Compare current value with the new inputted value

[Knowledgeseeker]

Hi Community,

As I know when editing a finishdate, the new date will replace the previous one, is there any way to compare these values before saving the changes:

1. lets say the current FinishDate is 08/25/2023 If I change this date to 09/29/2023, I want to compare them to calculate the difference even before applying the changes
2. If the difference is above 10days, notify me or someone else

Thank you in advance. 

[#2]

Knowledgeseeker --

You need to save a Baseline in your project before you enter progress. You can then compare the difference between the Baseline Finish date and the Finish date using the task Variance table (click View > Tables > Variance to apply it). Hope this helps.

[#3]

Hi Dale Howard
As I know the maximum number of baselines is 10, in case I wanted to add more I will have to rewrite over others, in other words, I will loose the history of baselines.
Please correct me if I am wrong.

Thank you in advance.

[#4]

Knowledgeseeker --

Actually, the maximum number of baselines is 11 in Microsoft Project. They are Baseline (aka Baseline 0), along with Baseline 1-10. The baseline should be the original starting values in your project, to which you can compare your current schedule to see project variance. Why do you need so many baselines, out of curiosity? Let us know and we will try to help you.

[#5]

I will clarify more the scenario I am working on.
For a given project X, each time a new baseline is created I need to compare it with the previous one to make sure if the new variance is higher or the opposite.
I thought of going through the table ProjectBaseline but I did not find such historical changes to do the comparaison.

I hope it's clear and I can answer other questions if there are any.
Thank you in advance.

[#6]

Knowledgeseeker --

Why are you creating so many baselines? This makes no sense. But if you need to compare one baseline with another, you might try the Multiple Baselines Gantt view. Hope this helps.

[#7]

I am trying to use data in a dashboard out of Project interface by tracking all changes of a given project.

[#8]

Knowledgeseeker --

Sounds like you are saving a new baseline every time you make a change to the project, or something akin to that. Sounds like way too much work for someone like me! :) You might consider using the Interim Plan feature in the Set Baseline dialog. That would allow you to capture date changes. Just a thought. Hope this helps.

[#9]

Dale Howard I do appreciate your time and replies.
The reason after that is to track how many times the FinishDate has changed, that's why I am trying to find the table where these updates are stored.

Thank you in advance.

[#10 · Accepted solution]

Knowledgeseeker,
Pardon me for bumping in to this thread. It sounds like you are trying to do a couple of things.
1. If a task finish date is 10 (or more) days later than its previous date, you want a flag raised
2. You want a metric to show how many times a task finish date changed since "day 1" of the plan.

I doubt you'll find any kind of update table where you can extract that type of information but you could have an event based macro that gives you both pieces of data as stated above. That would be a lot easier than jockeying with the baseline data.

Just a thought.
John