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Plan vs actual on a dashboard: how to track plan delivery

Plan vs actual compares planned and actual figures: sales, revenue, costs, profit. On a dashboard it shows not only how much is done but whether the company will make it by the end of the period — and leaves time to change things.

Plan vs actual dashboard example

In this real dashboard on demo data the gauge shows plan completion, next to average order value, margin and sales by channel:

How to calculate plan completion

  • Completion, % = actual / plan × 100.
  • Variance = actual − plan (in money or units).
  • Completion to date = month-to-date actual / plan for the same number of days. 40% on the 10th is fine, 40% on the 25th is an alarm.
  • Forecast to period end = actual to date / elapsed share of the period. It shows where you will end the month at the current pace.

Example. The monthly plan is 900,000, and by the 15th (half the month) the actual is 405,000. Completion to date is 405,000 / 450,000 = 90%, the forecast is 810,000 — without changes the plan will be missed by 90,000.

How to show plan vs actual on a dashboard

  • A gauge — for one key metric: the completion percentage at a glance.
  • Plan and actual bars by month — for trend and seasonality.
  • A variance table by manager, department or cost item — to find exactly where the gap is.
  • Colour zones (see KPI traffic light) — so deviations are noticed immediately.

Common plan vs actual mistakes

  • Plan and actual are calculated by different rules (with and without VAT, before and after returns).
  • A monthly plan is compared with mid-month actuals without adjusting for the date.
  • Only the overall percentage is watched, without breaking variances down by manager, product and channel.

More about the metric: Sales plan vs actual.

Questions and answers

What is plan vs actual analysis?

Comparing planned and actual values of metrics — sales, revenue, costs, profit — with completion percentage and variances, to find the causes and adjust actions.

How do you calculate plan completion to date?

Completion, % = actual / plan × 100. To track during the month, compare actuals with the plan for the same date, not with the whole monthly plan.

How do you show plan vs actual on a dashboard?

For the main metric — a completion gauge, for the trend — plan and actual bars by period, to find the gap — a variance table by manager or cost item.