Forum Discussion
MS Project 2019 Clearing Resource Baseline Work
We recently migrated to MS Project 2019. We've noticed that when we replace a resource on a task using Assign Resources, the original resource's baseline work is cleared or reduced. On our previous...
I normally use the "Assign Resources" dialog to replace resources. There are a couple of other ways but that's the primary method.
The more I think about the problem, the more I think the process was changed by Microsoft because the new resource was not present during baseline. As such, a new resource should not contain the baseline originally laid in during planning.
I would have liked for the process to keep the original resource with their baseline timephasing intact and zero out the remaining work. The new resource would be added with the remaining work and no baseline. There is a way around this but it takes longer to do as you can't just replace the existing resource and feel everything is good to go..
RCook1959 --
I can confirm everything you are seeing with Baseline information in Microsoft Project when you replace one resource with another. You are correct that the Baseline information remains with the previous resource, which leaves the new resource with no Baseline information. However, keep in mind that the Baseline allows you to analyze variance. When I teach people how to use Microsoft Project, we always talk about how to analyze task variance, such as Duration variance, Start variance, Finish variance, Work variance, and Cost variance. We NEVER talk about analyzing resource variance.
If the change of resources on one or more tasks does impact items such as Duration, Start, Finish, Work, and/or Cost, then I would recommend that you update the Baseline for only the tasks in which you changed the resource. DO NOT rebaseline the entire project, as you will lose all of your historic variance up to that point. But if you update the baseline for only the selected tasks, then the new resource will have Baseline information.
Hope this helps.
I can confirm everything you are seeing with Baseline information in Microsoft Project when you replace one resource with another. You are correct that the Baseline information remains with the previous resource, which leaves the new resource with no Baseline information. However, keep in mind that the Baseline allows you to analyze variance. When I teach people how to use Microsoft Project, we always talk about how to analyze task variance, such as Duration variance, Start variance, Finish variance, Work variance, and Cost variance. We NEVER talk about analyzing resource variance.
If the change of resources on one or more tasks does impact items such as Duration, Start, Finish, Work, and/or Cost, then I would recommend that you update the Baseline for only the tasks in which you changed the resource. DO NOT rebaseline the entire project, as you will lose all of your historic variance up to that point. But if you update the baseline for only the selected tasks, then the new resource will have Baseline information.
Hope this helps.