What is the baseline project plan?
The baseline project plan is a project management technique. A baseline in a project plan is a clearly defined beginning stage of a venture which can be used to assess the project's performance.
For example, suppose a project has a total budget of
Components
A baseline project plan has three main components:
Scope
Schedule
Cost
Scope
The baseline project plan includes the basic scope of the project. It involves the target areas that will be covered by the project and the milestones to be achieved.
Schedule
The scheduling is an integral part of the baseline project plan. It determines the period in which the project will be executed and worked on.
Cost
The project's initial budget is set beforehand, keeping in mind all the requirements. The team will be bound to work within the limit, but some amends can be made if, for some reason, the budget is inadequate.
Note: A change in any one of these components within a plan will effect the others.
Why is it needed?
The baseline project plan comes in handy for short-term and long-term projects. The following are some needs that are fulfilled by it:
To reach quality standards, a baseline project plan ensures that everything is planned out beforehand and that a complete product is sent forward.
It keeps track of changes in the project so that the project's outcome is the same as expected.
As everything is planned out, the resources are usually adequate.
The schedule is well maintained. Hence, no unrealistic deadlines and goals are formed.
It makes the project span delay-free.
Formation of the plan
First of all, the scope of our project is to be determined. The project manager must conduct several meetings with the client before finalizing the requirements.
Secondly, a schedule must be planned by making several deliverables and assigning a fixed number of days for each one of them. Also, the workload must be divided fairly among the members. An example of a schedule sheet where things can be sorted is shown in the following image:
Software are available where these types of scheduling sheets can be custom-made. Moreover, a Gantt chart can also be prepared to keep track of deadlines:
Lastly, keeping in view the scope and schedule of the project, a budget is fixed, and all work is tried to be done within this limit.
Example
Let's suppose we are required to boost the sales of a fast food outlet through its social media presence. We must increase the brand engagement enough so that customers are willing to visit the outlet. In this case, a project baseline can be like:
Scope: 1000 sales
Schedule: 1 month
Cost: $500
First, we would rule out all the goals we wish to achieve in this project. It could include boosting social media posts, announcing giveaways and offers, and inviting social media influencers to increase our reach. Afterward, we'll assign time slots to each goal and divide our resources and money for each activity.
Benefits
The benefits of a baseline project plan are as follows:
The baseline plan allows us to have improved estimates of how a project should be scheduled and the cost it may require.
Everything is recorded. So problems can be traced easily.
The Gantt charts allow us to view our progress at any stage of the project. This ensures better self-evaluation.
