Add and baseline work packages

Work packages are the coarse, business-level units of scope that carry an investment’s budget and schedule. They sit above the line and do not mirror your Jira backlog. This guide covers creating them and locking their baselines.

Before you start

• You need edit rights on the project.
• Keep work packages coarse — a few per investment, one per stream of work. See Work Package ↔ delivery linkage.

Add a work package

1. Open the project’s Tollgate tab and select Work Packages.
2. Choose Add work package.
3. Complete the form:
   • Name (required, unique within the project).
   • Owner and Progress.
   • Planned start / Planned end, Actual start / Actual end, and Forecast end.
   • Status — Not started, In progress, Blocked, or Complete.
   • RAG — Red, Amber, Green, or None.
   • Budget — the working figure, plus forecast and actual. You do not type a baseline (see below).
   • Commentary and Linked Jira work items (see Link a work package to a Jira issue).
4. Choose Save work package.

Repeat for each work package. The project’s budget totals and Cost RAG on Investment Health roll up from these figures.

When the forecast end runs past the planned end, the register marks the package Behind baseline. That flags a slip from the plan. It can appear on a package whose dates are still in the future.

Where baselines come from

No “Set baselines” control exists. Approving the business case is the baseline moment: it snapshots each work package’s budget and planned dates as the baseline. Until then a package reads Not baselined in the Approved plan column, and contributes nothing to the committed total.

Caution

Approval is the moment these numbers become the commitment. Once set, a baseline only moves through a Change Request. You cannot edit it directly.

Keep actuals and forecasts current

Baseline values read as locked. Actuals and forecasts (actual/forecast dates, budget forecast and actual) stay editable — this is your day-to-day lane for keeping the record current. Editing them updates Health and Portfolio reporting.

You edit these inline, in the register cells. Select a cell, type or pick a value, then press Enter or click away to commit. Escape cancels. RAG edits inline the same way. Status changes through the edit form. These everyday edits commit directly, with no confirmation dialog. Tollgate reserves confirmation dialogs for the moves that change a commitment: baselines, change requests and phase gates.

Next steps

• Link each work package to its delivery epic in Jira.
• Update status, RAG and confidence.