Update Baseline Merges Selected Current-Project Data Into an Existing Baseline

What a planner means

Update Baseline is a command. It writes only the data types you select from the current project into an existing baseline. Oracle: as a project progresses you might update baseline data without restoring the baseline or creating a new one. When a project is in progress, creating a new baseline "may not yield accurate comparison results."

This is not Create (Add), not Restore, not Assign, not Copy, and not Delete. See baselines.md for what a baseline is. Not a reflection merge (A Reflection). Not Claim Digger / Schedule Comparison (Claim Digger).

Create (Add) — Project, Maintain Baselines, Add: save a copy of the current project as a new baseline, or convert another project into a baseline of the current one. Converted projects leave the EPS hierarchy.

Update — same dialog, select a baseline, Update: merge selected current-project data into that baseline. Oracle: "update activity and project-level data for an existing baseline."

Restore — Restore: the selected baseline becomes a separate project you can modify by hand. Oracle: you cannot access a baseline as you would a project; restore puts it back in the hierarchy (same node as the project it was linked to). After edits you can recreate it as a baseline. Oracle also: use Update instead when you want to globally update a type of project, activity, or resource/role assignment data without restoring.

Assign — Project, Assign Baselines: which baseline is Project / Primary / Secondary / Tertiary. That does not write data into the snapshot.

Copy / Delete — copy a baseline (stays under the same project) or delete it.

Professional: Project > Maintain Baselines > Update. EPPM web: Activities or EPS Actions > Define Baselines... > Update Baseline. Connected to an EPPM database, Professional runs Update as a job service (Tools, Job Status).

Oracle always updates (even if you do not pick them): project calendars, activity codes, and the WBS.

Project-level types you can pick (General / Project Data). You do not have to select any:

• Project details
• Project UDFs
• Project risks, issues and thresholds (Oracle: UDFs related to risks, issues, and thresholds)
• Risk UDFs / Issue UDFs (those two isolate those UDFs)
• Work products and documents / Work products and document UDFs
• WBS UDFs

If you update project details, Oracle does not update: Defaults, Settings, and Resources tabs; Risk Level and Project Leveling Priority (General); Default Price/Unit for Activities Without Resource or Role Price/Units (Calculations). Dialog-box page also: Default Price/Unit for activities without resource Price/Unit on Calculations. Project, WBS, and issue UDFs update only if you select those options.

Activity-level (Activities / Activity Data):

• All Activities (Oracle: overwrites all activities in the baseline) or activities that meet a filter (all selected filters vs any selected filter)
• Add new activities and activity data (except actuals) — except actual units and costs; with a filter, only new activities that meet it
• Delete from baseline any activities no longer in the current project — not available if a filter is applied
• Update existing activities already in the baseline — then Update Options

Update Options, Activity tab (cited labels):

• General activity information (name, activity type, duration type, percent complete type, status, calendar, primary resource)
• Relationships
• Constraints (and their dates)
• Dates, duration, and data date — Original or Planned Duration, Remaining Duration, Actual start/finish, Anticipated start/finish, Remaining start/finish, Start/finish, Remaining late start/finish, Suspend/resume dates, and Data Date
• WBS assignments
• Risk assignments (Professional only)
• Activity UDFs / Activity code assignments (project, global, and EPS) / Activity notebooks
• Steps / Step UDFs
• Expenses / Expense UDFs
• For activities without resource assignments: Budgeted units and cost; Actual units and cost

Dates, duration, and data date does not update Early Start / Early Finish / Late Start / Late Finish (scheduler-calculated). Oracle: after Update, restore the baseline, schedule it, and re-baseline if you need those.

Relationships — Oracle disagrees with itself. Update-a-baseline page: only relationships within the project; relationships to external projects are not updated. Activity-tab page: "relationships within a project and with external projects." Write both.

Update Options, Resource Assignment tab:

• Update existing resource and role assignments (Oracle: UDFs, Resource Codes, cost account, dates, durations)
• Budgeted or planned units and cost / Actual units and cost (existing)
• Add new resource and role assignments
• Budgeted or planned units and cost / Actual units and cost (new)
• Activity resource assignment UDFs
• Activity resource assignment codes (Oracle's description on that checkbox repeats "updated UDFs related to resource assignments")

If General activity information is on, new or modified Primary Resource assignments are always updated, even if the two resource-assignment add/update options are off.

If you update issues or work products and documents but not activities, new issues or WPDs are added without activity assignments.

Ignore Last Update Date — off: only additions/modifications since the last baseline update. On: ignore that date and apply all additions/modifications for the selected types (use this when you update different data types at different times). EPPM wording: update all activities in the baseline regardless of the last time they were updated.

Run Optimized — faster; errors are not logged. Turn it off and rerun to see the failing item in the log.

Preview — Preview Changes tree of what would be written; you can print it.

Last Update Date (Maintain Baselines): date/time the selected baseline was last updated with the utility. Create-from-copy: create date until you Update. Copy baseline: same date/time as the original. Empty after convert-another-project, Restore, or upgrade, until you Update.

Other Oracle notes: future-period buckets on resource/role assignments are updated automatically. Cannot update if the project is Exclusive or checked out by another user. Privilege: Professional database — Maintain Project Baselines (Oracle also recommends all project/global view-create-edit-delete privileges). EPPM — Run Baseline Update (minimum) plus the privileges defined in P6. If Update errors, schedule to the current data date and run Update again.

EPPM also: if Application Settings Earned Value is Planned values with planned dates, BL Project Start / BL Project Finish are updated with the project's planned dates; if Planned Values with Current Dates (Oracle page: "Planed"), with the current dates.

XER

Update Baseline is a command. Oracle's project XER data map TOC lists no UPDATEBASELINE, MAINTAIN, or similar table. Do not invent one. The command writes into the existing baseline project (a copy — see baselines.md). A Viewer parse of one XER cannot run Update.

Oracle did not say this column is only written by Update, or which PROJECT row (current vs baseline) holds it. Related pointers, not this command: sum_base_proj_id (Project Baseline), orig_proj_id (Original Project), base_type_id (Baseline Type). See baselines.md.

Microsoft Project

Desktop Project Project tab > Set Baseline > Set Baseline can update an already-saved baseline or interim plan. Microsoft: if the plan changed after you set one, you can update the saved data (Entire Project or Selected tasks; roll-up options; confirm overwrite). Microsoft's tip: you may want a second baseline or interim plan instead of overwriting.

An interim plan stores only current start and finish (Start1–10 / Finish1–10), up to 10. A baseline is about 20 reference points in five categories on the task. See baselines.md.

That is not P6 Update Baseline. P6 merges selected data types into a baseline project. Project copies current values onto baseline (or Start/Finish n) fields on the same task. Do not map them as the same command. Do not claim MPXJ can write a real MPP.

Don't

• Treat Update as Create (Add), Restore, Assign, Copy, or Delete.
• Treat Update as rewriting the current project; it writes into the existing baseline.
• Treat it as a reflection merge or as Claim Digger / Schedule Comparison.
• Treat Early / Late Start / Finish as updated by this command.
• Invent an UPDATEBASELINE / MAINTAIN XER table, or a meaning for which PROJECT row holds last_baseline_update_date.
• Map P6 Update Baseline to MSP Set Baseline / Update Baseline / Save Interim Plan as the same command.
• Claim MPXJ writes a real MPP.
• Claim a Viewer ran Update from an XER.