Consent conditions: CS-VUE vs claused.
CS-VUE has kept consent-conditions registers since 2004. claused. builds the register from the instrument and takes it into the field. An honest comparison, with a section on when the incumbent is the right choice.
| What matters | CS-VUE | claused. |
|---|---|---|
| How the register is built | Consents are entered and broken into conditions by hand, then tracked with reminders and workflows. | The instrument is read into a register of conditions with the verbatim clause, typed and cited to the page, then held for a qualified person's review before it counts. |
| Instrument vocabulary | Built in Auckland in 2004 around New Zealand resource consents under the Resource Management Act, with Australian clients served through a reseller. | Built around NSW consents, EPA licences and CEMPs, with the state's condition structures, hold points and certificate stages modelled directly. |
| Field evidence | Site-visit audits, document storage and contractor access. Evidence is uploaded against the register from the office. | Offline field app. Inspections, observations, permits and incidents are captured on site, stamped with position, time and weather, and tagged to the conditions they evidence. |
| Triggers | Reminders on dates and cadences. | Dates and cadences, plus rainfall from the site gauge raising the post-rain inspection with its deadline, and permits gated on the test results the condition requires. |
| Modifications | Consent variations are managed as documents in the platform. | Each version of the instrument is retained and hashed, with a renumber-aware crosswalk and a per-condition history, so the register survives a Mod. |
| Audit output | Audit scheduling, reports and dashboards across sites. | A condition-by-condition audit pack with the verbatim obligation beside its evidence chain, random or risk-based sampling, and a hash of the source instrument and every run. |
| Monitoring data | IoT and automated data feeds from sensors and monitoring systems. | Readings entered against licence limits. No sensor integration today. |
| Pricing | Per organisation, quote-based. Third-party listings put the licence around NZ$11,000 a year plus NZ$5,000 to NZ$20,000 implementation. | Per project with every user included, from A$8,000 a year. No implementation fee. Founding sites are onboarded by invitation during early access. |
| References | Twenty years of infrastructure and government references, including NZTA, Auckland Council, Fulton Hogan and OceanaGold. | In early access. No public case studies yet, and we say so. |
| Security certification | An international security certification is on its 2026 roadmap. | Hosted in Sydney, encrypted at rest, row-level security. ISO 27001 is not held and has no date set. The security page states exactly what is and is not in place. |
The same job, built from opposite ends.
CS-VUE and claused. are the two products in this market whose unit of work is the condition of an approval rather than the inspection form or the document. Both hold a register of conditions with owners, due dates and evidence. Both produce something an auditor can follow.
The difference is where each one starts. CS-VUE starts from the register and asks the user to fill it. claused. starts from the instrument and reads the register out of it, then asks the user to check it. That one choice shapes everything that follows: what it costs to set up, what the record looks like, and where the work is done.
Typing the conditions is the expensive part
A State significant development consent runs to 150 or more conditions. A licence adds 40 to 200 more. Entering them by hand takes an environmental advisor days, and the result is a paraphrase in a form field rather than the clause the regulator wrote. That is where the implementation fee comes from, and it is repeated at every modification.
claused. reads the instrument, keeps the verbatim text, cites the page, types each condition, and holds every row as unreviewed until a qualified person has checked it. The register is built in minutes and reviewed in an afternoon. The register template shows the shape of what comes out.
Evidence is made on site, not filed from the office
CS-VUE's evidence model is upload and audit: the record is made against the register from a desk. That works for a monthly report. It does not capture the sediment fence at 7 am after 12 mm overnight, and it does not stop a permit being signed before the test result is in.
claused. puts the register on the phone. The field app works offline, stamps each record with where and when it was made, and refuses to close a failed item without a photograph, an assignee and a due date. The rainfall gauge raises the inspection before anyone has to remember it.
A Mod should not reset the register
Consents are modified. Condition numbers shift, obligations are replaced, and the register that was true on Monday is wrong on Friday. In a hand-built register the choice is to re-enter everything or to trust that someone patched the right rows.
claused. retains every version of the instrument with a hash, maps old numbers to new ones, and keeps a history on each condition of what changed and when. The register stays true across the life of the approval.
Price follows the approval
CS-VUE is priced per organisation, by quote, with an implementation fee on top. That suits a council or a transport agency with a portfolio of consents and a compliance team. It is a large first step for a contractor with one site.
claused. is priced per project with every user, crew and subcontractor included, and an Archive tier that keeps a finished project read-only for the retention period. The pricing page sets it beside what a project team already pays for the tools around it.
When CS-VUE is the right choice.
If the site's compliance depends on live monitoring feeds inside the register, CS-VUE has sensor and data integrations and claused. does not. If procurement requires twenty years of references, a named government client list and a certification programme underway, CS-VUE has them and claused. is in early access with none of the three. If the consents are New Zealand resource consents, CS-VUE was built for exactly that vocabulary.
If the work is a construction project under an Australian consent or licence, the conditions need to be in the register this week rather than after an implementation, and the evidence is made on site by people who will never open a compliance platform at a desk, that is the job claused. was built for.
Three questions teams ask before they switch.
Is CS-VUE the incumbent for consent conditions in Australia?
It is the product most likely to be on a shortlist already. It has managed consent conditions since 2004, has sold into New Zealand transport, council, defence and mining, and has an Australian reseller. Its published 2026 plans name energy and infrastructure in Australia as growth sectors.
What does claused. do that CS-VUE does not?
Reads the instrument into the register rather than having someone type it, captures evidence offline on site tagged to the condition, keeps a modification-aware version history of the instrument, and produces a hashed audit pack. It is also priced per project rather than per organisation with an implementation fee.
What does CS-VUE do that claused. does not?
Sensor and data feeds, twenty years of references, a reseller who is also an environmental consultancy, and a security certification programme that is further along. If your site needs monitoring feeds inside the register today, CS-VUE has them and claused. does not.
The guides and pages behind this comparison.
- Conditions of consent register template (Excel)Guides · 6 min read. A free Excel register for consent, EPL, EPBC and CEMP conditions, with twelve worked NSW example rows. What a register must hold, and an honest note on when a spreadsheet is enough.
- Understanding your EPA licence conditionsLegislation · 8 min read. A practical guide to reading and tracking EPL conditions across Australian states. What the numbers mean and what triggers enforcement.
- The condition evidence pack: what auditors actually ask forGuides · 7 min read. Environmental audits come down to one question per condition: show me the evidence. What a per-condition pack looks like and why spreadsheets fail it.
- PricingOne price per project with every user included, and what a project team pays for the alternatives.
- The field appInspections, observations, incidents and permits captured offline on site and filed against the condition they evidence.
See your own consent as a register.
Send an instrument and we will read it into a register, cite every condition to its page, and send it back for your review. No implementation, no fee, no call required.