Capital project management is software that a government, a transport agency or a large company uses to track every construction project it pays for over several years: the budget, the approvals, the contracts, the payments and the progress of each one. Such a set of projects is called a capital programme. The word capital means that the money is spent on things that last for decades, such as roads, bridges and water pipelines, and not on running costs such as salaries.
The software is used on the owner's side. A contractor uses construction management software to run one project well. An owner must manage hundreds of projects from one budget, and must answer to a finance department, an audit office and the public.
Here is a typical case. A state road development corporation has a five-year programme of 140 projects worth ₹9,000 crore: new highways, widened roads and 35 bridges. Each project passes through the same stages in the software. Engineers prepare a detailed project report, with a design from civil infrastructure design software and a cost estimate. The project then needs an administrative approval, which releases its budget, and a technical sanction, which approves its design and estimate. Next, it is put out to tender, and the contract is awarded under the rules for government tenders. While the work goes on, the contractor submits a running account bill each month, a bill for the work done so far. An engineer checks each bill against the work measured on site, and the software sends the approved bill on for payment.
Every month, the software adds up the whole programme. Say it shows that 22 projects have spent more than 80% of their budget but finished less than 60% of their work. The chief engineer reviews these 22 first. One of them, a bridge, has been waiting four months for a forest clearance. The software shows how long it has waited, and which office must act next.
The corporation's accounts and its payments to contractors are kept in government ERP. The capital project software sends each approved bill there to be paid, and reads back what has been paid.
Without such software, the programme is tracked in spreadsheets that are emailed between district offices. The spreadsheets are weeks out of date, and different offices hold different figures for the same project. When an audit asks why a bridge cost 30% more than its estimate, nobody can quickly show who approved each change.