Use the Explanation of Spend Variance form to track budget vs. actual cost and explain the cause of the variance. This is useful when you have a project that doesn't use earned value due to the nature of the work. For example, if you have a project where you are providing customer support services, it is difficult to determine the percent complete. You can use the Explanation of Spend Variance to document the explanation of variances when the project is costing more than planned.
When you manually create an Explanation of Spend Variance and select a control account, the cost grid information displays budget, actual costs, forecasts, percent complete, and other metrics to help you determine if the work is costing as planned.
From the Explanation of Spend Variance form, you can do the following:
Identify the variances from the plan using metrics such as budget, actual costs, % spent, and remaining forecast.
Document the explanation, impact, and corrective action.
Create Corrective Action items to assign someone and track the progress of the documented corrective actions.
You have the option to copy posted narratives and open corrective actions from the previous period to save time in completing the current period's Explanation of Spend Variance form.
You can only have one Explanation of Spend Variance workflow for a control account period.
All workflow categories in Deltek PM Compass share a common form toolbar.
The Explanation of Variance form includes the following tabs:
Run an Explanation of Spend Variance report
Customize the form using Form Designer