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Have you ever worked on a project that felt like a moving target? You never seemed to know what the target was for successfully completing the project, and every time you thought you knew, it seemed to change without notice. Not to fear, there is a cure for these types of projects...a little thing called baselining.

Baselining is key to successfully managing projects and provides the basis for the subsequent monitoring and controlling of the project performance. This article answers questions relating to the four Ws of baselining: Who, What, When and Why.

Who is responsible for baselining?
Project managers are responsible for working with the stakeholders to ensure that baselining is completed for the project plan. Project stakeholders are people or organizations involved in or affected by the project whose interests may be positively or negatively impacted by the project. Typical stakeholders participating in baselining include the project manager, customer, team and any other appropriate parties.

What is a project plan?
That's an easy one. It is simply an approved document or collection of documents used to guide the project. The official definition of a project plan, according to the Project Management Institute’s A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide) is "a formal approved document used to guide both project execution and project control. The …

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