Variance Analysis Report

Let us look at the features available in the Report tab that help in the customization of the analysis report. The below image shows the customization panel which contains the options to customize the report.

1. Selecting Series

The first two dropdowns on the customization panel are where you would select the series or scenario against which one or more series can be compared. To calculate variance, the baseline can be selected as a series or a scenario while the comparison is always a series.

Multiple series can be selected for comparison to calculate the variance.

2. Manage Time Range

With Manage Time Range, you can choose one or more time ranges within which you would like to run the analysis. Periodic and Full-year data are selected by default, but you can choose to include more time ranges like YtD, QtD, etc.

From the below image, you can see that the desired time ranges are checked.

Click Reset to Default on the window, to reset to the default view.

To add custom columns apart from the given list, click the Add Custom button. Enter the name of the custom time range and the desired time range for the custom column. Click Apply.

The 6 dots at the left of each time range can be used to re-order the columns that are displayed.

3. Same/Custom Period Comparison

The Period dropdown below the toolbar is used to select the current period based on which the 'to-date' period for time ranges is computed.

The Custom Period option can be used to select different current periods for baseline and comparison series. This way you can compare the reports from two different periods belonging to different series as shown in the image below.

4. Report Style

There are two report styles available in the Report tab. To change the style, click Report Style and pick a style from the dropdown list.

Grid: This is the default report style. In this style, the node hierarchy and the variance are shown in a table format with only values.

Multi Grid Comparison: This report style is used to make quicker comparisons between two time ranges like periodic data and Full Year Data. The node names are placed in the center and the values are placed on either side so that comparison can be made easily. Use the drop-down arrow in the column name header to choose between the time ranges you want to compare.

5. Search

Search for any node on the report by clicking the Search icon. After clicking, enter the text using which you want to search the nodes. The search result nodes are highlighted, and the results dropdown displays the number of results along with the arrows that navigate to the highlighted nodes.

6. Filter

Using the Filter you perform a condition-based search on the report. Multiple filter criteria can be provided by the user to perform advanced searches across different node properties. To add multiple criteria, click the Add Filter option and choose between AND or OR conditions.

Disable All can be used to toggle between the states of filter and no filter. Clear All will delete all the applied filters.

7. Top N

Using the Top N feature, you can extract and display the top 'n' or bottom 'n' nodes.

On clicking the Top N option, the below pop-up opens which has options to extract the desired nodes, as explained below.

Option	Explanation
Show Items	Filter the number of nodes you want to extract, either the top or the bottom nodes like Top 5, Top 10, Bottom 5, etc.
Period	Select the time range of data within which you want to filter - Full year or for specific period.
Comparison	Select the series to be compared on the basis of variance.
Type	To choose whether to filter based on absolute variance or variance%.
Values	Here, you can specify whether you want to filter only positive values or negative values or both.

Option

Explanation

Show Items

Filter the number of nodes you want to extract, either the top or the bottom nodes like Top 5, Top 10, Bottom 5, etc.

Period

Select the time range of data within which you want to filter - Full year or for specific period.

Comparison

Select the series to be compared on the basis of variance.

Type

To choose whether to filter based on absolute variance or variance%.

Values

Here, you can specify whether you want to filter only positive values or negative values or both.

After choosing all the desired criteria, click Apply to view it.

In the example below, the top 7 positive values based on full-year variance% are filtered.

To reset to the original report, click Reset on the Top N pop-up window.

8. Number Formatting

Formatting option is available on the customization panel to make runtime changes to the scaling and to increase or decrease the number of decimal places in the values.

This is a runtime scaling option that applies only to the nodes with the Scale property set as 'User Selected' in their node properties.

9. Export to Excel/PDF

Export the analysis report to Excel or PDF by clicking the Excel/PDF icon in the Customization panel.

10. Display Settings

Choose how you want to display the report from a list of display settings available here. You can change the text color, row height, header text color, row highlighting styles, column spacing and axis scaling from this window.