Variance Analysis Overview

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The Variance Analysis feature helps you compare a current forecast plan against a baseline (budget or previous forecast), identify significant differences, and build a commentary trail that explains the drivers behind variances.

Key Benefits

  • Analyze variances by cost center, account, or department at scale.
  • Flag only meaningful variances using defined thresholds to focus effort.
  • Assign variance drivers and commentary to build audit-ready explanation trails.
  • Export commentary for integration with reporting tools.

Configure Variance Analysis

Note: Admin or Budget Process Owner roles are required to configure Variance Analysis.
Step 1: Enable the Feature
  1. Go to Settings (Gear icon) → Company Profile
  2. Enable Dashboard and Variance Drivers
Step 2: Define Variance Drivers
  1. Go to Configuration → Reference Data → Variance Driver
  2. Upload a list of variance driver values (e.g., project timing, accounting timing, unplanned spend)
  3. Publish the changes
Step 3: Define Account Categories
  1. Go to Configuration → Reference Data → Account Category
  2. Upload a list of Account Categories to group GL accounts into high-level groupings
  3. Note: Variance Analysis is performed at the Account Category level
  4. Publish the changes
Step 4: Map Accounts to Categories
  1. Go to Configuration → Reference Data → Accounts
  2. In the Category column, map each GL Account to an Account Category Code
  3. Import the updated Accounts table and publish the changes
Step 5: Configure Variance Analysis for the Plan
  1. Open your plan and go to Variance Analysis from the left navigation
  2. Click the Ellipses menu → Configure Variance Analysis
  3. In the modal, configure the settings:
    Field Description
    Compare To Plan

    Select the comparison plan. All non-archived plans will be available for selection.

    Note: Plans in the NEW state will not be visible to Cost Center Owners.

    Comparison Period

    Choose the time period (e.g., last month, last quarter, full year or custom)

    Plan Alignment

    Align plans by Matching Fiscal Year or Plan Start Year

    Variance Threshold $

    Minimum currency difference requiring explanation

    Operator

    Choose AND or OR to determine how the currency and percentage variance thresholds should be applied:

    AND — both thresholds must be met

    OR — meeting either threshold is sufficient

    Variance Threshold %

    Minimum percentage variance requiring explanation

Step 6: Generate the Analysis
  • Click Preview to review the results
  • Click Create to generate the variance analysis

Once crated, variances exceeding the thresholds will be flagged for explanation and commentary.

Running a Variance Analysis

Note: Variance Analysis is only available for Forecast-type plans.
  1. Open your forecast plan.
  2. Go to Plan → Variance Analysis from the left navigation.
  3. In the table, look for red variance flags — these indicate Account Categories where the variance exceeds the defined threshold.
  4. Select a flagged Account Category for a specific Department to drill into variance details.
  5. Use the Summary and Actuals tabs to review the variance as a waterfall chart and transactions details.
  6. Assign one or more Variance Drivers and enter a free-form explanation for the variance.
  7. Click the X to exit the variance detail view.
  8. Once all variances have assigned drivers and explanations, the status flag will turn green.

Edit Variance Analysis Configuration

Note: Admin or Budget Process Owner roles are required to edit Variance Analysis settings.
Update Thresholds or Comparison Settings
  1. Click the Ellipses menu in the Variance Analysis page
  2. Select Configure Variance Analysis
  3. Adjust the settings (plan, alignment, thresholds, etc.)
  4. Click Update to apply changes
Important: Updating the configuration willremove all existing variance explanations.

Refresh Variances for Active Forecasts

If you are comparing against forecast periods (e.g., full-year comparison between two plans), you may need to refresh variance values when plan data changes.
  1. Click the Ellipses menu

  2. Select Update Variance Analysis

  3. The dialog will display which line items need to be updated along with the last update date
  4. Click Update to recalculate the variance table using the latest forecast values.
Important: Updating the analysis may remove variance drivers and explanations if those variances have changed.

Export & Reporting

  • From the Actions menu on the Variance Analysis page you can select Export Variance Commentary to export to csv. The export includes all drivers, commentary, and variance records.
  • On the Dashboard, navigate to Spend Variances to view a treemap and breakdown by drivers and departments.