Progress reporting lives or dies on a clean comparison between where the programme said it would be and where it actually is. This tool lines up a baseline, the current schedule and any interim updates from Primavera P6, and quantifies what has moved.
A single milestone date tells you little; the trend tells you whether the programme is recovering or deteriorating, and the change register shows whether movement came from progress, re-sequencing or scope. That evidence is exactly what a monthly report, or an NEC Early Warning, needs to be credible.
Usually the agreed baseline against the latest current programme for headline slip, plus the previous update to isolate what changed this period. Comparing several interim files in sequence produces the slip/trend picture.
Not necessarily. Float can absorb movement, and re-sequencing can shift a milestone without changing completion. That is why the tool pairs milestone slip with float erosion and a change register, so you can see the cause, not just the symptom.