Is BaseLining mandatory for Tracking Gantt in Project Server ?

Question

Hello all,
I am new to Project Sever and I am feeling a bit uncomfortable with the usage of baselines. I just want a simple implementation where I will have my own custom defined Actual Task Start and Actual Task Finish to track the tasks. But is it possible to have
a Tracking gantt chart using these custom fields in PWA ?
I found no OOTB options to set the dates to be looked for tracking in the gantt customization.
Please update me with this. If there is no other way, then I will go ahead with the Baselines.
Thanks,
Shanky

Answer 1

Hello Guillaume Rouyre,
The requirement in my case is that the engineers are allowed to enter tasks at a later point of stage in the project lifecycle.
ie., Say the Engineer creates 2 tasks with    
T1 & T2   :   Start: 1/2/2015      and   Finish 28/2/2015
Now the manger saves the "Baseline"
Now say the engineer updates these tasks with actuals as     
T1 & T2  :  Start: 5/2/205        and            Finish: 5/3/2015
Now the manager can see the Tracking gantt, the difference between the planned and actuals on the gantt chart.
But say, at this point of time the engineer adds 2 more tasks with say date    
T3 & T4 : Start: 5/3/2015    and Finish: 30/3/2015.
Now these 2 tasks are not saved in "Baseline", hence the manager wont be able to track these tasks on the gantt chart. For this the manager has to set another baseline, "Baseline1" and if the engineer changes the dates for the last 2
tasks there after, the manager is unable to track these 2 tasks in the Tracking gantt chart, as the tracking gantt chart shows just the difference with the "Baseline" dates (But these 2 last added tasks are not a part of the Baseline, but are a part
of Baseline1). Until and unless I save all the tasks into a single baseline, I am unable to view all the tasks on the tracking gantt chart in Tracking View.
When I checked in the forums, I saw something about Interim Plan, where the manager can save temporarily these baselines and then combine it. But to my surprise I am unable to find that "Interim Plan" in Project Server 2013 PWA. 
So is there a way that, the manager must be able to track all the tasks added by the engineer at any point of time in the project lifecycle through the "Tracking gantt charts" ?