A planning system for analyzing planning data, wherein the planning system includes a computer program that comprises a planning data window for displaying a view of the planning data; a definition system for defining exception criteria; a searching system for identifying exceptions in the planning data based upon the exception criteria; an exception dialog for displaying and selecting exceptions identified by the searching system; and a navigation system that allows a planner to navigate from exceptions listed in the exception dialog to and among the exceptions displayed in the planning data window. Exceptions located in the planning data window are annotated for easy recognition by the planner.