Difference between Baseline and project version

[captainPlus]

Hi everyone,

I want to learn what is the exact difference between "project baselines" and "project versions"? I'm using Project for a very long time but not in enterprise mode. We've just upgraded to enterprise features. I used to save baselines to compare project's actual status to planned status. Is "version" logic in project server the equivalent of "baseline" in workgroup mode?

Or are there any differences in usage? I was using "Compare Progress" side-bar for comparing. Will I be able to get similar views by comparing versions using "Compare Project Versions" toolbar? Managers don't like changes in reports that they used to see So I need same or similar outputs...
Am I losing a lot of things by not using "project version" feature?

As you can see, I'm a little bit confused about this "project baseline" and "project version" things. Any posts that'll make this issue clear to me will be great...

Thanks,
Ali

 

[PDQBach]

Project *Versions* are an MS project server concept. (I believe it is controlled by the server admin.) You might have several draft versions as you decide on an approach to schedule a project (one might be a draft for using a third party supplier; another might be a draft for doing in-house development; etc.).

Project *baselines* are a project monitoring and control concept. A baseline is the way of saying "Here's what we initially expected to do; let's save that so we can periodically see how well we have done against that initial expectation." Note that, in the real world, a baseline isn't taken _only_ at the beginning of the project but will also be taken whenever there have been significant changes to the project (always, of course, documented using rigorous and appropriate change control processes). In addition, a baseline is necessary if you want to track Earned Value (check out Project's help files).