The Variance column is used to calculate the variance between 2 columns. Calxa includes both a Variance and a Calculation column where the Variance column described in this article applies Calxa's built‑in favourable/unfavourable logic automatically. This is where we calculate variances depending on the Credit/Debit type of the account row or the Higher/Lower is better property for KPIs.
Column headings
Group header
Text fields that represents the group header, by default this is empty for variance columns. You can type directly in the cell to use your own terminology.
Column header
Text field that represents the column header, only one dynamic placeholder is available on this cell with the Value Type: Variance which is the default. Alternatively, you can Type directly in the cell to use your own terminology, with or without the merge field.
Column type indicates the type of column selected in +ADD COLUMN
Variance configuration
The Variance configuration lets you calculate the difference between any two columns included in your report. Use the drop‑down selectors to choose which columns you want to compare.
First column
Select the primary column to use in the variance calculation. This is typically your main value, such as Actual.
Second column
Select the comparison column. This is usually the target or reference value, such as Budget or Last Year Actual.
Show as percentage
When this option is checked we will calculate a percentage variance instead of a standard variance.
TIP 💡If you want to show both a value variance and a percentage variance, add two separate Variance columns. Leave Show as percentage unticked for the numeric value and tick it for the percentage version.
Appearance
Group header
Select Radio button as required:
Primary colour: Sets the background colour as per the Report Styles primary colour
Secondary colour: Sets the background colour as per the Report Styles secondary colour
Note: 💬the Group header appearance for Variance columns inside a column group are edited on the group itself.
Column
Toggle: Background shading
Off (default): Removes all background shading.
On: Applies background shading to the column header and detail rows. This matches the styling used in Calxa’s preconfigured reports, where Actual values appear with a grey background.
Minimum width (default: 175)
Defaults to 175, which is the minimum width for this column. When the report is generated, the column may expand to fit neatly within standard page sizes (A4 Portrait, A4 Landscape, or A3 Landscape). Once the total minimum widths exceed an A3 Landscape layout, the report will no longer use a fixed page size and will instead grow to accommodate all columns.
Tip: 💡 Adjusting column widths is an effective way to fit your report to standard page sizes like A4 Portrait or Landscape.
Apply negative text colour
Check this box to have negative numbers displayed in red or a custom colour as defined in Report Styles. Untick to report as Black text only.
Traffic Light
Traffic light formatting allows users to add conditional indicator icons to certain variance values in reports. In the generated report we'll insert a separate column to the right where we include the indicator icons.
TIP 💡Each rule is processed in order from the top down. The first condition that is met is applied and no more rules are processed
By default the Traffic Light checkbox is disabled
Click checkbox to enable rules and actions below
Choose either Number Value or Percentage
Click +ADD NEW RULE
Rules can be re-ordered by clicking on the ::: icon and dragging and dropping as required.
NOTE 💬 Colours and Icons shown in this configuration are taken from the Report Styles where users can choose one of 3 icon sets and then set the icon colours.
Default Percentage Rules
Percentage rules can be set in a similar way, rather than entering a number, when you click in the middle section the up/down arrows appear and you can click those to give your preferred values, click the down arrow past 0 to get negative numbers.
