Edition: Business + Insights Pro Add-on, Enterprise + Insights Pro Add-on
User-level: Permissions are set at an Organisation level by System Administrators
Who this is for: Project managers, resource managers, principals
Dashboard Explained
Planned hours from the resource plan compared to actual charged hours by project and staff member. Resource Plan vs Actuals closes the loop on resourcing — it shows whether the work happened as planned and identifies projects where actual effort diverged significantly from the plan.
How to use it
Use Resource Plan vs Actuals in monthly project reviews to confirm that work is being delivered as planned. Projects with consistent positive variances (more hours than planned) are at risk of fee overrun — the PM should update the resource plan and assess whether a fee variation is needed. Projects with consistent negative variances may have scope that is not being completed, or staff who are not recording all their time. Use this data to improve the accuracy of future resource plans over time.
Understanding your data
Key Fields | How it's Calculated |
Planned Hours (Resource Plan) | Hours allocated to each staff member on each project stage in Total Synergy's resource plan for the period being reviewed |
Actual Hours (Charged) | Chargeable hours recorded by each staff member against the same project stage via timesheets in the same period |
Hours Variance | Actual hours minus planned hours. A positive variance means more hours were charged than planned; negative means fewer |
Variance % of Plan | Hours variance as a percentage of planned hours. Variances above ±20% are typically flagged for review |
Cost Variance | The financial impact of the hours variance: actual staff cost minus planned staff cost for the period |
Plan Accuracy % | Actual hours as a percentage of planned hours. 100% means the project ran exactly to plan; values significantly above or below indicate planning inaccuracy |
Filters
Period: Completed date range for comparison
Project: Filter to a specific project or stage
Project Manager: Filter to a specific PM's portfolio
Office: Filter to one or more offices