Variance Reporting in Primavera P6 Professional

by TheP6Pro

Variance Overview

Variance reporting in Primavera P6 requires that the project has a baseline and it is assigned as
either a Project Baseline or a Primary Baseline.

Before attempting variance reporting, you should check the baseline being used for the project.
To do this take a look at the information bar at the bottom of the Primavera P6 window.

Baselines are assigned using the Project | Assign Baselines… menu option. The resulting dialog
allows existing baselines to be assigned as a Project Baseline or Primary, Secondary or
Tertiary baseline.

With a baseline in place it is possible to report any activity that has moved away from its
baseline date in the current project schedule.

Variance Reports are typically created using filters that look for values other than zero in the
Variance fields available in P6.
You can see the available variance fields using the Columns dialog in P6 as shown in the
following figure:

Variance Fields Prefix Explanation

Fields prefixed with Variance – BL Project contain variance values based upon the baseline
project assigned as a Project Baseline.

Fields prefixed with Variance – BL1 contain variance values based upon the baseline assigned
as the Primary Project.

Fields prefixed with Variance – BL2 and Variance – BL3 contain values based upon the
secondary and tertiary baseline assignments for the project respectively.

Therefore, if you want to find out how the current project is performing compared to the Project
Baseline, you would look for non-zero values in the Variance – BL Project fields.

Common Variance Filter Options

To find out which activities are no longer scheduled to start or finish on their original baseline
dates according to the baseline assigned as Project Baseline, you would create the following
filter using the Filter dialog:
If an activity has slipped from its baseline start or baseline finish date, the Variance – BL
Project Start Date and Variance – BL Project Finish Date fields will contain a value other
than zero and the activity will be displayed in the Gantt chart.

If the Bars dialog is configured to show the Project Baseline bars, you will see the slippage
visually on the schedule. You can also display the Variance – BL Project fields you’re filtering
on in the activity table to see by what amount the activities vary from the baseline.

More Variance Filter Examples

Exclude Completed Activities

The following filter will show all activities that have a variance and do not have an Activity
Status of Completed.
Only Show Activities Starting Late

In this example the filter has been changed to only show values of less than zero variance. In
other words, the variance is negative which will only show activities that will start late. If the
activity is starting earlier than the baseline, it will not appear in the Gantt chart using this filter.

Once the Gantt chart is displaying the required fields and activity data, the File | Print Preview
menu option can be used to run a variance report.

Note: Filters can be saved with the named layout and will be activated whenever the layout is
opened.