Understanding Period Movement Variance Insight Comparison Benchmarks
Explainability for period movement variance insights can include several comparison benchmarks, depending on how the insight was configured.
Period Movement Variance insights are triggered when the absolute variance exceeds the administrator-defined threshold. Variance measures the difference between a current value and a comparison value, and helps identify significant increases or decreases relative to a selected baseline, such as:
- Year-on-year
- Period-on-period for the previous period
- Period-on-period for a custom period
- Historical average
Thresholds can be set for:
- Absolute Variance (%), which measures the relative difference between the current value and the comparison value as a percentage. This metric answers: "By what percentage did the value increase or decrease?"
- Absolute Variance (Numbers), which measures the actual numeric difference between the current value and the comparison value. This metric answers: "How much did the value increase or decrease?"
Variance is calculated as:
- Absolute Variance (%):
- Absolute Variance (Numbers):
Where:
- CurrentValue = value for the selected period
- ComparisonValue = value from the baseline period
Example
Table 11-1 Previous Period Comparison
| Month | Value | Variance | Variance % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 1,000 | — | — |
| Feb | 1,100 | 100 | 10.00% |
| Mar | 1,250 | 150 | 13.64% |
| Apr | 1,180 | -70 | -5.60% |
| May | 1,350 | 170 | 14.41% |
| Jun | 1,150 | -200 | -14.81% |