As-planned vs as-built

This is the simplest of the four delay flows: it lines up your original plan against what actually happened and measures the difference, as total slip and, if you want, activity by activity. It's a fast way to see what changed. Use it as a screening view to get your bearings before a deeper analysis, or to summarize variance for a status report.

Heads up: This method shows what changed, not what caused it. It doesn't prove entitlement or assign responsibility. For a delay claim or time-extension argument, use a time impact analysis, a collapsed as-built or a windows analysis.

Step 1: Set up the comparison

In the chat panel, click + (New thread), type as-planned in the search box, and pick As-planned vs as-built under Delay analysis specialist. In a thread that's already with that agent, use the Flows button under the message box. See Analyze a delay for both routes.

The As-planned vs as-built flow, one step, with the as-planned schedule, the as-built schedule and the level of detail to choose.12341As-planned (baseline) schedule: the project baseline, or upload the original plan.2As-built schedule: the current schedule, or upload the as-built.3Level of detail: project level or activity level.4Start runs the comparison.
  • As-planned (baseline) schedule: your Project baseline, or Upload as-planned (P6 XER/XML or MPP).
  • As-built schedule: your Current schedule, or Upload as-built.
  • Level of detail: Project level (overall slip, milestones and the main drivers) or Activity level (a full activity-by-activity start, finish and duration variance table).

Uploaded files come in as scenarios, so comparing two outside files never touches your working schedule.

Note: As-planned is the plan you started with (the baseline); as-built is what actually happened. The variance is the gap between them.

Step 2: Read the variance report

The agent lines up the two schedules, computes the variance at the level you chose, and writes an As-Planned vs As-Built Variance report. At activity level it also saves the full variance table as an Excel workbook in the project's files.

A finished as-planned vs as-built comparison. The variance report is open in a tab with a milestone table, the two uploaded schedules are draft scenarios in the project tree, and the chat summarizes where the 44 working days of slip came from.12341The variance report: its limits first, then milestones, then the activities that drifted most.2The agent's summary: total slip and the activities that account for it.3The as-planned and as-built files, each a draft scenario.4The report under Documents.

The report gives you the total slip, the milestones that moved, and the activities that drifted most from the plan, including work that wasn't in the plan at all. In the example above, Substantial Completion finished 44 working days late, and three activities account for all of it: a longer elevator install, rock excavation that wasn't in the baseline, and a deck section that had to be replaced.

Ask Owl
Give me the activity-level variance table sorted by biggest finish slip.
Which milestones moved the most versus the baseline?

What to do next

  • Go deeper where it matters: once you can see which activities drove the variance, run a time impact analysis or a windows analysis to establish cause, not just change.
  • Set a baseline first: this comparison needs an as-planned schedule. If you don't have a baseline, upload the original plan in the form, or ask Owl to set your agreed schedule as the baseline before you start.