Overview

The Variance Analysis agent compares two financial models side-by-side. Starting from the Budget model (or whichever model is active), it reads 2026 data from both models and populates the existing Variance tab with actual values, computed variances, and written analysis notes — producing a standard YTD Financial Variance Report.

The agent uses switch_model to temporarily read from the comparison model, then switches back to write results. All model URLs are looked up by name via the get_model_url tool, so users simply say “run variance analysis vs Growth Case”.

Production Models

Five production models are pre-loaded in the UI’s Model Picker and registered in the backend’s model registry:

Agent Workflow

When the supervisor routes a variance request, the Variance agent follows these steps:

1. Read the Variance tab template from the current model to identify metric names and layout
2. Gather 2026 values for each metric from the current model's operations tab
3. Switch to the comparison model and gather the same 2026 values
4. Switch back to the current model
5. Write values to column E ("This Model") of the Variance tab
6. Calculate dollar and percentage variances, and write analysis notes
7. Log the action to the AuditLog

Example Output

Example Prompts

• “Run a variance analysis vs Growth Case”
• “Compare budget against the Board Plan”
• “How does the budget compare to the cost reduction case?”
• “Fill in the Variance tab comparing to base case”