Glossary
Project variance
The overall gap between a project's planned scope, timeline, and budget versus what actually happened — a broader measure than budget variance alone, since it also captures timeline and deliverable-count deviation.
The overall gap between a project's planned scope, timeline, and budget versus what actually happened — a broader measure than budget variance alone, since it also captures timeline and deliverable-count deviation.
Example
A project planned for 6 weeks and $15,000 actually takes 8 weeks and $18,500, and delivers 2 more pages than originally scoped — all three gaps together make up its project variance.
Why it matters for agencies
Tracking variance across all three dimensions (not just budget) tends to reveal scope creep more clearly than budget alone, since scope growth often shows up first as timeline slippage and extra deliverables before it fully shows up in the invoice.