Variance Dashboard

Location on ribbon: Tab DVD Cons → Group Schedule → Menu Reports & Snapshot

Command ID: btnVarianceDashboard

PRO feature

This command is part of the PRO plan. STANDARD accounts activated before 01/07/2026 keep access until their licence expires; other Standard accounts get an upgrade prompt when they click it.

What it does

Merges the two halves of the story — schedule variance (Schedule Recovery) and cost performance (EVM Report) — into a single one-page dashboard aimed at management and the owner. Instead of emailing three or four separate sheets, you hand over one page carrying the KPIs, the at-risk activities and a set of suggested actions. Best run on a fixed weekly rhythm for status reporting.

How to use

1. Open a schedule sheet with percent complete updated and BAC / AC columns present — the dashboard needs both the schedule and the cost side.
2. Run Auto Calc so dates and the critical path are current.
3. Go to Tab DVD Cons → group Schedule → menu Reports & Snapshot → click Variance Dashboard.
4. The command runs straight through with no dialog; the dashboard sheet is generated and opened.
5. Read it top to bottom: 12 KPI tiles (Total / Behind / Ahead / Complete / Critical Slip / Forecast Finish, plus BAC / EV / AC / SPI / CPI / VAC), traffic-light coloured green at ≥ 1, yellow around 0.9 and red below 0.9.
6. Below the tiles sit the Top 10 at-risk activities (sorted by slip days, descending), the Top 5 cost-overrun activities (most negative CV) and the auto-generated action recommendations.
7. Set the print area to one page and export to PDF for the weekly report pack.

Example

Week 24 report on a factory project: the dashboard shows 186 activities, 23 behind, 12 days of critical-path slip, SPI 0.92 (yellow), CPI 0.88 (red) and a VAC of −1.4 bn VND. The Top 10 table points straight at four structural-steel erection activities slipping 9–12 days, while the Top 5 overrun list shows most of the negative CV sits in finishes. The project director approves overtime for the steel crew during the meeting itself, off a single sheet of paper.

Notes

• The dashboard reads the data as it stands at run time — the numbers are only as good as your latest percent complete and AC entries.
• With BAC or AC missing, the cost half of the tiles (BAC/EV/AC/CPI/VAC) comes out blank or meaningless.
• The dashboard sheet is overwritten on each rerun; Ctrl+Z will not restore the previous version.
• The recommendations are generated from the numbers — treat them as prompts, not as a substitute for the site manager's judgement.
• The command is read-only: it never moves dates or edits logic on the schedule sheet.

Related

• EVM Report — the full detail behind the cost half of the dashboard.
• Schedule Recovery — the source of the variance half and of recovery options.
• Health Check — clean the logic before you report numbers off it.
• Snapshot — store this week's result so the trend can be plotted later.