Milestone slip: how to measure and report milestone delays

Milestone slip is the number of days between a milestone's baseline date and its current forecast. A milestone planned for 1 December and now forecast for 19 December has slipped 18 days.

Where the baseline comes from

• From the earliest export you load for a plan, or
• from the baseline saved in the file (MS Project XML).

How the Project Health Check shows it

• A table of all milestones that moved, sorted by size.
• On the timeline: the baseline as a dashed diamond, linked to the forecast.
• 14 days or more is shown as at risk, 30 days or more as delayed.

What to do when a milestone slips

• Check which later milestones depend on it.
• Agree on a recovery plan or a new, realistic date with the owner and note the reason.
• Report slip as a trend, not only as a single number.

Full milestone trend analysis across all projects, every month and automatically, is part of PPM Compass 360. To check one plan for free: Project Health Check.