Most operations measure whether work got done. Far fewer measure when.
Why it matters
Finish variance is the single best early warning in a route operation, because almost everything that goes wrong upstream arrives here. Service times estimated too short, drive times taken from a map rather than from traffic, a stop added after the lock, a technician covering unfamiliar ground — all of it lands on the finish time.
It is also what technicians feel. A route that finishes 45 minutes late every day is not a scheduling detail to the person driving it.
How you notice it slipping
Planned finish is a round number that never changes while actual finish moves by an hour. The same route runs late on the same weekday. Overtime appears on the days with the fewest stops, which means driving, not working, is what ran long.
What to do
Record planned and actual finish per route, per day, and look at the spread rather than the average. Then chase the widest one route at a time. The cause is usually a single assumption that has been wrong for months.