Nobody saved the plan to compare against
Variance needs a reference. If the schedule has been edited week after week with no baseline saved, there is no line to measure from, and every date looks like the plan.
Reading the schedule
Construction schedule variance: how an owner reads days behind and why
An executive wants one answer to three questions: are we late, by how many days, and why. Schedule variance is the gap between the plan you saved and where the project stands now. This page explains how to read that gap on a project schedule, and which parts of it Fidrel shows as a number, a badge or a blocker, so you do not have to read every activity.
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Why the answer is hard to get
Percent complete is a feeling
A foreman says the work is eighty percent done. Whether that is ahead or behind depends on what the plan said should be done by today, which is a different number from the one anybody quotes.
The cause sits somewhere else
An activity is late because an RFI is unanswered or an issue is open. The schedule shows a slipped bar, and the reason is in another tool, so the owner asks the same question at every meeting.
Two kinds of variance
Date variance compares an end date with the saved baseline: the project was planned to finish on one day and is now forecast to finish on another, and the difference is a number of days. Progress variance compares the percent done with the percent planned by today. Fidrel shows both and keeps them apart. The date variance sits on the end date and is the one to quote to the board. The progress gap drives the badge: more than five points above plan reads Ahead of plan, more than five below reads Behind plan, and anything in between reads On track.
Scheduling
When the badge says Needs follow-up
The badge reads Needs follow-up as soon as any activity is overdue or blocked, any activity is past its deadline, or the end date has moved later than the baseline. It overrides the ahead and behind wording, so a project that is ahead on average but has a blocked activity still gets attention. A future activity with nothing done is never counted as behind, and a deadline on an activity does not move the plan; it only shows whether the activity finishes in time.
How to read variance in Fidrel
Step 1
Read the health row
On the schedule overview the row shows Actual progress beside Plan today, and a badge. It reads On schedule or On track, Ahead of plan or Behind plan with the points of difference, or Needs follow-up.
Step 2
Find the variance in days
With a baseline saved, the schedule’s end date carries a Variance in days: plus when it ends later than the baseline, minus when earlier. The Baseline comparison tile shows baseline finish and forecast finish side by side.
Step 3
Open the overdue and blocked activities
Use the Overdue quick filter, or turn on Critical path to highlight the activities with no float. An activity with a blocking RFI or issue carries a marker; hover it for the title and the deadline.
Step 4
Ask the right person
Each activity has a Responsible person and a Company. Read the name beside the late activity, or its blocker, and bring that to the owner meeting instead of the whole schedule.
Why the plan figure is a straight line
Planned progress assumes even progress across the working days of the working calendar, and actual progress is entered by the team. The comparison is therefore a fair early warning, not a measurement from the field. If the concrete work front-loads effort, a straight-line plan will call the activity behind earlier than it is. Read the badge as a prompt to ask, and the blockers as the first place to look for the answer.
What variance in Fidrel does not do
Fidrel shows the variance and what blocks an activity, but it runs no delay analysis, no time impact analysis and no float ownership. The variance in days belongs to the schedule’s end date; for a single activity you compare its bar with the baseline bar under it. Nothing here says whether a contract time extension is due, and a saved baseline is not a contractual one. Participants and guests can read a schedule that has been shared; one marked Internal is visible to project administrators only.
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Reading the schedule
Frequently asked questions
Anything else on your mind? We are happy to help.
Talk to usSave a baseline, then look at the schedule’s end date, which carries a Variance in days against the baseline’s last end date. A plus sign means later than planned and a minus sign earlier.
At least one activity is overdue or blocked, one is past its deadline, or the end date is later than the baseline. It points you to the activities to open; it is not a verdict on the project.
It compares the percent done that someone entered with the percent planned by today on a straight line across the working days. Within five points either way counts as on track.
When an open RFI or an open issue is marked as blocking it, the activity carries a marker with the title and deadline. The block clears when the RFI or issue is closed, answered or resolved.
No. It shows the variance and the blockers, but it does not decide on a time extension or analyze who caused a delay. Your contract does that.
Everyone in the project with access to schedules, if the schedule is shared. A schedule marked Internal is visible to project administrators only.