Project management is not an easy challenge! Every project has some kind of deadline, so it’s important to finish the project on time and achieve all the necessary goals along the way. Get a clearer picture of how your project is progressing with the Gantt Baseline feature by taking snapshots that will allow you to track the status of the project at any given moment. Let’s get started!

Please note: The Gantt Baseline feature is only available in our Pro and Enterprise plans.

What is a baseline?

A baseline is a project management tool used to determine the intended schedule for a project. It can be used as a reference point to compare the current project progress (after delays or changes) to the original schedule. Otherwise, it is a great way to visually understand the overall progress of the project over time. It is best to add a baseline at the beginning of the project so that it can serve as a reference point throughout the life of the project.

How to add a baseline

You are ready to take baseline snapshots once you have created your Gantt board! Click on “Baseline” at the top of the Gantt board and select “Add New Snapshot” in the “Baselines” section of the settings. Baseline snapshots will appear as gray graphics.

Please note: It is important to make sure your time series/date columns are adjusted to your preference before taking a baseline snapshot, as snapshots are not editable.

You can see a list of all your existing baselines in the “Baselines” section of the settings, named by the time column they reflect and the date they were created! Select any baseline snapshot and easily compare it at a glance to where your project stands today.

Tip: Subitems are supported in the baseline! Choose which subitems you want to display in the “Select Time Columns” section in the settings.

How do schedule changes work?

When a baseline is created, items become a gray snapshot that remains locked in place no matter what happens to the items’ schedule afterwards. When a project is on track, the items are displayed in green. When a project is delayed and we extend the time graphs, the items turn red along with all the pending items. The baseline snapshots will appear as a gray shadow over the items, providing an overall picture at a glance!

Baseline settings

Now that we have the additional baseline for our Gantt board, let’s take a look at some of the settings and understand how they work!

• Color by status

When we view a baseline, the “Color by” setting is automatically disabled and our items are framed according to their status relative to the baseline. The baseline will always be displayed as a gray shadow over the item exactly where it was when the snapshot was taken. If an item is on time, it will appear in green, and if an item is late, it will be in red. You can always refer to the legend at the bottom of the Gantt board to see these elements.

• Hiding and showing the baseline

We can easily switch between the baseline and the Gantt board by clicking “Show Baseline” or “Hide” in the “Baselines” section of our settings:

• Baseline comparison

We can also switch between different baseline snapshots by checking and unchecking the box next to the baseline name. This is especially useful if we want to compare photos from different project stages or if we are using the widget and want to compare projects from different boards:

If there are no baselines selected, we’ll see where our items currently stand in light gray with no dark baseline to compare them to. There’s a legend at the bottom of our screen in case we forget what the colors mean! If you want to go back to your regular colored Gantt board, just click “Hide” to turn off baseline mode.

What’s going on with my board?

The Gantt chart isn’t the only thing that changes when a baseline is added. There are some changes that happen to your chart as well! Let’s take a look at those changes.

• The time column is copied.

When a baseline is created, we are essentially taking a snapshot of the time column (time column and date column) at any given moment. To ensure that our baseline remains in place while allowing for future changes, this function automatically copies the time column(s) in our table and locks their position. This way, there will always be one date or time column reflecting the original dates, while the other date or time column reflects the baseline snapshots.

• A formula column is created.

The second change that happens to our table after adding a baseline is the addition of a formula column. Now that we have a column showing the original dates and a column showing the current dates, we might want to figure out what the difference is between them. The formula column was automatically created to calculate the difference in days between the dates in these columns!

Please note: If you delete these two columns, it will also delete the baseline in your Gantt board.

If you have any questions, please contact our team right here . We are available 24/7 and happy to help.