Period Variance mode is not always enabled in Phocas sites. It can enabled by an advanced administrator with permission.
As a dimension must be selected to activate this mode, it is not available in Summary view.
Period Variance mode allows you to compare time units within current and previous periods side-by-side, for example, months of this year vs. months of last year. It is effectively a combination of Period mode and Variance mode.
The following example uses Period Variance mode in the Sales database to analyze a customer's spending for the current month, compared with the previous month. You want to view the sales figures and the variance as a percentage.
Click the Customer dimension, select the customer (Intercast Ltd), then click the Focus button. The grid displays columns for the active properties (such as Code and Name) for that dimension, a Total column, and a column for each time unit in the current period.
Click Period > Current month.
Click Mode > Period variance. The grid updates to display a double-height header. The upper header displays the periods, the lower headers display current, previous, variance and % variance for each period.
Only one measure can be used in period variance mode