Successful Practices in GIS-Based Asset Management (2015)

Below is the uncorrected machine-read text of this chapter, intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text of each book. Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.

1 C H A P T E R 1 1.1 Document Overview This is the Final Report for NCHRP Project 08-87, “Success- ful Practices in GIS-Based Asset Management.” It summa- rizes the objectives, scope, methodology, and deliverables of the project. This first chapter provides an overview of the project. Chapter 2 documents the information gathering and guid- ance development activities. Chapter 3 covers the outreach components of the project. Chapter 4 provides a brief sum- mary of the products and conclusions from the research. Major project deliverables are included as Annexes to this report. 1.2 Project Overview Background Transportation asset management (TAM) is a strategic approach to managing physical assets throughout their life cycle. Effective TAM practice involves data-driven decision making leading to doing the right thing at the right place at the right time. Key asset management processes include (1) establishment of asset service levels that reflect engi- neering standards, customer input, and demand/utilization; (2) development of maintenance and rehabilitation strate- gies to provide the established service levels while minimiz- ing life-cycle agency and user costs; (3) resource allocation across and within asset categories based on investment versus performance trade offs; and (4) work packaging, scheduling, and management strategies that make best use of available resources. Sound asset management decisions depend on good information about the assets themselves (location con- dition, age, service life, and work history), their function as part of the transportation system, and their criticality/ consequences of failure. Geographic information system (GIS) technology offers valuable capabilities for enhancing the practice of asset man- agement. It allows transportation agency staff to access and analyze multiple sources of information and gain important insights to guide decision making. GIS enables integration of disparate data entities using location as the common denominator, visualization of multiple data layers for a selected area or network location, map-based data access for viewing and editing, and spatial analysis involving que- ries of information based on proximity, route, or geospa- tial feature. In addition, GIS technology (including global positioning systems or GPS) provides a cost-effective means of collecting geospatially-referenced data in the field for inventory, inspection, and work recording. It also allows for innovative “crowd-sourcing” approaches in which citizens can report locations of asset deficiencies via mobile devices or desktop tools. Perhaps the greatest payoff from using GIS technologies in asset management relates to enhancing decision support through integrating data. TAM relies on combining infor- mation from multiple sources: road network and inventory, asset inventory (which is often maintained separately for different assets), inspections, capital projects—historical and planned, maintenance activities, work requests, traffic, freight movements, crashes, soil characteristics, weather, and other land and environmental data sets. Many agen- cies achieve this data integration through special purpose, time-consuming efforts that require specialized expertise. Siloed asset management systems are loaded with the data required for specific analysis tasks, and must be periodi- cally synchronized as source systems are updated. Some- times, similar data are maintained in multi ple systems, which creates “multiple versions of the truth” and neces- sitates a resource-intensive data cleaning process to get to a single, consistent source. In addition, the time consum- ing nature of data integration processes imposes barriers to Introduction

2agencies’ ability to conduct analysis tasks that would clearly result in improved decision making. GIS can enable agen- cies to achieve efficiencies in use of data and advance deci- sion support capabilities. While use of GIS for asset management has advanced in recent years as tools have evolved, much of the emphasis to date has been on geospatial enabling of inventory data, with limited progress on more targeted analysis tools. The current level of implementation is uneven across public-sector trans- portation agencies and between public- and private-sector organizations with asset management responsibilities. Some agencies have faced roadblocks related to resource limita- tions, technology choices, and organizational alignment whereas others have been able to successfully navigate these challenges. There is a need to identify and document successful practices and disseminate this information in a form that enables all transportation agencies to enhance their use of GIS and realize efficiencies and enhanced asset management decision support. Recognizing that improving GIS capabil- ities requires an up-front investment, it is also important to clearly articulate the benefits to be achieved, and, where possible, quantify the payoff from such investments. Objectives The objectives of NCHRP Project 08-87, “Successful Prac- tices in GIS-Based Asset Management” were to (1) develop guidance for how state departments of transportation (DOTs) and other transportation agencies can enhance their asset-management capabilities through effective adop- tion of GIS technologies and (2) encourage more extensive adoption of GIS applications in asset management by con- ducting pilot demonstrations and workshops. This included an Executive Guide targeted at senior DOT leadership that communicates the business case for investment in GIS asset management applications and a second, more in-depth Implementation Guide with lessons learned from current practice, approaches to evaluating benefits of adoption of GIS technologies, and strategies for how an agency can effectively apply GIS technologies in transportation asset management. Research Scope and Tasks This research project was carried out in three phases. Phase 1: Draft Guidance. Phase 1 involved information gath- ering and synthesis, and development of an initial version of the Executive Guide and a detailed outline of the Imple- mentation Guide. It concluded with a panel meeting to provide direction on completion of the guides and conduct of the outreach activities. Phase 1 was organized into the following tasks: • Task 1. Information Gathering—review of the use of geo- spatial technologies supporting management of fixed- capital assets. • Task 2. Technical Memo 1—synthesis of lessons learned and identification of content for inclusion in the guides. • Task 3. Draft Executive Guide—development of an ini- tial draft of guidance designed specifically for an execu- tive audience. • Task 4. Implementation Guide Outline—completion of a detailed outline for the practitioner’s guide. • Task 5. Interim Report 1—documentation of the results of Tasks 1 through 4. • Task 6. Panel Meeting—day-long discussion of Interim Report 1 and future project directions. Phase 2: Case Studies, Final Guidance, and Pilot Design. Phase 2 focused on developing a complete draft of the Implementation Guide with a set of case study examples documenting current GIS applications and best practices supporting asset management. In addition, pilot demon- strations and adoption activities were identified. Phase 2 included five tasks: • Task 7. Case Studies—development of case studies illus- trating agency practices for using GIS within asset man- agement business processes. • Task 8. Draft Implementation Guide—development of a draft Implementation Guide reflecting comments from the panel and integrating the case studies. • Task 9. Revised Executive Guide—revision of the draft Executive Guide reflecting comments from the panel. • Task 10. Interim Report 2—documentation of the results of Tasks 7 through 9. • Task 11. Technical Memo 2—work plan for conducting pilots and adoption activities. Phase 3: Outreach. Phase 3 involved developing and docu- menting pilot demonstrations and conducting workshops and webinars to disseminate the guidance. It involved the following four tasks: • Task 12. Conduct Pilot Demonstrations—develop demonstrations that illustrate use of GIS in asset management. • Task 13. Conduct Adoption Activities—conduct workshops and webinars that disseminate the guid- ance materials and demonstrate the completed pilots. • Task 14. Draft Final Report—prepare a draft final report summarizing the results of the project. • Task 15. Final Report—prepare a final report respond- ing to panel comments on the draft final report.

3 Distribution of Research Products from NCHRP Project 08-87 NCHRP Project 08-87 produced the following products: • Executive Guide. • Implementation Guide. • Pilot Demonstrations—interactive viewer. • Workshop and webinar presentations. Webinar presentations have been posted on the AASHTO/ Transportation Asset Management Website (http://tam. transportation.org/Pages/Webinars.aspx#gis). The inter- active viewer for the Pilot Demonstrations is available at http://sites.spypondpartners.com/nchrp0887/pilots/. Work- shop presentation slides from the Miami Transportation Asset Management conference are available at: http://sites. spypondpartners.com/nchrp0887/tam-conference/slides/ Miami2014.pdf.