Showing the effect of current progress on a baselined plan

One very useful feature associated with baselines is the ability to show the effect of current progress on a baselined plan. If you have baselined the original project plan, this enables you to update the live version of the project with progress information, then superimpose the percentage complete values of your live tasks onto the baseline tasks, giving you an indication of how the project is progressing against the original plan. You do this by displaying the current view in 'jagged progress' mode - which is also known as a 'zig-zag progress' view and as a 'Manhattan skyline' view.

To display the current view in 'jagged progress' mode:

Ensure that the baseline onto which you want to show the effect of current progress is marked as the "current baseline".
On the View tab, in the Views group, click the View dropdown and select Jagged Progress. The current view is toggled into 'jagged progress' mode, and a tick appears against the menu command.

If you have associated different baselines with individual projects in a portfolio, you can configure 'jagged progress' mode to show the effect of current progress on the individual project baselines rather than on the current baseline. To do this, click the Use project baseline(s) radio button on the Progress tab of the Options dialog. Note that you cannot do this if one or more open views are currently in 'jagged progress' mode; you must close any 'jagged progress' views first.

Within 'jagged progress' mode, the tasks from the current baseline - or from the individual project baselines if 'jagged progress' mode is configured to show progress on them - appear as if they were 'normal' tasks - ie they appear above and are thicker than the tasks in the live data. Conversely, the tasks from the live data appear as if they were baseline tasks. Everything that would normally be displayed against live tasks - for example, float, links and criticality - is displayed against the corresponding baseline tasks instead. In addition to this, the overall percentage complete progress values from the live tasks are transposed onto the corresponding baseline tasks, and progress is marked on the baseline tasks to this position. Any progress lines that are displayed in the bar chart are aligned to this 'virtual progress'. The resulting jagged progress lines give this view its name:

A jagged progress view

Note the following points about 'jagged progress' mode:

The current view is read-only when in 'jagged progress' mode: you cannot edit the properties of tasks using the bar chart or the spreadsheet and you cannot access the Bar and Task Properties dialog while a view is displayed in this mode.
Any tasks that have been added to the live project since the current baseline - or the individual project baselines - was produced are omitted from the view when in 'jagged progress' mode, as are all allocations and any tasks that exist in the baseline but that have been deleted from the live project.
If progress has been marked on a task in the baseline and that progress has since been increased or decreased in the live project, the baselined progress appears on baseline tasks as well as the 'live' progress that is transposed onto them, as illustrated below:
Baselined task has 20% progress; now has 50% progress transposed onto it from the task

Baselined task has 50% progress; now has 20% progress transposed onto it from the task
You can hide the tasks from the live project from 'jagged progress' mode so that only the tasks from the baseline are displayed. To do this, clear the Show live tasks check box on the Baselines tab of the Format Bar Chart dialog (this check box is only visible when the current view is displayed in 'jagged progress' mode).
When you display tasks from the live project in 'jagged progress' mode, you can hide the progress on these tasks so that progress is only displayed on the tasks from the baseline. To do this, clear the Display progress on live tasks check box on the Progress tab of the Format Bar Chart dialog (this check box is only visible when the current view is displayed in 'jagged progress' mode).
Note that you cannot display the current view in 'jagged progress' mode if the view is currently displayed in 'predecessors & successors' mode, if the current view is a CBS or RBS view, or if there is no current baseline. Similarly, you cannot display the current view in 'predecessors & successors' mode if it is currently displayed in 'jagged progress' mode. Note also that if you configure 'jagged progress' mode to display information from individual project baselines and a project does not have a project baseline associated with it, nothing will appear when you view the project in 'jagged progress' mode.
When you display a view in 'jagged progress' mode, a Jagged Progress table is applied to the view. In Asta Enterprise projects, each user has their own copy of this table, and any changes that you make to the table are saved in your own version of it. As with other types of view, you can apply different tables to a view when in 'jagged progress' mode and you can specify which table to apply to the 'jagged progress' mode by default using the View Properties dialog.
Completed milestones that were tasks in the baseline appear as 100% completed tasks.
All fields behave normally when a view is displayed in 'jagged progress' mode, except the Slip field - if it is configured to display information relating to the current or project baseline, this field will display slip information taken from the current project when it is displayed in 'jagged progress' mode.

When you display a view in 'jagged progress' mode, you can use the Format Bar Chart dialog to format the view. Note the following points:

The fields on the Task tab now apply to the baseline tasks rather than the live tasks.
The Live and Baseline groups on the Vertical Scale tab are swapped around and the options relating to allocations are unavailable.
All of the fields on the Baselines tab are unavailable, except those in the Appearance group and the Show live tasks check box.
The Allocations and Auto Height tabs are not available.
The Neck summary tasks to show where no tasks check box on the Non-Working tab has no effect.

Select the Jagged Progress command again to toggle the current view out of 'jagged progress' mode and back into normal mode.


Baselined task has 20% progress; now has 50% progress transposed onto it from the task	Baselined task has 50% progress; now has 20% progress transposed onto it from the task