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Effectively managing information in a state transportation agency is critical to the agencyâs ability to perform its mission of delivering safe, accessible, and sustainable transportation for people and goods while meeting performance goals under increasing resource constraints. Delivering projects on time and in budget is a high-priority performance goal that is both easily measured and highly visible. Fundamental to delivering projects is the ability to acquire real property within the required time frame. Acquiring property and relocating the affected people and businesses relies on knowing precisely and quickly the status of the different aspects of the acquisition and relocation process. Effectively managing the information required to perform these functions is at the heart of an enterprise-wide information management system for right-of-way offices. Geospatially enabling the system adds the âwhereâ to managing this information. This visual capability greatly improves the information management systemâs communication of project status and information regarding the processes involved in the acquisition and management of real property. Why Is an Information Management System Important? A well-designed and implemented information management system can substantially improve management of resources, including personnel, money, information, and time. With the prevalence of networked communication and electronic data collection, analysis, visualization, and sharing, interoperable and immediate access to information is expected from both employees and the public. An integrated information system provides the ability to electronically store and access the large amount of documents, drawings, reports, and project-related information, which improves overall quality and reduces the potential for duplicated effort. The benefits of an information management system include the following: ⢠Improved on-time delivery of project real property ⢠Expedited project award ⢠Reduced staffing and/or improved staff efficiency ⢠Improved scheduling ⢠Improved access to information internally and by the public ⢠Improved customer service and public relations ⢠Improved documentation and reporting uniformity ⢠Reduced time to perform tasks 1 S U M M A R Y Guide for Implementing a Geospatially Enabled Enterprise-wide Information Management System for Transportation Agency Real Estate Offices
⢠Reduced redundancy in data entry and access ⢠Improved oversight capabilities ⢠Increased management flexibility ⢠Improved integration, use, and sharing of information Including geospatial capabilities in the system enhances the ability to visualize, in a map, the status of parcels in a single project or across all active projects for any aspect of the acquisition or relocation process. As the system becomes mature, information from parcels on past projects becomes available for showing spatial trends and distributions of characteristics by region, land use (urban vs. rural), or other location-based analysis. Geospatial visualization can be used to show the following: ⢠Status of parcels in the acquisition/relocation process ⢠Purchase price of parcels ⢠Parcels by type of acquisition ⢠Parcels processed by a given agent ⢠Parcels with unique requirements ⢠Potential relocation properties An important consideration is that without an enterprise-wide information management system, decision makers are limited in their ability to identify opportunities and challenges quickly and react appropriately in time to take advantage or counter potential impacts. What Should an Information Management System Do? The goal of a right-of-way information management system is maximizing quality to meet agency performance goals while optimizing resources. Specific objectives are defined by the agency when it begins the implementation process. If the information system is designed as a broad work environment, it should support the business needs and requirements of acquiring property and relocating people and businesses, including these activities: ⢠Standardizing input and output ⢠Standardizing reporting ⢠Seamlessly exchanging information with other agency systems ⢠Standardizing and streamlining business processes and rules with well-designed procedures and graphic user interfaces ⢠Providing local and/or centralized performance of business activities with local and/or centralized oversight If the system is designed as an electronic ledger built on an agency-wide database, it should support the management of information required for operating the right-of-way, including the following activities: ⢠Standardizing input and output ⢠Standardizing reporting ⢠Seamlessly exchanging information with other agency systems If or when the system is geospatially enabled, it should include the ability to visualize any information associated with a parcel, project, roadway, or other location-based feature to provide an intuitive and easily understood representation of that information for use in performing right-of-way activities, decision making, or resource allocation. With enhanced analysis tools, geospatial enablement can be used as a decision support tool to aid in evaluating and analyzing characteristics such as existence and mitigation of hazardous materials, early consideration of terrain complexities, potential relocation of utilities, and determination of suitability of excess property for sale or other uses. 2 Guide for Implementing a Geospatially Enabled Enterprise-wide Information Management System
How Should an Information Management System Be Implemented? Transportation agencies, in general, have defined procedures for implementing new technologies within the agency including both hardware and software. Understanding and working within this process is critical to the success of any new system. For systems that require a large commitment in time and funds, obtaining support from the upper management within the agency prior to initiating the formal process is also critical. Once these two factors have been addressed, the process to implement an information management system is well documented and follows standard procedures as shown in Figure 1. Implementation is typically considered complete at the point when the system being implemented has transitioned to âbusiness as usualâ for its users. This document provides a guide to implementing a geospatially enabled enterprise-wide information management system for right-of-way offices and can be used with or without the accompanying logical model. Overview of the Guide This guide and corresponding logical model provided on the attached CD were developed in response to the NCHRP Project 8-55 and as part of the continuation project 8-55A. NCHRP 8-55A recognized state transportation agenciesâ need for a rational method (1) to manage the large amount of information required to acquire real property and relocate affected people and businesses for transportation projects and (2) that would incorporate geospatial tools and analyses. The guide was written for the individual and steering group that will be shepherding the implementation process with step-by-step guidance through each of the first six procedures outlined in Figure 1. The appendices that are available on the NCHRP Report 695 summary web page (www.trb.org/Main/Blurbs/165239.aspx) provide more detailed information on how to include or modify the logical model, should an agency decide to incorporate it into its design. The basis for the guide and its use and the underlying precepts of the approach to the logical model are presented with reference to the NCHRP project, the Uniform Act, and the Federal Highway Administrationâs Project Development Guide. The implementation guide and logical model were designed with an emphasis on flexibility, given the unique nature of each state agency and the state laws that govern many of the activities undertaken by right-of-way offices as well as the varying cultures that prevail in both how business is performed and how technology is incorporated into that business. Appendix A provides two executive summaries that can be used to support the initial marketing required to obtain upper level support for the information management system. The first summary focuses on the benefits of having a system, while the second highlights the necessary components to successfully implement a system. Summary 3 Formalize support Assess requirements Assess capabilities Define the system Develop implemen- tation plan Implement system Maintain system Figure 1. Implementation process for an information management system.