Baseline Best Practices

A baseline is a snapshot of an item or set of items at the time the baseline is created. Baselines are always made with the current version of the item.  You cannot create a baseline with older versions of the items. 

Consider creating a baseline when any of the following occurs:

• You should take a before-and-after picture of your Jama items after a round of reviews, development, or other activities for comparison later. 
• You are preparing to submit documents containing Jama items for release in your system of record.
• You want to create a "save point" where you can reset the items.   

A set of items to be baselined can be within a container like a component or folder, assigned to a release, or can be the results of a filter. If you’d like to use a filter, create the filter before creating the baseline.

It’s best practice to make a baseline purpose-driven.  It is better to create a separate baseline for software and hardware requirements specifications rather than one baseline that includes both. 

How are baselines organized?

All baselines live in a set of other related baselines based on how and which items were selected.  For instance, all baselines created using a particular filter will live in one set, and all baselines selected by a container (i.e., component, folder, or parent item) will live in one set.

You cannot move individual baselines to other sets. Instead, it would be best if you organized your baselines into folders by dragging and dropping sets into folders.

1. Click on the Baselines tab.

1. Click on Add > Baseline.

1. There are three ways to select items to include in the baseline:
   • You can choose a container of items or individual items on the Item Selection tab.
   • If you select items by release, click on the Releases tab. 
   • If you want to select items using a filter, click on the Filters tab. 
2. Click on “Create” when all the items you want baseline are selected. 
3. Name your baseline and add an optional description. 

• When creating a baseline for a document stored in your system of record, it is best to include the document number and version number in the name of the baseline. This makes it easier to locate in the future.
•   Click on Save.