Ornova CivilWorks

Product overview

Ornova CivilWorks is a Windows desktop application for civil-engineering estimation. It is built around the schedules Indian public-works engineers actually cost against — DSR, USSOR and departmental schedules of rates — and takes a job from first survey through to a running-account bill without leaving the application.

It is aimed at estimators, junior and senior section engineers and executives preparing work orders, tenders and proposals in railway, CPWD and state public-works offices.

What it does

• Zonal work orders — build a bill of quantities from a survey sheet, with measurement break-ups behind each quantity, and export the work order to Excel.
• Tender schedules — assemble sub-works, apply D&G charges, overheads and other percentage additions, and produce a formatted tender schedule.
• Proposals and costing — cost a proposed work from the rate database for sanction and approval.
• Bills and material consumption — running-account bills with cumulative quantities, and material consumption derived from the analysis of rates for each item.
• Schedule and analysis library — hold several schedules of rates side by side with their analysis of rates and reference PDFs.

Everything runs locally. The application works without an internet connection; a connection is used only to verify the licence periodically, to download published content and to check for updates.

System requirements

Installation guide

Installing

1. Download Ornova-CivilWorks-Setup.exe using the button at the top of this page.
2. Run it. Windows shows a blue “Windows protected your PC” notice because the installer is not yet code-signed — choose More info → Run anyway. To satisfy yourself the download is genuine first, check its SHA-256 against the value in the installer details above:
   certutil -hashfile Ornova-CivilWorks-Setup.exe SHA256
3. Follow the wizard. You can accept the default location or choose your own.
4. Start it from the Start Menu, or the desktop shortcut if you asked for one.

Upgrading

Run the newer installer — it replaces the existing version in place. There is no need to uninstall first, and nothing needs copying across: your projects, schedules and licence are stored separately from the program. If the application is open, the installer closes it and reopens it when finished.

From version 2.1.1 onwards the application checks for updates itself and offers to install them, so this is usually automatic.

Uninstalling

Settings → Apps → Ornova CivilWorks → Uninstall. Close the application first, or some files will be left behind. Uninstalling removes the program only — your projects and schedules remain on the computer, and reinstalling picks them up again.

First-time setup

A new installation starts with an empty rate library, so the first task is to load a schedule. A setup prompt appears on first launch to guide this; it does not reappear once you have data.

1. Load a schedule of rates

Three routes, all under CivilWorks Library:

• Content Hub — download a schedule published by Ornova Labs. Each package is checked against a published signature before installing, so a corrupted or altered download is refused rather than imported.
• Import package — install a .ocwp package file given to you by a colleague or another office.
• Upload a CSV — in Settings, give the schedule a name and select a prepared CSV. A sample template is available on the same screen.

Several schedules can be held at once — for example a DSR part and a state USSOR — and you choose the active one on the home screen.

2. Add the analysis of rates

Settings → Manage AOR Data imports the analysis behind each item. This is what lets the application work out material consumption later; without it, bills still work but material figures cannot be derived.

3. Office profile and agencies

Inside a work order, Office Profiles records the office details printed on exports, and Agencies & Works holds the contractors and works you assign jobs to. Entering these once keeps every subsequent export consistent.

4. Activate the computer

Use Activate at the top right and sign in with your Ornova account. Activation uses one seat of your licence. A new installation runs as a 30-day trial with full function, so you can evaluate it before activating.

Professional estimation

Estimation begins from a schedule item, not a blank sheet. Search the active schedule by item number or by description, add the item, and enter the quantity.

Measurement break-ups

A quantity can be entered directly, or built from a measurement break-up — number, length, breadth and depth, row by row, totalled automatically. The break-up stays attached to the item, so a checking officer can see how a figure was arrived at rather than being asked to trust it.

Rates

Rates come from the active schedule, with the schedule's own unit and “per” value applied. Where an item is quoted per 10 or per 100 units, the application accounts for that rather than treating the rate as per single unit.

Searching

Item search matches from the start of the item number, so searching 5.6 returns 5.6 and 5.6.1 — not every code that happens to contain those characters. Descriptions can be searched in plain words.

Reference documents

Reference PDFs stored alongside a schedule can be opened at a specific item: the viewer jumps to the match and highlights it, so the printed schedule page can be checked against the item being costed.

Drafts and exports

Work saves as a draft at any point and reloads later. Completed estimates export to Excel as a survey sheet or a work order, with the office details from your profile as the header.

BOQ workflow

A bill of quantities is built inside a work order, tender or proposal, depending on what the document is for.

Zonal work order

For a zonal or departmental job. Items are added to a survey sheet with their quantities and measurement break-ups, then exported either as the survey sheet for checking, or as a formal work order.

Tender schedule

For tendered work. A tender is organised into sub-works, each with its own bill of quantities. The module totals the sub-works and then applies the additions a tender needs — departmental and general charges, overheads, percentage additions and lump-sum items — producing the schedule sheet in the expected format.

Proposal and costing

For costing a work before sanction. Items are priced from the rate database against a proposal number and name of work, and exported for approval.

Running-account bills

Once work is under way, Bills & Materials produces running-account bills. Enter the quantity executed for this bill; the application keeps the cumulative quantity and amount against each item across bills, so the current bill and the running total stay consistent.

Bills can also be raised without a prior work order — for capital or special works — by picking items directly from a schedule.

Contract management

Contract handling is organised around the agencies you award work to and the documents produced for them.

Agencies and works

Agencies & Works Management, reached from inside a work order, holds the contractors and the works assigned to them. Once recorded, an agency can be selected on any subsequent document rather than re-typed, which keeps names and details identical across a job's paperwork.

Tender documents

The tender module produces the priced schedule that forms part of the contract document, with sub-works, departmental and general charges and other additions applied at the rates your office uses.

Running-account billing

Payment against a contract is tracked through running-account bills. Each bill records the quantity executed in that bill and the cumulative quantity to date, so the position against each scheduled item is visible at any stage.

Material consumption

For departmental supply and reconciliation, material consumption is worked out from the analysis of rates behind each billed item, giving the quantity of cement, steel, aggregate and other materials that the billed work accounts for. See the estimation and BOQ sections above for how the underlying analysis is loaded.

Data, backup and recovery

Where your data is kept

Your projects, schedules, analysis of rates, reference PDFs, settings and licence are stored separately from the program, in:

%LocalAppData%\OrnovaCivilWorks

Paste that into the address bar of File Explorer to open it. Because it sits outside the program folder, upgrading and uninstalling never touch your work.

Backing up

Settings → Database Backup → Backup Now writes a single backup file you can copy to a network drive or USB. Restore from Backup brings it back. Take a backup before importing a large schedule or making a bulk change — it is the quickest way back if the import is not what you expected.

Copying the whole %LocalAppData%\OrnovaCivilWorks folder is equally valid and also captures the reference PDF library.

Moving to another computer

Install the application on the new machine, restore your backup, and activate. If your licence has no spare seat, release the old computer first from the licence portal — deactivating a computer there never deletes anything stored on it.

Sharing a library between offices

CivilWorks Library → Export Package writes a .ocwp file containing selected schedules with their analysis of rates and reference documents. Another installation imports the same file, which is a more reliable way to distribute a rate library than passing spreadsheets around.

Privacy

Estimates, bills and project data stay on your computer. They are not uploaded to Ornova Labs. What does leave the machine is limited to licence verification and content or update downloads.

Troubleshooting

“Windows protected your PC” when installing

Expected — the installer is not yet code-signed. Choose More info → Run anyway. To confirm the file is genuine, compare its SHA-256 with the value in the installer details above.

“All seats are in use”

Each activated computer uses one seat, and a rebuilt or replaced PC counts as a new one. Sign in at the licence portal and deactivate the computer you no longer use — nothing on that machine is deleted — then activate the new one.

The rate library is empty

No schedule has been loaded yet. Open CivilWorks Library and download one from the Content Hub, import a .ocwp package, or upload a CSV from Settings.

Material consumption is missing or zero

Material figures are derived from the analysis of rates. If the analysis has not been imported for that schedule, or the particular item has no material lines in its analysis, no materials can be worked out. Load the analysis through Settings → Manage AOR Data.

Item search returns nothing

Item numbers match from the beginning, so a leading fragment such as 5.6 is correct, but a middle fragment will not match. Check too that the schedule you expect is the active one on the home screen.

A reference PDF will not open at the right item

The viewer needs the Microsoft Edge WebView2 runtime, present on current Windows installations. If PDFs do not display at all, installing the WebView2 runtime from Microsoft resolves it.

The licence will not verify

Verification needs an occasional internet connection; between checks the application keeps working offline for 30 days. If it has been longer, connect to the internet and reopen the application. A computer whose clock is badly wrong can also fail verification — correct the date and time and try again.

Something else

A log of application errors is kept in %LocalAppData%\OrnovaCivilWorks\Logs. Attaching the most recent file to a support request usually identifies the problem quickly.

Release notes

2.2.0 — 26 August 2026

This release removes the licence key from everyday use and adds the ways of activating a computer that a railway or CPWD office actually needs.

• No licence key to type. Sign in with the email address and password you bought with, and the software finds your licence itself. If you bought online, there was never a key to copy — it is created when your account is.
• Create your account on the web. Register at civil.ornovalabs.com/portal/register and any purchase waiting against that address is applied straight away.
• Sign in through your browser instead of typing a password into the application, so your password manager works as usual.
• Sign in with a code shown on screen and entered on your phone or another computer — for machines where a browser cannot be opened.
• Activate a computer with no internet at all. The offline machine writes a request file; you upload it from any connected computer and bring the response back on the same USB stick.
• Unattended deployment for IT departments. A deployment key passed to a silent install activates each machine on first run, with nobody sitting at it: Ornova-CivilWorks-Setup.exe /SILENT /DEPLOYKEY=OCW-DEP-…
• Seats that look after themselves. A computer that stops checking in for 45 days releases its seat automatically, so reimaged and replaced PCs stop consuming licences. Administrators get a seat ledger showing who is using what and when each was last seen, and a warning before the licence is full rather than after.
• A free edition instead of a dead end. When a trial ends the software keeps working — one project at a time, with an evaluation mark on printed and exported documents. Nothing is locked and nothing is deleted. Everyone who installed before this release keeps unrestricted use.

2.1.4 — 23 August 2026

• The AOR import screen and the master-rate import on the Settings page now offer a Sample CSV format button. It writes a small worked example so the expected columns are visible before you import, rather than being inferred from an error.
• Both screens now say what to do when a schedule will not convert: send the PDF to Ornova Labs and we will extract and publish it for you.
• Fixed: on the Settings screen the developer panel could overlap the backup and restore buttons at some window sizes, making Backup Database hard to click.

2.1.3 — 22 August 2026

• Licence renewals are now signed by the computer they come from, so a licence key and computer name are no longer sufficient on their own to keep a copy running. This happens automatically.
• Holders of a multi-seat licence can set up an organisation from the licence portal: add colleagues by email and manage every activated computer in one place.
• Modules that are not yet built now say so, rather than implying they are a paid extra.

2.1.2 — 16 August 2026

• Fixed: on a computer where the application had been installed without administrator rights, an update installed a second copy instead of replacing the first.

2.1.1 — 16 August 2026

• Automatic updates. New versions are verified against Ornova's signature before anything runs.
• Fixed: on the Settings screen, the developer panel covered the backup and restore buttons.

2.1.0 — 15 August 2026

• Accounts and per-seat activation, with a web portal for managing activated computers.
• Organisations, so a department can hold one licence covering many engineers.
• Content Hub for downloading published schedules, analysis of rates and reference documents, each verified against a published signature.
• Errata patches, so a correction to a published schedule arrives without a full re-download.
• Bills and material consumption, including bills for works with no prior work order.
• Reference PDF search that opens the document at the matching item and highlights it.

Corrections in 2.1.0 that affect figures:

• Analysis-of-rates coefficients were read as though every analysis were for a single unit, ignoring batch headings such as “Details of cost for 10 × 9.18 cum”. Material consumption derived from batched items was wrong and is now divided by the stated batch size.
• A cross-reference row immediately following a genuine material row could zero that material.
• Items whose analysis had no MATERIAL heading produced no materials at all.
• Rounding in the procurement summary now always rounds up to the next whole unit — 30.02 bags is 31 bags.