Project cost control · compared with Spreadsheets
"Where is the programme overrun coming from?" is the question programme finance and PMO leads ask. With spreadsheets, the first answer takes hours, and the same hours again every month. Here is what each approach takes, and when spreadsheets are still the right choice.
Where is the programme overrun coming from? Asked by programme finance and PMO leads, every month.
The budget by workstream, actuals, purchase orders, forecast and change requests.
Budget, committed, actual and estimate at completion by workstream, with contingency drawn and the changes behind the overrun.
| Spreadsheets | Covirage | |
|---|---|---|
| Time to the first answer | Hours, and the same hours again every month | Minutes on a file you already export; set up for you within a week |
| What it needs | An analyst's time each period | The exports your systems already produce. No warehouse, no modelling language, no data team |
| Who builds it | An analyst, by hand, every period | We map the columns once and set the dashboard up for you |
| Where "why" comes from | Whatever the analyst builds that month, checked by whoever has time | An explain block splits every change into its causes; the lines sum to the change, and each opens to its rows |
Typical patterns, not a verdict on any product.
Yes, and for a one-off question that will not come back they are often enough. The cost is the rebuild: hours, and the same hours again every month. The measures and the checks have to be redone by hand each period.
Usually the budget by workstream, actuals, purchase orders, forecast and change requests. Covirage reads those exports directly and maps the columns once.
In Covirage, budget, committed, actual and estimate at completion by workstream, with contingency drawn and the changes behind the overrun. Our tools compute it and check that it reconciles; the AI model explains it.
Project cost control without a BI suite · Project cost control without a planning platform · Project cost control without an enterprise data platform
Cost and variance analysis · FP&A reporting · Revenue driver analysis · Customer profitability · Account coverage · Share of wallet · Board reporting
Bring an export you already produce. The data map opens next, every column mapped once, and the first question is answered in minutes. Free, in your browser, no account. Or talk to us and we will set it up for you.