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AboutCONSTRUCTION BUDGETING & FORECASTING
Forecast Project Outcomes With Predictable Results
- Time-Phased Budgets, Forecasts, Actuals & EVM
4castplus delivers powerful time-phasing tools for project cash flow planning, budgeting and forecasting. Easily monitor project budgets and forecasts against actual costs in real-time, while managing the impacts of change orders to budget and schedule. With 4castplus, easily analyze your project’s financial health, forecast project outcomes, and make informed decisions to drive successful project completion
Project Budgeting
Complete Control Over Your Project Budget
The project budget is one of the essential cornerstones of project controls. 4castplus provides an abundance of tools for planning, analyzing, progressing, forecasting, trending, and reporting against the budget. You can manage all project budgets from a very detailed context or view at a more high-level project or program level.
Careful Management Of Budget Changes
As projects encounter changes, 4castplus provides clarity and control on the project budget state as changes are proposed and then approved. Easily monitor performance against baseline and the impacts of changes.
Automated Planned Vs. Actual Variance Analysis
Built-in analysis and reporting on how actual costs, hours and revenues compare against budget as the project plays out. Compare also against earned value, progress and commitments.
Time-Phased Budgets & Forecasts
4castplus natively synchronizes budget with the schedule and time-phased algorithms, along with contract cash flow plans.
Project Forecasting
Forecast With Confidence
Gain insight into where your project is going with powerful forecasting tools. Forecasting is core to project controls. Predicting outcomes based on analysis and trends, then taking corrective action is critical for project success. 4castplus provides users with the option to apply leading-practices and standardization in forecasting, along with the flexibility to apply established methods and processes.
Performance-Based Forecasts
4castplus includes built-in EVM forecasting methods for predictive projections of project budget and schedule based on historical performance.
Evidence-Based Forecasts
Knowledge-driven forecasts are an essential tool for taking corrective action on construction projects. 4castplus provides key tools for applying empirical knowledge on what’s coming and what’s remaining to derive the forecast.
Resource & Content-Driven Forecasts
4castplus enables common-sense forecasting by enabling project managers to forecast remaining resource amounts to complete an activity along with the tools to re-time-phase what’s remaining and reset any updated rates for future resourcing.
Streamline Project Budgeting & Forecasting & Gain Real-Time Insight Into The Health Of Your Construction Projects
Project budgeting and forecasting are integral to cost controls and determining key performance indicators on a project. KPIs such as costs to complete, variances, and project performance are vital metrics to capture and trend to achieve a successful project outcome. 4castplus is brimming with features and reporting to provide your stakeholders with the full picture of how your project is going to play out. Don’t let the complexity of construction projects limit your ability to make an impact. Let 4castplus do the heavy lifting for you so you can focus on things that really matter.
- Frequently Asked Questions
The budget is a core element of the overall project plan. It forms the basis for the planned expenditures over the duration of the project schedule, and organized into a hierarchy of structured cost codes, tasks and deliverables. The budget for each task is made up of any number of cost components such as labor hours, materials, fees, equipment, etc. Each of these will have an associated quantity and rate, which will form the expected cost to the project when that task is performed. It can also form the expected revenue to be billed when that task is performed or completed.
Project forecasting is a means for predicting future project outcomes. 4castplus provides automated tools to forecast either by a Calculated method or by a Predictive method. The calculated method analyzes project productivity metrics to-date, and uses a formula to predict how the project will play-out if that productivity rate continues. This method is known as: estimate to complete (ETC). The predictive method is more controlled by user input. Users set input parameters along with observable amounts remaining to instruct the system how to compute the forecast. This method is known as: forecast to complete (FTC).
Time-phased budgeting spreads the project’s costs over time to create a cash flow plan for the anticipated project’s spend forecast. 4castplus provides powerful tools for creating unique payment schedules that reflect the projected spend plan for each task. Project controls can then visualize planned value versus actual cost versus earned value over time in S-curve and other timeline reports. By synchronizing costs, revenues, and labor hours over time, 4castplus enables teams to anticipate resource needs, identify issues, and ensure financial stability throughout the project.
Frequent change orders and shifting project scopes can lead to budget instability and missed financial targets. 4castplus allows teams to track and analyze budget adjustments in real-time, compare baseline vs. current budgets, and forecast the impact of changes to maintain financial control and project success.
The baseline budget marks the agreed-upon starting point for the project to begin. When you “Baseline” the budget in 4castplus, the system will lock down the budget and schedule values at that point in time. The baseline can no longer be modified as it is a control point from which any scope changes to the budget, reflected by Change Orders, can be compared. The Current budget is the baseline plus any approved change orders. The current budget can only be modified by approved change orders.
Many construction projects exceed budgets due to inaccurate forecasting and unexpected changes. 4castplus provides real-time budget tracking, variance analysis, and automated forecasting to help teams stay ahead of potential overruns and make proactive financial decisions.
Derive budgets from the 4castplus estimating system or import from external estimating tool
Create budgets for cost, revenue and labour hours
Submit forecasts in iterative progressing periods to view trend curves
Compare baseline against current and pending budgets
Re-baseline the project budget using the 4castplus baseline revisions
Forecast anticipated resource requirements for manpower loading, purchasing and contracting
Derive budgets from the 4castplus estimating system or import from external estimating tool
Create budgets for cost, revenue and labour hours
Submit forecasts in iterative progressing periods to view trend curves
Compare baseline against current and pending budgets
Re-baseline the project budget using the 4castplus baseline revisions
Forecast anticipated resource requirements for manpower loading, purchasing and contracting