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6.9. Project Hours vs Estimates
Compare budgeted, estimated, and actual hours across active projects, then send a localized status update from an individual project.
A fixed-price project can remain on schedule and still lose margin because the work is consuming more time than planned. The Project Hours vs Estimates report shows where actual time has moved beyond task estimates or the project budget while the project manager can still adjust scope, staffing, or delivery.
Availability: This report requires the PSA product and Pro tier or higher.
Release notes may refer to this capability as Projects Against Plan. In the product, open Reports and choose Project Hours vs Estimates from the report catalog.
The report covers All active projects, life-to-date. The global 7d, 30d, and 90d buttons do not narrow this report, and it has no report-specific filters.
The summary shows Active projects, Budgeted hours, Estimated hours, Actual hours, Over estimate, and Over budget. The table lists Project, Client, Budgeted, Estimated, Actual, Variance, and Estimate used.
Understand the three measures
| Measure | What it represents | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Budgeted | The total effort budgeted for the project. | Whether actual time is consuming the overall allowance faster than expected. |
| Estimated | The hours estimated for project tasks. | Whether the detailed work plan fits the project-level budget. |
| Actual | Time recorded against the project. | Whether delivery has already required more or less effort than planned. |
Create the overall hours budget when you start the project, then estimate the tasks that make up each phase. See 6.1. Create a Client Project with Budgeted Hours, Phases, and Milestones for project setup and 6.2. Manage Project Phases as Kanban Board Columns for structuring delivery.
Read the variance
Variance is the gap between estimated and actual effort. Read it alongside Estimate used and the project's current delivery state:
Figure 1: The report compares budget and estimate against actual time for every active project, life-to-date.
| Pattern | Likely reading | Project-manager response |
|---|---|---|
| Actual hours are below estimated hours and the work is complete | The project used less effort than estimated. | Confirm that all time is entered before treating the difference as available budget. |
| Actual hours are near estimated hours and work remains | The project is likely to exceed its estimate. | Re-estimate the remaining tasks and review scope or staffing. |
| Actual hours are above estimated hours | The estimate has already been exceeded. | Identify the work driving the overrun and decide whether delivery or commercial handling must change. |
| Estimated hours and budgeted hours differ materially | The detailed plan and headline budget describe different amounts of work. | Review missing, duplicated, or stale estimates before using the figures for planning. |
The report describes time variance; it does not by itself calculate every cause of margin movement. Labor cost, billing terms, materials, write-downs, and invoiced revenue still belong in 14.24. Profitability Reporting: Measure Gross Margin per Client, Agreement, and Ticket. For the project's commercial model, see 6.8. Bill a Client Project: Fixed-Price Milestones, T&M Caps, Deposits, and Progress Billing.
Time-entry actuals also depend on consistent recording. If work is missing from the report, confirm that technicians are logging against the correct project work. Compare project demand with team capacity using 4.5. Measure Technician Utilization Against Working-Hours Capacity.
Send a localized project status update
Status updates are sent from an individual project, not from the report. Sending requires the project:update permission.
- Open the project and select Send status update.
- In Send Status Update, review the single resolved recipient and the Your customer will see: content summary.
- Add any project-specific context in Additional Message.
- Select Send Update.
There is no recipient chooser. AlgaPSA sends the update to the project contact, falling back to the default active client-location email when needed. The on-screen summary is not a rendered email preview; the delivered email is localized for the resolved recipient. User-entered text in Additional Message remains as written rather than being translated automatically.
For language resolution and supported languages, see 10.4. Set Interface Languages: Personal, Organization, and Client Defaults. For the same recipient-led localization model in customer documents, see 14.26. Send Invoices, Quotes, and Sales Orders in Your Client's Language.
Before sending, confirm that time entries and task estimates are current and that the project contact is correct. Explain decisions, scope changes, and next steps plainly; the variance number alone does not tell the client what will happen next.