Datasheet

17
Chapter 1: Project Management: What It Is, and Why You Should Care
Figure 1-6:
An
Unstarted
Tasks
report.
Planning to keep things on track
Projects aren’t frozen in amber like some organizational mosquito: They go
through more changes than a politician’s platform in a campaign year. That’s
where Project’s capability to make changes to your project data comes in
handy.
After you build all your tasks, give them durations and dependencies, and
assign all your resources and costs, you set a baseline. A baseline is a snap-
shot of your project at the moment you feel your plan is final, you’ve gotten
all the required approvals, and you’re ready to proceed with the project.
After you set a baseline, you record some activity on your tasks. Then you
can compare that actual activity with your baseline because Project saves
both sets of data in your schedule.
Tracking activity in your project involves recording the actual timing of tasks
and recording the time that your resources have spent on those tasks, as well
as recording actual costs. You can then display Project views that show you
how far off you are at any time (compared with your baseline) in terms of the
actual timing of tasks and the cost of your project.
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