Civil Engineering Management - A Civil Engineering Course under the National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning

This Civil Engineering Course under the National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL) on the broad subject of Civil Engineering Management is being carried out by Indian Institute of Technology’s and the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore as a collaborative project supported by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (Government of India) to enhance the quality of engineering education in the country, by developing curriculum based video and web courses. In these web based lectures, the authors have developed the subject in detail and in stages in a student-friendly manner. The broad group of Civil Engineering Management is structured into modules on the following topics:

Construction and Contract Management

This course by IIT Delhi covers in detail the process of estimation of a project, procedure related to tenders for their execution, contractual conditions applicable, contract administration for successful execution and dispute resolution. The course also covers legal issues related to contracts including Contract Act, Arbitration and Conciliation Act. Practical cases are discussed at all stages of the course for better comprehension. The course syllabus can be viewed at the NPTEL website here

Construction Economics and Finance

This course by IIT Delhi on Construction Economics and Finance covers the fundamentals of engineering economics such as time value of money, discounted cash flow, net present value, rate of return, incremental rate of return, benefit-cost analysis, replacement analysis and break-even analysis. It then deals with risks and uncertainties and management decision in capital budgeting apart from covering taxation and inflation. It also covers topics such as work pricing, cost elements of contract, bidding and award, revision due to unforeseen causes, escalation, turnkey activities, project appraisal and project yield. The basics of construction accounting are dealt with. The course syllabus can be viewed at the NPTEL website here

This course by IIT Guwahati basically aims at describing various principles of engineering economics followed by basic methods for carrying out economic studies considering the time value of money. Further, topics on financial management namely construction accounting, financial statements, financial ratios and working capital management are also included. The course syllabus can be viewed at the NPTEL website here

Project Planning and Control

This course by IIT Madras deals with understanding and applying the concepts of Project Planning and Control Systems, which assists in supporting decision making to meet the cost and time objectives of a project. The implementation of these systems has become a requirement of all medium to large projects. While the underlying principles of planning, monitoring and control system are based on sound mathematical theories, the situation of actual projects require appropriate adaptations of these principles for meaningful application.

It covers the fundamental principles of Critical Path Method as well as the requirements for its successful adaptation to plan monitor and control construction projects. It also covers the important area of developing and interpreting scheduling specifications as well as delay analysis. Concepts of new techniques such as PERT and Simulation are also discussed. The course syllabus can be viewed at the NPTEL website here

Construction Planning and Management

This course by IIT Guwahati starts with the introduction of the special nature of civil engineering project and revolves around the various activities encountered during the life cycle of a civil engineering project. The course has been divided into the following modules – (a) General overview of civil engineering projects (b) Procurement and contract management (c) Estimation and rate analysis (d) Project planning and its implementation (f) Construction Technology and (g) Use of IT in construction. The course modules can be viewed at the NPTEL website here

Infrastructure Planning and Management

This course by IIT Madras responds to the emerging need of the infrastructure professionals in the country and combines technical, managerial, financial as well as socio-economic aspects of infrastructure development in India. It covers sector profile and developments, issues and options, planning principles, practice, financing and cost recovery. It covers most of the important aspects related to highways, common software, planning & design parameters, financing models and important case studies. The course modules can be downloaded at the NPTEL website here