Baseline scheduling can be defined as the act of constructing a timetable to provide a start and end date for each project activity, taking activity relations, resource constraints and other project characteristics into account and aiming at reaching a certain scheduling objective.
The construction of a project baseline schedule is often a time-consuming and cumbersome task. However, the central role of the baseline schedule in a Schedule Risk Analysis (and in the Project Control phase cannot be underestimated. It should indeed be generally accepted that the usability of a project baseline schedule is to act as a point of reference in the project life cycle, and hence, a project schedule should especially be considered as nothing more than a predictive model that can be used for resource efficiency calculations, time and cost risk analyses, project tracking and performance measurement, and so on.
The three dimensions of dynamic scheduling can be summarized as follows:
Baseline schedule construction: A project baseline schedule visualized in a Gantt chart acts as a point of reference in the project life cycle. It should especially be considered as nothing more than a predictive model that can be used for resource efficiency calculations, time and cost risk analysis, project tracking and performance measurement, and so on.
Schedule risk analysis: When management has a certain feeling of the relative sensitivity of the various project activities on the project objective, a better management’s focus and a more accurate response during project tracking should positively contribute to the overall performance of the project. Through the use of buffers inserted into the baseline schedule, the project is better protected against unexpected delays and corrective actions can be restricted to a minimum.
Project control: Using dynamic information during project progress to improve corrective action decisions is the key target of project monitoring and control. The performance information obtained through EVM will be dynamically used to steer the corrective action decision making process and improve the overall success of the project.