Product overview
Construction project controls that connect site, cost, Finance and forecast.
Foras turns site activity into a commercially useful position: what the project has cost, what Finance says, where the differences come from, and where the project is likely to finish.
Northgate Logistics Park — Phase 2
Position · Aug 2026 · Demo data
Captured
£11.85m
Finance
£10.47m
Adjusted CTD
£11.97m
| Cost code | DiffDifference | CTDAdjusted CTD | Decision |
|---|---|---|---|
| 150Project Management | £60k | £1.84m | Timing |
| 210Labour | £262k | £2.96m | — |
| 311Shoring | −£115k | £1.54m | Match Finance |
| 707Subcontract | £158k | £3.18m | — |
Difference = Captured − Finance. A negative difference means captured cost sits below Finance. Shoring shows a Match Finance adjustment of +£115,000, so adjusted CTD equals the Finance position to date. Values rounded for display.
How it fits together
One loop from site activity to forecast
Each stage feeds the next. You can drill into the solution page for the part that matters most to your team.
Site → cost
Capture what happened on site and classify it to the project structure
Site teams record labour, plant, materials, subcontract activity and variations in the Site Diary. Each entry carries the date the work occurred, the cost item it belongs to, and supporting evidence such as notes and photos.
Cost is classified against the project budget structure you use — cost codes, and WBS elements or Work Items where the project is set up that way. Management costs, materials, subcontractors, plant and labour all flow into the same captured position.
Cost that has not yet been attributed to a cost item stays visible for investigation rather than being silently excluded or guessed.
Site Diary — 28 Aug 2026
Northgate Logistics Park — Phase 2 · Demo data
- People
- Plant
- Progress
- Vars
- Allocate
- Subcontractor Activity
- Materials
- Notes
| Person | Role | Cost Item | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| A. HughesGeneral Operative | General Operative | 211 Labour | 9.5 h |
| J. ReidPlant Operator | Plant Operator | 211 Labour | 10 h |
| T. MorganNo role — needs attention | No role — needs attention | Unassigned | 8 h |
Cost Capture — Aug 2026
Northgate Logistics Park — Phase 2 · Demo data
Site Captured
£131,260
Labour
£42,860
Plant
£18,400
Unassigned
£6,250
| Cost Item | Captured | Status |
|---|---|---|
| 211Labour | £42,860 | |
| 310Plant | £18,400 | |
| 520Materials | £27,750 | |
| 707Subcontract | £36,000 | |
| —Unassigned | £6,250 | Needs classification |
Unassigned · source records
- 28 Aug 2026 · People · T. Morgan£2,480Open diary
- 27 Aug 2026 · Plant · 13t excavator£1,320Open diary
Northgate Logistics Park — Phase 2
Cost position · Aug 2026 · Demo data
Approved Budget
£18.42m
Captured
£11.85m
Finance
£10.47m
Adjusted CTD
£11.96m
| Cost code | Captured | Finance | DiffDifference | Decision |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 210Labour | £262k | — | ||
| 311Shoring & Formwork | −£115k | Match Finance | ||
| 707Subcontract | £158k | — |
Cost → Finance
Compare captured cost with Finance actuals and settle the difference
The Position view puts captured project cost next to Finance actuals for each cost code. The difference is visible immediately, not buried in a month-end total.
You record what the difference means — for example Timing, where the gap is expected to wash out, or Match Finance, where Finance is authoritative to date and an adjustment brings adjusted CTD into line.
Each decision carries the author and reason, and superseded decisions remain in history so the position can be explained later.
Position → forecast
Build the forecast from adjusted CTD and cost to complete
Forecast final cost is adjusted cost to date plus cost to complete. Cost to complete is priced line by line as quantity × rate × utilisation, so the forecast is built from explicit commercial assumptions rather than trend or guesswork.
Approved variations feed into the approved budget, and the forecast variance shows whether the project is tracking over or under that budget. Variation evidence and provenance stay attached to the cost that relates to them, so a change can be explained without altering how budget, cost to date or forecast are calculated. When the budget or forecast-line assumptions move, the change is visible and can be frozen for reporting.
Northgate Logistics Park — Phase 2
Forecast · Aug 2026 · Demo data
Approved Budget
£18,420,000
Original Budget + Approved Variations
Adj CTD
£11,964,300
Raw CTD + Adjustments
Forecast CTC
£6,941,100
Qty × Rate × Util%
Forecast Final Cost
£18,905,400
Adj CTD + CTC
Forecast Variance
£485,400 over
2.6% over Approved Budget
Northgate Logistics Park — Phase 2 · Demo data
V-012 · Additional retaining-wall drainage
Raised from a Site Diary note · recorded in the Vars step
| Day worked | Recorded in Vars | Captured cost |
|---|---|---|
| Tue 11 Aug | Vars — 2 operatives, 7.5 hrs · 1 excavator, 4 hrs | £1,148 |
| Wed 12 Aug | Vars — 2 operatives, 9.0 hrs · materials from register | £1,462 |
| Thu 13 Aug | Vars — 1 operative, 4.5 hrs · note & photos attached | £514 |
| Captured to date | Labour, plant and materials at project rates | £3,124 |
Once agreed, an Approved Variation increases Approved Budget — and its captured cost is already in the position. Open a day to see the diary record behind a line.
Explainability
Trace every decision back to its source
Commercial judgement is only useful if it can be explained. Foras keeps the decision history behind each position: who recorded it, when, and why.
Cost captured from the Site Diary carries its classification, evidence and occurrence date with it, so the detail behind a number stays connected. Superseded decisions are retained, not overwritten, so month-end positions can be reconciled against what was reported at the time.
Position decision history
Aug 2026 · Demo data
311 Shoring · WBS 02.10 Retaining Walls
Match Finance- Captured TD
- £812,400
- Finance TD
- £927,400
- Difference TD
- −£115,000
- Adjustment
- +£115,000
- Adjusted CTD
- £927,400
Decided by Commercial Manager · 28 Aug 2026
150 Project Management
Timing- Captured TD
- £1,842,300
- Finance TD
- £1,781,900
- Difference TD
- £60,400
- Adjustment
- No adjustment
- Adjusted CTD
- £1,842,300
Decided by Commercial Manager · 28 Aug 2026
How Foras fits
Built to work with Finance, not replace it
Finance stays authoritative
COINS and your ERP remain the system of record for posted actuals. Foras imports them for reconciliation and records the project decision — it does not post back.
Your structure, your choice
WBS elements and Work Items are optional and configured per project. Foras works with the breakdown structure you actually run.
No predictive promises
Forecasting is explicit arithmetic on quantities, rates and utilisation. Foras does not claim to predict the future — it makes your commercial assumptions visible and checkable.
Demo data is clearly marked
Product screenshots and previews on this site use illustrative demo data. They show the interface pattern, not a live customer project.
We market current capability, not roadmap
Our standard is that anything presented here describes how Foras works today. Planned capability is not shown as available, and wording is corrected as the product changes.
Import and reconcile
The COINS integration is an import/reconciliation workflow. It is not a real-time integration and does not automatically keep both systems in sync.
Who it is for
Built for the people who own the project position
Commercial Managers use Foras to explain the gap between Site and Finance, settle the position and protect forecast margin. Project Managers use it to turn site activity into cost information the commercial team can act on.