Forecasting overview

Forecasting in InEight Control is the process of predicting project costs and progress based on current data and trends. Accurate forecasting helps project teams stay on budget and make informed decisions.

Depending on the size of your project, multiple engineers may be involved in forecasting tasks. For example, a large team might divide responsibilities by discipline, with discipline-specific field engineers preparing data for the project manager.

Control supports collaborative forecasting by allowing users to create and save their own forecasts without affecting others’ work. These forecasts can then be shared and combined to build the official project forecast.

Private forecasts

Private forecasts give you flexibility to explore outcomes without impacting the official project data. In Control Workspaces, you can create multiple private forecasts to:

  • Test different forecasting methods.

  • Explore what-if scenarios (e.g., changes in labor rates or material costs).

  • Compare alternative approaches before sharing with the team.

Private forecasts are visible only to you until you choose to share them. This makes them ideal for refining your work before contributing to a shared or live forecast.

Shared forecasts

Shared forecasts allow collaboration among team members. You can create up to five shared forecasts, which are automatically visible to all members assigned to the project. A shared forecast lets you do the following:

  • Joint editing and review of forecast data.

  • Real-time updates visible to everyone sharing the forecast.

  • Preparing a consensus forecast before pushing it to the Live forecast.

Any member with the appropriate permissions can edit a shared forecast.

Live forecast

The Live forecast is the official project forecast used for financial reporting. It is automatically shared with all project members and managed through its own data block.

  • Data from private or shared forecasts can be pushed to the Live forecast to keep it current.

  • Only users with the appropriate permissions can update the Live forecast.