Baseline

  A baseline refers to a measurement that establishes a basis for other future state measures.  The baseline is usually the initial set of measurements, observations or data collected which is used for a comparison or a benchmark for improvements.  It is sometimes referred to as as a current state.

Example:

  Susan needed to be able to type 90 words per minute to qualify for the job she wanted.  In order for her to see where she was at currently her husband established a baseline measurement by having her type as many words as she could in one minute.  Susans average score was 94 words per minute.

Question:
  
  Tim was tasked with improving the cycle time of the shops ID and Pack process.  His goal was to improve the time by 2 minutes which would make the new cycle time 3 minutes from the baseline.