Comparison Overview
Available in: All plans
Last updated: 26-Feb-2026
Overview
The Comparison tab lets you compare a Current schedule against a Baseline schedule to see exactly what changed between two versions. Kazinex identifies added activities, deleted activities, and field-level modifications — then categorizes each change by impact and severity so you can focus on what matters most.
This is essential for period-over-period reporting, variance analysis, and demonstrating compliance with project controls standards.
Selecting Schedules
The Comparison tab starts with a project selector showing two cards side by side:
| Card | Colour | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Current | Blue | The latest version of your schedule |
| Baseline | Orange | The reference version to compare against |
Each card shows the project name, data date, activity count, and file name. You can:
- Select from loaded projects — Choose from any schedule already uploaded in your account.
- Upload a new file — Drag and drop an XER or MPP file directly onto either card.
- Swap — Click the swap button (⇄) to reverse which schedule is Current and which is Baseline.
See Selecting Schedules for detailed instructions.
Comparison Levels
Once both schedules are selected, Kazinex runs the comparison engine and presents results across six tabs:
| Tab | What It Compares |
|---|---|
| Activities | Activity-level field changes across 27 fields (dates, durations, status, float, constraints, etc.) |
| WBS | Work Breakdown Structure hierarchy changes and rollup modifications |
| Resources | Resource assignment changes — labour, equipment, material, costs |
| Activity Codes | Activity code type, value, and assignment differences |
| UDFs | User-defined field value changes |
| Relationships | Predecessor/successor relationship additions, removals, and modifications |
Each tab shows a badge with the number of changes detected at that level.
Change Categorization
Every change is classified into one of three tiers based on how it occurred:
| Tier | Colour | Meaning | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hard | Red | Direct user modifications — someone changed this intentionally | Constraints, resources, relationships, activity codes, WBS, calendar, ID/description changes |
| Medium | Yellow | Indirect user updates — progress and actuals entry | Actual dates, percent complete, status, remaining duration, remaining work |
| Soft | Blue | Calculated/derived values — changed as a consequence of other edits | Early/late dates, float values, critical/driving path flags, at-completion metrics |
This categorization helps you distinguish between deliberate scope changes (Hard), routine progress updates (Medium), and schedule engine recalculations (Soft).
Change Badges
Each modified activity displays coloured badges indicating what types of changes were detected:
| Badge | Category |
|---|---|
| Duration | Original or remaining duration changed |
| Resource | Resource assignment added, removed, or modified |
| Constraint | Constraint type or date changed |
| Relationship | Predecessor or successor relationship changed |
| WBS | Activity moved to a different WBS element |
| Activity Code | Activity code assignment changed |
| UDF | User-defined field value changed |
| Calendar | Calendar assignment or definition changed |
| Progress | Percent complete updated |
| Status | Activity status changed (Not Started → Active → Complete) |
| Dates | Start or finish date changed |
| Float | Total float, free float, or critical path flag changed |
Click any badge to open the Change Drawer with detailed before/after values for that change category.
Change Severity
Each change also receives a severity score (0–100) based on its impact:
| Severity | Score | Colour |
|---|---|---|
| Critical | 80–100 | Red |
| High | 60–79 | Orange |
| Medium | 40–59 | Yellow |
| Low | 20–39 | Light Blue |
| Info | 0–19 | Grey |
Colour Coding
Changes are colour-coded by category for quick visual scanning:
| Category | Colour |
|---|---|
| Date Changes | Blue |
| Duration Changes | Purple |
| Float Changes | Orange |
| Status Changes | Green |
| Relationship Changes | Dark Blue |
| Resource Changes | Dark Green |
| Cost Changes | Bright Green |
| WBS Changes | Purple |
| Activity Code Changes | Teal |
| Constraint Changes | Red |
| New Activities | Green |
| Deleted Activities | Red |
The Comparison Results View
The main results area includes:
Executive Summary
At the top, summary cards show:
- Activity counts — Total activities, matched, added (new), deleted (removed)
- Match rate — Percentage of activities that exist in both schedules
- Change summary — Hard/Medium/Soft change counts with severity breakdowns
Activity Changes Grid
Below the summary, a full data grid lists every activity with its comparison status:
- Matched activities with badges showing what changed
- Added activities (present in Current but not Baseline)
- Deleted activities (present in Baseline but not Current)
You can filter the grid by:
- Impact level (Hard / Medium / Soft)
- Change category (Duration, Dates, Status, etc.)
- Severity (Critical through Info)
- Critical path (show only critical path changes)
- WBS (focus on a specific WBS branch)
- Search (free-text search across activity IDs and names)
Change Drawer
Click any badge on an activity row to open the Change Drawer — a slide-out panel showing:
- Field name
- Before value (from Baseline)
- After value (from Current)
- Change magnitude and percentage
- Change tier and severity
Next Steps
- Selecting Schedules — How to choose schedules for comparison
- Quality Overview — Run quality checks on your schedule
- Activities Grid — Browse activities in the data grid