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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2008. Information Technology for Efficient Project Delivery. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14213.
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TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH BOARD WASHINGTON, D.C. 2008 www.TRB.org NAT IONAL COOPERAT IVE H IGHWAY RESEARCH PROGRAM NCHRP SYNTHESIS 385 Research Sponsored by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials in Cooperation with the Federal Highway Administration SUBJECT AREAS Pavement Design, Management, and Performance and Materials and Construction Information Technology for Efficient Project Delivery A Synthesis of Highway Practice CONSULTANTS JOHN JEFFREY HANNON and TULIO SULBARAN University of Southern Mississippi Hattiesburg, Mississippi

NATIONAL COOPERATIVE HIGHWAY RESEARCH PROGRAM Systematic, well-designed research provides the most effective approach to the solution of many problems facing highway administrators and engineers. Often, highway problems are of local interest and can best be studied by highway departments individually or in cooperation with their state universities and others. However, the accelerating growth of highway transportation develops increasingly complex problems of wide interest to highway authorities. These problems are best studied through a coordinated program of cooperative research. In recognition of these needs, the highway administrators of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials initiated in 1962 an objective national highway research program employing modern scientific techniques. This program is supported on a continuing basis by funds from participating member states of the Association and it receives the full cooperation and support of the Federal Highway Administration, United States Department of Transportation. The Transportation Research Board of the National Academies was requested by the Association to administer the research program because of the Board’s recognized objectivity and understanding of modern research practices. The Board is uniquely suited for this purpose as it maintains an extensive committee structure from which authorities on any highway transportation subject may be drawn; it possesses avenues of communications and cooperation with federal, state, and local governmental agencies, universities, and industry; its relationship to the National Research Council is an insurance of objectivity; it maintains a full-time research correlation staff of specialists in highway transportation matters to bring the findings of research directly to those who are in a position to use them. The program is developed on the basis of research needs identified by chief administrators of the highway and transportation departments and by committees of AASHTO. Each year, specific areas of research needs to be included in the program are proposed to the National Research Council and the Board by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. Research projects to fulfill these needs are defined by the Board, and qualified research agencies are selected from those that have submitted proposals. Administration and surveillance of research contracts are the responsibilities of the National Research Council and the Transportation Research Board. The needs for highway research are many, and the National Cooperative Highway Research Program can make significant contributions to the solution of highway transportation problems of mutual concern to many responsible groups. The program, however, is intended to complement rather than to substitute for or duplicate other highway research programs. Published reports of the NATIONAL COOPERATIVE HIGHWAY RESEARCH PROGRAM are available from: Transportation Research Board Business Office 500 Fifth Street, NW Washington, DC 20001 and can be ordered through the Internet at: http://www.national-academies.org/trb/bookstore Printed in the United States of America NCHRP SYNTHESIS 385 Project 20-5 (Topic 38-02) ISSN 0547-5570 ISBN 0-309-09812-0 Library of Congress Control No. 2008906009 © 2008 Transportation Research Board COPYRIGHT PERMISSION Authors herein are responsible for the authenticity of their materials and for obtaining written permissions from publishers or persons who own the copyright to any previously published or copyrighted material used herein. Cooperative Research Programs (CRP) grants permission to reproduce material in this publication for classroom and not-for-profit purposes. Permission is given with the understanding that none of the material will be used to imply TRB, AASHTO, FAA, FHWA, FMCSA, FTA, or Transit Development Corporation endorsement of a particular product, method, or practice. It is expected that those reproducing the material in this document for educational and not-for-profit uses will give appropriate acknowledgment of the source of any reprinted or reproduced material. For other uses of the material, request permission from CRP. NOTICE The project that is the subject of this report was a part of the National Cooperative Highway Research Program conducted by the Transportation Research Board with the approval of the Governing Board of the National Research Council. Such approval reflects the Governing Board’s judgment that the program concerned is of national importance and appropriate with respect to both the purposes and resources of the National Research Council. The members of the technical committee selected to monitor this project and to review this report were chosen for recognized scholarly competence and with due consideration for the balance of disciplines appropriate to the project. The opinions and conclusions expressed or implied are those of the research agency that performed the research, and, while they have been accepted as appropriate by the technical committee, they are not necessarily those of the Transportation Research Board, the National Research Council, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, or the Federal Highway Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation. Each report is reviewed and accepted for publication by the technical committee according to procedures established and monitored by the Transportation Research Board Executive Committee and the Governing Board of the National Research Council. NOTE: The Transportation Research Board of the National Academies, the National Research Council, the Federal Highway Administration, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, and the individual states participating in the National Cooperative Highway Research Program do not endorse products or manufacturers. Trade or manufacturers’ names appear herein solely because they are considered essential to the object of this report.

The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit, self-perpetuating society of distinguished schol- ars engaged in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the furtherance of science and technology and to their use for the general welfare. On the authority of the charter granted to it by the Congress in 1863, the Academy has a mandate that requires it to advise the federal government on scientific and techni- cal matters. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone is president of the National Academy of Sciences. The National Academy of Engineering was established in 1964, under the charter of the National Acad- emy of Sciences, as a parallel organization of outstanding engineers. It is autonomous in its administration and in the selection of its members, sharing with the National Academy of Sciences the responsibility for advising the federal government. The National Academy of Engineering also sponsors engineering programs aimed at meeting national needs, encourages education and research, and recognizes the superior achieve- ments of engineers. Dr. Charles M. Vest is president of the National Academy of Engineering. The Institute of Medicine was established in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences to secure the services of eminent members of appropriate professions in the examination of policy matters pertaining to the health of the public. The Institute acts under the responsibility given to the National Academy of Sciences by its congressional charter to be an adviser to the federal government and, on its own initiative, to identify issues of medical care, research, and education. Dr. Harvey V. Fineberg is president of the Institute of Medicine. The National Research Council was organized by the National Academy of Sciences in 1916 to associate the broad community of science and technology with the Academyís purposes of furthering knowledge and advising the federal government. Functioning in accordance with general policies determined by the Acad- emy, the Council has become the principal operating agency of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering in providing services to the government, the public, and the scien- tific and engineering communities. The Council is administered jointly by both the Academies and the Insti- tute of Medicine. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone and Dr. Charles M. Vest are chair and vice chair, respectively, of the National Research Council. The Transportation Research Board is one of six major divisions of the National Research Council. The mission of the Transportation Research Board is to provide leadership in transportation innovation and progress through research and information exchange, conducted within a setting that is objective, interdisci- plinary, and multimodal. The Board’s varied activities annually engage about 7,000 engineers, scientists, and other transportation researchers and practitioners from the public and private sectors and academia, all of whom contribute their expertise in the public interest. The program is supported by state transportation depart- ments, federal agencies including the component administrations of the U.S. Department of Transportation, and other organizations and individuals interested in the development of transportation. www.TRB.org www.national-academies.org

NCHRP COMMITTEE FOR PROJECT 20-5 CHAIR CATHERINE NELSON, Oregon DOT MEMBERS KATHLEEN S. AMES, Illinois DOT STUART D. ANDERSON, Texas A&M University CYNTHIA J. BURBANK, PB Americas, Inc. LISA FREESE, Scoot County (MN) Public Works Division MALCOLM T. KERLEY, Virginia DOT RICHARD D. LAND, California DOT JAMES W. MARCH, Federal Highway Administration MARK A. MAREK, Texas DOT JOHN M. MASON, JR., Auburn University ANANTH PRASAD, HNTB Corporation ROBERT L. SACK, New York State DOT FRANCINE SHAW-WHITSON, Federal Highway Administration LARRY VELASQUEZ, New Mexico DOT FHWA LIAISON WILLIAM ZACCAGNINO TRB LIAISON STEPHEN F. MAHER COOPERATIVE RESEARCH PROGRAMS STAFF CHRISTOPHER W. JENKS, Director, Cooperative Research Programs CRAWFORD F. JENCKS, Deputy Director, Cooperative Research Programs NANDA SRINIVASAN, Senior Program Officer EILEEN DELANEY, Director of Publications NCHRP SYNTHESIS STAFF STEPHEN R. GODWIN, Director for Studies and Special Programs JON M. WILLIAMS, Associate Director, IDEA and Synthesis Studies GAIL STABA, Senior Program Officer DONNA L. VLASAK, Senior Program Officer DON TIPPMAN, Editor CHERYL KEITH, Senior Program Assistant TOPIC PANEL WILEY D. CUNAGIN, Applied Research Associates, Inc. KEVIN J. DAYTON, Washington State Department of Transportation FREDERICK HEJL, Transportation Research Board EDWARD J. JASELSKIS, National Science Foundation KOUROSH LANGARI, URS Corporation N. BEN NELSON, Kansas Department of Transportation GEORGE RAYMOND, Oklahoma Department of Transportation KEN JACOBY, Federal Highway Administration (Liaison) KATHERINA A. PETROS, Federal Highway Administration (Liaison) ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The authors would like to express thanks to the following for their contribution to this report: AASHTO; Gail Staba, Senior Program Offi- cer, NCHRP Synthesis Staff; The NCHRP Topic 38-02 Synthesis Study Panel Members; Desmond Fletcher, The University of Southern Missis- sippi; Mohd Fairuz Shiratuddin, The University of Southern Mississippi; Dan Streett, New York State Department of Transportation; Pete Melas, New York State Department of Transportation; Daryl Greer, Kentucky Transportation Cabinet; Charles Knowles, Kentucky Transportation Cabinet; Michelle Hannon; Virginia Sulbaran; and Tarlei Lewis, Justin Nosser, and Kevin Kitchens, Graduate Assistants.

Highway administrators, engineers, and researchers often face problems for which infor- mation already exists, either in documented form or as undocumented experience and prac- tice. This information may be fragmented, scattered, and unevaluated. As a consequence, full knowledge of what has been learned about a problem may not be brought to bear on its solution. Costly research findings may go unused, valuable experience may be overlooked, and due consideration may not be given to recommended practices for solving or alleviat- ing the problem. There is information on nearly every subject of concern to highway administrators and engineers. Much of it derives from research or from the work of practitioners faced with problems in their day-to-day work. To provide a systematic means for assembling and eval- uating such useful information and to make it available to the entire highway community, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials—through the mechanism of the National Cooperative Highway Research Program—authorized the Transportation Research Board to undertake a continuing study. This study, NCHRP Project 20-5, “Synthesis of Information Related to Highway Problems,” searches out and synthesizes useful knowledge from all available sources and prepares concise, documented reports on specific topics. Reports from this endeavor constitute an NCHRP report series, Synthesis of Highway Practice. This synthesis series reports on current knowledge and practice, in a compact format, without the detailed directions usually found in handbooks or design manuals. Each report in the series provides a compendium of the best knowledge available on those measures found to be the most successful in resolving specific problems. FOREWORD This synthesis identifies “best practices” for the seamless sharing of information through- out all phases of the project delivery process. Best practices were reported by survey respon- dents and through literature review in the department of transportation (DOT) Planning, Design, Procurement, Construction, and Operations and Maintenance functional areas, including procedural, institutional, human, and technical constraints and mechanisms. Prin- cipal investigators surveyed DOT information technology and project/program manage- ment professionals on DOT data exchange practices. After analysis of the data, several DOTs were selected for close inspection case studies. The results of these surveys, along with a review of literature published on the subject of data interoperability associated with project lifecycle processes, constitute the basis of this report. Information presented in this report was derived from a survey questionnaire and supple- mented by a literature search, as well as a DOT case study. John Jeffrey Hannon and Tulio Sulbaran, University of Southern Mississippi, Hatties- burg, collected and synthesized the information and wrote the report. The members of the topic panel are acknowledged on the preceding page. This synthesis is an immediately useful document that records the practices that were acceptable within the limitations of the knowledge available at the time of its preparation. As progress in research and practice continues, new knowledge will be added to that now at hand. PREFACE By Gail Staba Senior Program Officer Transportation Research Board

CONTENTS 1 SUMMARY 5 CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 10 CHAPTER TWO DATA COLLECTION AND CRITERIA FOR IDENTIFICATION OF ADVANCED PROCESSES 13 CHAPTER THREE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY FOR PLANNING Functional Area Definition, 13 Planning Function Deliverables, 13 Advanced Processes, 13 17 CHAPTER FOUR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY FOR DESIGN Functional Area Definition, 17 Design Function Deliverables, 17 Advanced Processes, 17 21 CHAPTER FIVE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY FOR PROCUREMENT Functional Area Definition, 21 Procurement Function Deliverables, 21 Advanced Processes, 21 23 CHAPTER SIX INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY FOR CONSTRUCTION Functional Area Definition, 23 Construction Function Deliverables, 23 Advanced Processes, 23 26 CHAPTER SEVEN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY FOR OPERATIONS AND MAINTENANCE Functional Area Definition, 26 Operations and Maintenance Function Deliverables, 26 Advanced Processes, 26 29 CHAPTER EIGHT INTEGRATED PROCESS MODEL Integrated Work Process for Project Delivery, 29 Gaps and Solutions, 29 37 CHAPTER NINE CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH 40 REFERENCES

41 GLOSSARY OF TERMS, ABBREVIATIONS, AND ACRONYMS 42 ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY 59 APPENDIX A SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE 65 APPENDIX B RESULTS OF SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE 73 APPENDIX C CASE STUDY INTERVIEW FORM

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TRB's National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Synthesis 385: Information Technology for Efficient Project Delivery explores "best practices" for the seamless sharing of information throughout all phases of the project delivery process.

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