ForLab+
A platform that automates the government supply planning process with practical intelligence — so planners and logisticians can check, balance, and reason about their own data in real time.
The problem we set out to solve
Before ForLab+, supply planning across Ethiopia's 5,100 health facilities happened on paper. Each facility completed a quarterly supply plan by hand or spreadsheet. Regional teams collected these plans, often on their own timelines. All reconciliation happened in Addis Ababa — spreadsheet after spreadsheet, matched up manually. The national picture took weeks to emerge.
Consumption patterns that didn't match forecast — stockouts that followed predictable seasonal trends, demand spikes the models didn't catch — these anomalies surfaced too late. By the time a facility flagged a problem, the next quarter's medicines were already in transit. Ministry teams knew the issues were there. They could see it in the data. The limitation was tooling, not insight.
Planners spent more time on data collection and reconciliation than on reasoning about what the numbers meant. Logisticians worked with incomplete views. The same data existed in different forms in different systems — or different forms in the same system — and confidence in the decisions being made suffered.
Our response
We automated the existing process, not replaced it. Ministry teams use ForLab+ to do quarterly planning the same way they always have — but from one place, with real-time visibility into what each facility is reporting. We surface anomalies where they emerge: when a facility's forecast variance exceeds a threshold, when a regional aggregation breaks from historical pattern, when data quality issues appear. Every user sees the same numbers, at the same time. No new theory of operations. No software that expects you to work differently than you ever have.
Four core functions
Quarterly supply planning
Facility-level plans roll up through woredas and regions into a single national view. Ministry teams see what facilities submit, as they submit it.
Forecasting & reconciliation
Consumption, morbidity, and demographic forecasts, reconciled against stock on hand. Variance flags automatically where data diverges.
Data quality surfaced
The platform identifies incomplete, inconsistent, or implausible data. Fewer spreadsheets to chase, faster time to confident decisions.
Review and approve
Every plan has a complete paper trail. Reviewers query, comment, approve, or escalate without leaving the product.
Ask the system what it sees
ForLab+ learns patterns over time. Planners ask questions in English or Amharic and get answers grounded in their own data: Which facilities are likely to stock out next quarter? Where are consumption anomalies? How does this quarter compare to last year?
- Which facilities are likely to stock out next quarter?
- Show me consumption anomalies across the Oromia region.
- Compare this quarter's plan with last year's actuals.
- Flag reconciliation errors before submission.
"ForLab+ changed how we approach quarterly planning. Instead of waiting for the courier to bring all the forms from health posts, we can see them in real time, flag the outliers, and get back to the facilities with questions before the month ends. The intelligence layer means we spend less time on data collection and more time actually thinking about what's happening."
Regional pharmacy supervisor, Oromia Regional Health Bureau
Evidence
ForLab+ has been in production at national scale across Ethiopia since 2022. Over four years of operation show sustained improvement in forecast accuracy as the platform learns facility-level patterns and incorporates richer data.
Who uses ForLab+
Deployment tiers
ForLab+ is licensed to ministries of health, typically with donor co-funding. All tiers include data sovereignty commitments.
Pilot at sub-national scale — one or two regions, one program area, limited integration.
Full national rollout across major programs. Integration with existing LMIS and DHIS2.
All programs, all facilities, deep integration, dedicated TA. Includes sovereign-deployment options.