Variance At Completion (VAC) per Project

Variance At Completion (VAC) per Project

Variance at Completion (VAC) is a project management key performance indicator that shows the difference (in dollars) between the starting project budget (Total Budgeted Cost) and the forecasted project budget when the project is complete (Estimate at Completion or EAC). Variance at Completion is calculated by the formula:

Variance at Completion (VAC) = Total Budgeted Cost – Estimate at Completion (EAC)

If the value of VAC is negative your project may go over budget when it is complete.

If the value of VAC is positive your project may go under budget when it is complete. 

Suppose your planned project cost or Total Budgeted Cost is $30 000 USD and Estimate at Completion (EAC) is $36, 666.67 USD, the budget variance or Variance at Completion (VAC) is as follows:

VAC = Total Budgeted Cost – Estimate at Completion (EAC) = $30 000 USD $36, 666.67 USD = $6, 666.67 USD

This variance indicates that your project should cost $6, 666.67 USD more than it was originally planned.

Variance at Completion (VAC) is one more KPI that helps forecast how your project will look like when it is complete.

To calculate Variance at Completion (VAC) per Project please follow the steps below:

• Add custom field “Total Budgeted Cost” with code  “cf_total_budgeted_cost”

For material-based projects you need to create additional custom field, for example, “Material Cost” with Code “cf_material_cost”



• Add custom field “EAC” (Estimate at Completion) with code  “cf_eac”



• Add the custom field “VAC” (Variance at Completion) with code “cf_vac” and the formula:

$cf_total_budgeted_cost $cf_eac



On Task Tree select the task group for which you need to display Variance at Completion (VAC) per Project and select “Custom fields options”



• Set the following custom fields settings for the custom fields: “Total Budgeted Cost”, “EAC” and “VAC”
  • In “Settings for” select “This task group”
  • select “Enable”
  • select “Calculated by custom field formula (for task group)”









Variance at Completion (VAC) per Project on Task Tree