Establishing a meaningful, accurate capital improvement plan requires a delicate touch in balancing financial, practical, administrative, and political considerations. Further, the information requirements for managing a capital improvement program (CIP) can be staggering. In facing all these pressures and managing the pertinent information, an automated system can help. The Detroit Water and Sewerage Department's CIP was out of control. The status of projects underway was unclear and projects were added or rescheduled with no analysis on the financial impact or human resources. Most of the problems stemmed from lack of efficient internal communication and standard operating procedures. It was determined that a computerized database management system would help. This paper details the planning process used to design the CIP and describes the software's features. It also shows how the CIP systems works on a theoretical example. Perhaps the most important result of the process has been the improvement in internal communication regarding CIPs. The CIP Monitoring and Tracking System serves as the nerve center for the communications network.