. Turn on Show inactive.
2. Click the three dots on the inactive template's row and select Reactivate.

The template becomes available to your team again straight away.

Related articles

• Setting and reviewing project Baseline
• Configuring your Rate Cards