Labor Variances

Prerequisites

  • The current reporting period performance data has been imported or calculated. This includes the earned value and actual cost data.

You can use the Labor Variances tab window to further isolate the root cause of a labor resource cost variance or to identify the main contributor to the cost variance for a work package. Was the actual cost hourly rate more or less than planned (rate variance)? Or, was the number of hours to expended to do the work more or less than planned (efficiency variance)?

As a reminder:

  • The labor rate variance is equal to the earned labor rate less the actual labor rate multiplied by the actual labor hours expended to perform the work effort. It is the difference between the earned labor rate and the actual labor rate. The earned hourly rate is the same as the budget hourly rate and is often substituted in the calculation.
  • The labor efficiency variance is equal to the earned hours less the actual labor hours expended to perform the work effort multiplied by the earned hourly rate. It reflects the number of hours actually expended versus the number of hours earned to complete the planned work. The earned hourly rate is the same as the budget hourly rate and is often substituted in the calculation.
  • The labor cost variance is equal the labor rate variance plus the efficiency variance.
  1. Select Home > Earned Value in the Navigation Menu. The main EVMax window displays.
  2. Select your project from the Project dropdown in the Ribbon Menu.
  3. Select the Admin tab.

  4. Click on the Variances dropdown in the Ribbon Menu and then select Labor. The Variance tab window displays a list of the project's control account WBS elements, work packages, and assigned labor resource rows with the calculated rate variance and efficiency variance columns.

    Tips:

    The Variance tab window is a pivot table view. To change the layout, drag a row or column field either from or back to the top of the window.

    You can also apply sorts and filters to the row and column fields - click on the heading field or heading field filter icon.

  5. Optional. Click Show Sources in the Ribbon Menu to display the complete set of data columns so you can compare the actual, earned, budget source data.
  6. Optional. Click Export in the Ribbon Menu to save the view to an Excel file (.xlsx or .xls). You have two options: export as WYSIWYG or Data Aware.
  7. Close the Variance tab.