Tuesday Brief: This week, we're tackling one of project controls' most consequential yet misunderstood activities: variance analysis. Discover why the real breakthrough isn't just AI - it's the properly structured foundation that makes AI actually useful. Plus, join us tomorrow for a live demonstration of how this transformation looks in practice when the Christoph brothers show you their AI-driven variance analysis system in action.
December 2, 2025
In This Issue:
Featured Article: The Night Before the Big Review
Live Event (12/3): Variance Analysis - An Ideal Application of AI
Upcoming December Events: Plan your PDUs through the end of the year
PM Best Practice: The Data Architecture Foundation
Featured Article: The Night Before the Big Review
Sarah stared at her computer screen at 9:47 PM, surrounded by empty coffee cups and fifteen control accounts flagged for variance analysis. Six hours in, she'd finished four. Eleven to go. And the review was at 8 AM.
This monthly ritual is the part of project management nobody talks about in training courses. Not the strategic thinking or leadership challenges, but the soul-crushing data archaeology required to explain why reality didn't match the plan. Jeff Christoph reveals why this painful process has remained fundamentally unchanged for decades and how AI is finally transforming it when built on the right foundation.
Learn why variance analysis is an ideal application for AI assistance, how proper data structure transforms a six-hour nightmare into a minutes-long process, and how Control Account Managers can finally focus on understanding the "why" behind the numbers instead of wrestling with data architecture.
Live Event (12/3): Variance Analysis - An Ideal Application of AI
Sarah's midnight variance analysis marathon represents what thousands of CAMs face every month. Tomorrow, Jeff Christoph and his brother Eric demonstrate the AI-driven solution that's already transforming how organizations handle this monthly grind.
Building on their previous MPUG presentation about the Integration Relationship Diagramming Method (IRDM), they'll show how properly structured scope, control, and mapping relationships create the conditions for high-quality variance analysis that AI can actually assist with. When Work Packages, requirements, budgets, and performance data are all connected through clean, testable structures, variance explanations become less about heroic spreadsheet work—and more about understanding cause, effect, and corrective action.
What You'll Learn:
How structured scope and control integration (via IRDM) creates conditions for accurate, explainable variance analysis
Why AI excels at variance analysis only when the underlying project model is sound
How TMS and the Djobu Delivery System operationalize this model so every baseline, update, and variance is captured in AI-ready form
Real examples of how what once took six hours now takes minutes—with better results
The Christoph brothers will walk through live examples showing how AI becomes a force multiplier when the project is organized correctly, turning status data into insight and surfacing the true drivers of performance.
MPUG host live events with leading experts on Wednesdays from 12:00pm - 1:00pm ET! MPUG members get access to live events where you get direct access to industry leaders, actionable insights, hands-on training, and opportunities to earn PDU's.
PM Best Practice: The Data Architecture Foundation
Before implementing AI solutions for any project controls process, establish what the Christoph brothers call "clean, testable, and integrated data structures." Map your requirements, Work Packages, and control structures with clear traceability. Eliminate ambiguity in how work is defined and measured. When your project data is normalized and relational rather than scattered and free-form, AI transforms from a frustrating experiment into a genuine force multiplier. The foundation is what makes AI actually useful.
