A baseline you can explain
7 October 2026
A baseline is logic, calendars, coding, and constraints, plus a short narrative of how they were chosen.
A baseline is the schedule you will measure progress against. If you cannot explain it, the first update will argue with you.
Four things have to be defensible.
Logic. Predecessors that describe the work, not a chain of links added so the software would calculate. Open ends are questions waiting for a reviewer.
Calendars. The calendar on the activity is the calendar the crew will actually work. A default calendar on a shutdown, or on a site that does not work that pattern, will invent float.
Coding. Activity codes that match how you will report: area, discipline, phase, contractor. Codes added after the fact are harder to trust than codes agreed before the baseline is submitted.
Constraints. A constraint is a statement. A must-finish date with no reason in the narrative is a hidden date. Write down why it is there, or take it off.
Cost loading belongs on the baseline only when you can give a breakdown the planner can trust. Otherwise leave cost off. A loaded file with a guessed breakdown looks more certain than it is.
Hand back the file and a short narrative. The narrative is how the schedule was built, not a promise about the finish date.