Status Dates and Schedule Variance
In Microsoft Project, the status date is the reporting cut-off for progress. Date-based schedule variance shows how a task’s current start or finish compares with its saved baseline dates.
Set a status date for reporting
Section titled “Set a status date for reporting”Set the reporting cut-off with Project > Status Date.
When you enter Percent Complete or actual work to date, Project uses the status date to guide where actual work is placed and where remaining work is scheduled. Tracking settings can leave both actual and remaining work in their originally scheduled positions.1
For the broader task-update workflow, see Updating Task Progress.
Project Plan 365 has a separate Project Task Status Method for determining a task or project status from Percent Complete and the status date, or from deadlines and maximum cost. This product-specific status method is distinct from Microsoft Project’s progress reporting and baseline date-variance fields.
Compare dates with the baseline
Section titled “Compare dates with the baseline”Save a baseline before checking for schedule shifts. Choose View > Tables > Variance to compare baseline and current dates, or View > Gantt Chart ▼ > Tracking Gantt to compare their bars visually. The comparison is useful only when the baseline and progress data cover the tasks being reviewed.
If no baseline was saved, variance fields compare against zero-valued baseline fields and will not give a useful measure of slippage. New tasks or progress that has not been updated can also affect the comparison. This article focuses on date-based Start and Finish Variance, not the separate earned-value measure also called SV.2