Build variance charts

Variance charts answer the question every monthly report asks: how does this month compare with last year, and with the plan? Deltaline draws them in the IBCS notation, so every chart in the report reads the same way.

Lay out your data #

Put the periods or items in the first column and one column per scenario next to it, with a header row on top:

Select one cell inside the table, then pick a variance chart in the chart frame. You do not need all four scenarios: actual and one reference (prior year or plan) is enough for a variance chart.

How the scenario columns are recognised #

Deltaline reads your headers and tags each column with a scenario. Case and punctuation do not matter, and a trailing year or period is ignored, so “Actual 2026” and “Budget FY26” work too.

If two columns are headed only with years (2025 and 2026), the editor offers to use the later year as actual and the earlier one as prior year. Whatever is detected, you can change the mapping in the editor under Data; your choice always wins.

Where a month has no actual yet, the forecast takes its place and stays hatched, so readers see at once which numbers are real and which are expected.

Choose a variance chart #

• Scenario columns: the scenarios over time, as columns. Use it for months, quarters or years.
• Scenario bars: the same for a structure (regions, products, cost centers), as horizontal bars.
• Absolute variance: the difference to prior year or plan as bars, green where it is good and red where it is bad.
• Relative variance: the same difference in percent, drawn as pins.
• Integrated variance: percentage pins, variance bars and the scenario columns stacked in one chart on one shared axis. Deltaline suggests it when your data has actual plus prior year or plan over time.
• Bridge: a waterfall from one total to another, for example from last year’s EBIT to this year’s, with subtotals where you want them.
• Small multiples: one small chart per region or cost center, all on the same scale.
• Variance table: a P&L with prior year, actual and the variance of each row as bars and pins.

Bridges and subtotals #

A bridge reads its rows from top to bottom. The simplest layout needs no extra column: the first row is the starting total, rows with an empty value become subtotals, and the last empty row is the end total. For full control, add a column headed Type and write Total, Delta, Subtotal or End in each row (the German words Summe, Zwischensumme and Ende work as well). The totals take their color from the scenario word at the end of their label, so “EBIT PY” is grey and “EBIT AC” is dark. If no row can serve as the starting total, the chart says so: “A bridge needs a starting total. Set one row’s type to Total.”

Variance table for a P&L #

Put the line items in the first column and the scenarios next to it. Add a column headed Type and write Result for a line such as gross profit or EBIT, Cost for a cost, and nothing for revenue and other items (Ergebnis and Kosten work too). Instead of the Type column you can start a label with = for a result or – for a cost; type an apostrophe first (‘= EBIT) so Excel keeps it as text. Enter costs as positive numbers: Deltaline subtracts them and shows a rising cost in red. Result rows keep the numbers in your data; switch on Calculate results in the editor to have Deltaline calculate them instead.

When an increase is bad #

By default a positive variance is good and shows green. For cost lines it is the other way round: higher costs are bad news. Switch on Increase is bad (costs) in the Format panel (or on the Style tab of the editor) and rising values turn red, falling values green. To flip a single category, right-click it and choose Invert.

Write a message title #

The title of a variance chart should say what the reader needs to know, for example “Revenue is 5.6% above last year”, not just “Revenue”. Put the unit and the period in the subtitle, for example “EUR k · Jan to Jun 2026”. Deltaline picks one scaling unit per chart (thousands, millions or billions) so the labels stay short, and adds it once to the subtitle.