Running budget vs actual
How to run the variance report in Nuvailo, what committed cost includes, and how to interpret a variance before you act on it.
The variance report compares what a line was budgeted to cost against what it has actually consumed, weighted by how much of it is built. It is the report that tells you where to look, not what to do.
The four columns
| Column | Meaning | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Budgeted value | The line as priced, including approved revisions | BOQ baseline plus approved variations |
| Earned value | Budgeted value of the quantity actually completed | Progress entries |
| Committed cost | What you have spent plus what you have ordered | Labour, materials, subcontracts, open purchase orders |
| Forecast to completion | Current consumption rate extended to the full quantity | Derived |
Committed cost includes orders that have not been invoiced yet. That is deliberate: an invoice arrives after the money is already spent.
Running it
- 1
Set the cut-off date
Everything logged up to that date is included. Choose the same day each month so periods are comparable.
- 2
Choose the level
Section level for the management report, line level for investigating a specific overrun.
- 3
Sort by variance value
Not by percentage. Value tells you where the money is, percentage tells you where the drama is.
- 4
Export if needed
The export keeps the same structure, so a client or a lender receives the report you actually read.
Interpreting before acting
A variance has three common causes and they need different responses:
- Rate: bought the right quantity at the wrong price. Commercial fix.
- Quantity: right price, wrong quantity. Either the take-off or the site. Operational fix.
- Timing: the cost landed in a different period than planned. Usually no fix needed, but it should be labelled so it stops generating meetings.
A large negative variance on a line with almost no progress is usually an uncoded cost sitting on the wrong line, not a real overrun. Check the coding before you escalate.
Common data problems it exposes
- 1Costs posted to the project but not to a line: they appear in project totals and nowhere in line variance.
- 2Progress recorded ahead of the work: earned value rises, then corrects sharply.
- 3A variation built but never approved: cost with no matching budget.
- 4A rate that imported as zero: the line shows total overrun from the first entry.