Sept 2026
How can cost controllers be confident their current EAC reflects where a project is actually heading?
Contruent’s AI Forecasting gives cost controllers an independent, data-driven second opinion at the control-account level—using only their own project data—to help them decide whether their current EAC needs a closer look, without replacing their professional judgment.
Think Your EAC Is Right? Get a Second Opinion With AI Forecasting
A cost controller looks at the estimate at completion (EAC), not fully confident it reflects where the project is actually heading. Maybe it just seems off. But a gut feeling isn’t something you want backing major cost decisions—you want confirmation that the number is plausible and costs are on track.
That confirmation has to come from somewhere: a way to validate that number against real project data and surface emerging cost issues before they show up in the EAC, rather than after the fact.
Contruent AI Forecasting can step in as a data-backed, independent read on where a control account stands.
Think of it as a second opinion from your own project data.
A Second Opinion, Not a Replacement
What is AI Forecasting? It’s a tool that checks against the cost controller’s own forecast for a particular control account. It provides an objective view into the direction that account may be heading.
As a read-only tool, it won’t replace your existing reports and graphs, and certainly not your current EAC forecast. AI Forecasting works alongside the current EAC, providing another view to compare against the official forecast. It’s designed to be compared against your cost controller’s own work and does not change your cost data, reports or forecast. Your official EAC remains untouched until your cost controller says otherwise.
What AI Forecasting isn’t is an override of professional judgment. Those gut feelings aren’t something to ignore; they’re fueled by experience reading projects. But with so much at stake in megaprojects—financially, timelines, regulatory expectations and public scrutiny—having data-backed forecasting alongside that judgment gives cost controllers something concrete to support and verify it against. That can actually take some of the pressure off of them.
What AI Forecasting Shows You
Seeing is believing. But seeing the reasoning behind a forecast, not just the number, is what builds understanding. With AI Forecasting, cost controllers gain this visibility into potential cost overruns, the source data behind the forecast and the explanations supporting the projection.
Those AI-enabled insights can be used to better understand what’s driving the current EAC and where it may be heading.
- Where does it look like the account will finish on cost?
- What completion date does the cost outlook indicate?
- Is there a condition being flagged that might warrant another look and deeper review?
- If the outlook has changed, does that impact the current EAC?
- What is the basis behind the projected EAC?
Based Solely on Your Own Data
What data does AI Forecasting actually use? It pulls from your own cost and schedule data that is already in Contruent—control accounts, budgets, actuals, percent complete, schedule dates, time-phased spend. When you generate an outlook, it uses the data available at that time and shows the data-as-of date. The projection is informed by completed control accounts in your Contruent environment, with no new fields to populate.
Having an AI-assisted second opinion gives your cost controllers another data-backed view of where a control account may be heading—grounded entirely in your own project data, not industry benchmarks or data from other customers. The read reflects how your projects actually tend to run, not general patterns from elsewhere.
A Second Opinion Worth Having
So much rides on how plausible your cost controller’s EAC actually is. AI Forecasting gives them a way to check that number against their own data, catch fluctuations before they become bigger problems, and decide with more confidence whether the current EAC still holds. It supports proactive forecasting, with more control and clarity. Professional judgment still governs; AI informs the result.
Want to find out more about AI Forecasting and how it can support your cost controllers? Learn more or request a demo today.