Updating Baselines

As a project progresses, you might choose to update baseline data without restoring the baseline or creating a new baseline. When a project is in progress, creating a new baseline may not yield accurate comparison results. When you update a baseline, only the data types you select will be updated. You can preview the changes that would be made to the baseline before you commit to updating the baseline.

To update a baseline:

  1. On the "" Navigation Menu, expand "" Projects and click Activities or EPS.
  2. On the Activities or EPS page
    1. Click the Actions "" menu and select Define Baselines....
    2. In the Define Baselines dialog box:
      • Select the baseline to update.
      • Click Update Baseline.
    3. In the Update Baseline dialog box:
      • Select Run Optimized to optimize the speed of updating the baseline.

        Note:

        If you select Run Optimized, error logging is switched off. If errors occur during the baseline update process when you have Run Optimized selected, update the baseline again without Run Optimized selected to see which activities caused the errors.

      • Select Ignore Last Update Date to update all activities in the baseline, regardless of the last time they were updated. Select this option when you want to update a data item that you did not include in your last baseline update.

        Note:

        If you clear the Ignore Last Update Date option, data items are updated only with additions or modifications that have occurred since the last time the baseline was updated.

      • On the Project Data tab, select which types of project data should be updated.
      • On the Activity Data tab, select whether to update all activities or activities matching a filter, whether to add new activities to the baseline which have been added to the project since the baseline was created, and whether to delete activities from the baseline which no longer exist in the project.
      • On the Update Options tab, select which types of activity data should be updated.
    4. Click Update.

Tip:

  • You cannot update a project's baselines if the project has been opened in Exclusive mode or checked out by another user.
  • If errors occur while the project is updating, the module logs the errors inthe specified log file (if the 'Run Optimized' option is not selected) and continues updating the project. If the Update Baseline process produces errors, scheduling the project to the current data date, then run Update Baseline again might resolve some errors. Insufficient user privileges can cause errors when updating baselines.The Run Baseline Update privilege is a minimum requirement. Oracle also recommends users should have all project and global view, create, edit, and delete privileges to avoid encountering errors when updating baselines.
  • Project calendars, activity codes, and the WBS are always updated when you update a baseline.
  • New or modified Primary Resource assignments are always updated for an activity if you choose to update 'General activity information' in the Update Baseline Options dialog, even if you do not choose the 'Update existing resource and role assignments' and 'Add new resource and role assignments' options in the Update Options dialog.
  • The following date fields are not updated when you update baselines because they are calculated by the scheduler: Early Start, Early Finish, Late Start, and Late Finish. To update these fields after updating the baseline, restore the baseline project, schedule the restored baseline project and re-attach it as a baseline to the project.
  • If you only want to update project-level data (and not activity-level data), clear the 'Add new activities and activity data (except actuals)' and 'Delete from baseline any activities no longer in the current project' on the Activity Data tab, and the 'Update existing activities already in the baseline' option on the Update Options tab.
  • If the 'Planned values with planned dates' option is selected for the 'When calculating earned value from a baseline use' setting on the Earned Value page of Application Settings, the BL Project Start and BL Project Finish dates are updated with the planned dates of the project. When the Planed Values with Current Dates option is selected, the BL Project Start and BL Project Finish dates are updated with the current dates of the project.
  • For further information about how baseline dates are calculated see the following Knowledgebase article: How Baseline Dates Are Calculated in P6 (KB617147)