Announcing updates to the Baseline feature in Microsoft Planner

We’re excited to announce new enhancements to the Baseline feature in Microsoft Planner! Building on its foundational capabilities as introduced here, these updates bring powerful insights to help you track and improve your plan’s performance. Now, you can identify tasks on the critical path that need attention, stay on top of overdue tasks, and prepare for upcoming work with ease in comparison to your Baseline. These enhancements empower you to keep your plans on track and achieve your goals with confidence.  

What’s new with baselines? 

Baselines serve as a reference point for your project, capturing the original plan so you can compare it against actual progress. This not only helps you to monitor deviations and make informed decisions to stay aligned with your goals but also provides a way to celebrate team achievements. Here is what is new with Baselines:

1. Plan-level variance tracking 
   In addition to finish variance, you can now track start, effort, and duration variances at the plan level. These metrics offer a comprehensive view of how your project is progressing compared to the original plan, helping you identify and address discrepancies early. For example, tracking effort variance at the project level helps you determine if the cumulative effort required is consistently exceeding estimates, which could indicate resource strain or inefficiencies. Monitoring start variance can reveal if the overall project timeline is slipping due to delays in initiating key phases.
   
   
2. Spotlight tab
   The new Spotlight tab brings key plan insights into focus by providing: 

• • Critical path variance: Easily identify if tasks on the critical path are experiencing delays, so you can act quickly to mitigate risks.
  • Upcoming tasks: Get a clear view of tasks that are due soon, helping you and your team stay prepared.
  • Overdue tasks: Highlight tasks that require immediate attention to keep your plan on track.
  • Comparison of all tasks: Finish variance on per-task level.

Availability 

Users with a Planner and Project Plan 3 or Planner and Project Plan 5 license can leverage these enhancements in the Planner app in Microsoft Teams and Planner for the web by following the steps below. Please note, if you do not have a Plan 3 or Plan 5 license, simply select the diamond icon within the Planner app, where you can sign up for your free 30-day trial of advanced capabilities (including the Baseline feature) or request a license from your admin. 

• Create your baseline. If you haven’t created a baseline yet, simply navigate to the Baseline button and select Create baseline. Voilà! Your project's baseline is recorded. 

• Monitor progress. Return to this baseline at any point to evaluate your project’s status, ensuring that your project is moving forward as planned. 

• View the Spotlight tab. The new Spotlight tab helps you stay on top of insights for your plan—whether that’s tasks on the critical path, overdue tasks, or upcoming tasks. 

• View insights, such as task-level delays or advancements, in the Grid view. 

Frequently asked questions 

- Can I import my baselines from Project Desktop and/or other tools? 

No, Baselines cannot be imported to Project for the web while importing the project.   

- Can I create multiple Baselines?  

You can capture only one Baseline at the moment. To update the Baseline, delete the existing one and recapture the current state of the project with a new Baseline.  

- Can I export the details I captured?  

Project and task level details will be stored in Dataverse and can be exported from there.  

Share your feedback! 

Your feedback is valuable as we continue to release new capabilities in Planner. There are several ways to share your feedback with us—either via the Planner Feedback Portal or directly in the Planner app by selecting More (the questions mark) in the upper right corner, then Feedback.  

Resources 

• To get the inside scoop on the new Planner watch the Meet the Makers and our AMA.
• Watch the new Planner demos for inspiration on how to get the most out of the new Planner app in Microsoft Teams
• Read about our investments for organizations using the new Planner with frontline workers.
• Try out the new Copilot in Planner (preview) today in the new Microsoft Planner in Teams
• Check out the new Planner adoption website and explore new resources such as Day in the Life Guides to use Planner for task management, collaborative work management and project management. 
• We’ve got a lot more ‘planned’ for the new Planner this year! Stay tuned to the Planner Blog - Microsoft Community Hub for news.
• For future updates coming to the new Planner app, please view the Microsoft 365 roadmap here.
• Learn about Planner and Project plans and pricing here.
• Read the FAQs here.