Baselines and acceptance

A baseline carries a name, project, due date, revision and acceptance criteria. It may point to its parent requirement and organization. The Business Analyst prepares the baseline so the Project Manager can see the version being discussed and the criteria for deciding whether it is acceptable. The baseline’s status distinguishes a draft or pending item from a submitted, approved, rejected, met or missed one.

• Submission. Setting the baseline to submitted stamps its review timestamp and records an operation receipt tied to its expected revision.
• Decision. The Project Manager reads the submitted revision and acceptance criteria, then records approval or rejection on the baseline.
• Timing. The due date and status help the team distinguish upcoming work from a missed target.

The submission receipt matters when the baseline is edited again. It preserves an operation key, expected revision and parent requirement reference for the submission event. The reviewer should compare that submitted revision with the current requirement before deciding. The baseline also has a decision timestamp, notes and covered-tests figure that can support the review record.

Agree who prepares and submits a baseline, which Project Manager reviews it, and what evidence the reviewer needs. Define what it means to approve, reject, mark met or mark missed. Those choices represent different questions: approval concerns the reviewed acceptance criteria, while met or missed concerns the target date. Keep the notes clear enough for the owner to respond to a rejection.

The team should also agree how to handle a revision change during review. A changed requirement may need a new submission rather than a decision against a newer version. Decide where supporting files belong and who can share them. The project and parent requirement references should be checked before submission so the decision stays with the right work.

Take one requirement with a current revision and create a named baseline with a due date and acceptance criteria. Submit it and confirm that the review time and operation receipt refer to the intended revision. Let the Project Manager inspect the record and enter a decision with the decision date and notes. Then inspect the at-risk list for another baseline marked pending or missed. The reviewer should be able to explain why the chosen baseline was accepted using the record and its linked evidence.

• Baselines Awaiting Approval — Submitted baselines with revision and acceptance detail ready for review.
• Baselines At Risk — Pending and missed baselines with owners and due dates.

Read baseline review for the submission and decision sequence. The roles page sets out review access.