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You have established that you want an information management system and have initiated the process and garnered the appropriate support to move to the next step. In the requirements assessment, you define the scope and goals of the system including the following: ⢠The specific areas to include or âenterprise.â The use of âenterpriseâ here should not be confused with an enterprise database system or GIS discussed earlier in this document. Here, âenterpriseâ refers to the extent of the operational areas that will be included in the system. When used with databases or GIS, âenterpriseâ refers to a systemâs ability to manage multiple datasets or instances of the database or GIS software over multiple machines and multiple users at the same time. ⢠The functions to be performed ⢠Data needed to support those functions ⢠Security issues including who will have access and what rights they will have ⢠What other systems will be part of the design and how these systems will interact with your system ⢠What anticipated technological advances to consider ⢠What legal and regulatory requirements must be addressed This process is not linear and the assessment will continue to evolve as the process moves forward. Partners and Defining the Enterprise The first thing to decide is what functional areas to include in your system. A consideration for determining this is your span of control over resources and processes. Your authority to direct people, money, and equipment determines the boundary between internal and external strategies to system development. (Fletcher 1999) The essential distinction is that internal relationships are based on authority and power and external relationships are based on negotiation. Although this does not define the enterprise, it may be a determining factor when you consider the time and effort necessary to coordinate negotiations with external partners. Table 4 summarizes functional areas that were included in the initial NCHRP 8-55 and 8-55A project statements. Based on results of the research performed in NCHRP 8-55, the focus for the 8-55A logical model and this document was narrowed to the functional areas covered in the FHWA Project Development Guide but includes consideration for the other areas. As indicated in Chapter I, right-of-way activities occur within the project delivery process. To help visualize the various aspects that come into play in the process along with the information in Table 4, a schematic of the project delivery process with the components that are included in the 8-55A logical model is shown in Figure 4. 17 C H A P T E R I I I Assessing Your Requirements
18 Guide for Implementing a Geospatially Enabled Enterprise-wide Information Management System Note: Many of the figures in this report have been converted from color to grayscale for printing. The electronic version of the report (posted on the web at www.trb.org/Main/Blurbs/165239.aspx) retains the color versions. Figure 4. Right-of-way activities within project delivery. Operational Elements Location in 8-55A Logical Model Reference to Project Development Guide Planning Overall Chapter 5 ROW Project Management Overall Chapters 2, 3, 15 Engineering & Mapping External Link â Property Appraisal Appraisal Model Chapters 6, 7, 8, 14 Property Acquisition Acquisition Model Chapters 9, 11, 14 Relocation Assistance Relocation Model Chapter 10 Property/Asset Management Property Management Model Chapter 12 Utility Relocation Management External Link â Outdoor Advertising External Link â Corridor Preservation Overall Chapter 6 Table 4. Functional areas in right-of-way offices.
Establishing Requirements You will want to enumerate the requirements for your system before you start the design. These requirements encompass how you want the system to operate, what you want to accomplish with the system, who will have access, and what functions are essential to performing your business. If you will be contracting the system development, it is important to include this information in your request for bids. Operational considerations include the following: ⢠Internet/intranet-based system or desktop client-server application ⢠Remote access and user management ⢠Public access ⢠Management of data input, use, and output ⢠Inclusion of business rules and decision support modules ⢠Geospatial tracking ⢠Geospatial decision support ⢠Document management Examples of what you might want to accomplish could include the following: ⢠Streamlining your business activities ⢠Managing staff and contractors ⢠Improving your ability to balance workloads ⢠Near real-time monitoring of the status of different aspects of the process ⢠Automatic reporting to upper management and FHWA ⢠Improving your response to owners and persons being relocated ⢠Improving your auditing structure ⢠Improving data quality and reducing redundancy Use Cases To be embraced, the system must serve users for the activities that those users need to accomplish. Each of these different interactions with the system is referred to as a use case. In addition to ensuring that the system provides the necessary functionality, use cases are important in developing the interface design, or GUI, especially procedures for navigating around the system. Use cases are also important for testing the software to ensure that it performs the way the user expects it to. Another purpose for use cases can be to set priorities for software development by focusing on use cases that would provide the greatest net value. Table 5 summarizes use cases that were identified as part of the 8-55A logical model. Business Processes Requirements for the functionality of the system are initially captured when defining the business processes that are necessary to do the business of the right-of-way office. These requirements are then used to build the computer-based UML structure, which is then used to actually write code. The business process diagrams for the 8-55A logical model were extracted from the Project Development Guide (FHWA 2009) and are included in Appendix B. Appendix B explains how to use these diagrams to customize the model to your needs. Table 6 summarizes the high-level business process functions used in the 8-55A logical model. Assessing Your Requirements 19
Best Practices to Be Incorporated If you perform a survey of related efforts and best practices, you will want to evaluate the results to decide what, if any, aspects to include in your effort. One approach to this is to list the components or functionality that you are interested in and rate them using the following: 0âNot applicable 1âDoes not meet requirements 2âPartially meets requirements 3âMeets requirements 4âExceeds requirements 5âOutstanding example You would then evaluate the different components against the corresponding potential cost to determine which, if any, should be incorporated into your design. Legal and Regulatory Requirements and Issues That Must Be Addressed State agencies are required to follow legislative and regulatory mandates related to obtaining real property and relocating those affected. Because your business is built around these mandates, your office is aware of the unique requirements that you must meet. The 8-55A logical model and 20 Guide for Implementing a Geospatially Enabled Enterprise-wide Information Management System Category User Use Case Description General Program Manager Person directing the ROW office Project Manager Personnel managing specific ROW project Legal Counsel Personnel in transportation agency legal department Title Researcher Personnel researching and establishing clear title Internal Auditor Transportation agency auditor ROW Accountant Personnel responsible for ROW project expenses ROW Contract Manager Personnel responsible for ROW project contracts Transportation Agency State transportation agency FHWA Representative FHWA ROW contact Appraisal Appraiser Personnel performing parcel appraisal Appraisal Reviewer Personnel reviewing parcel appraisal Specialty Appraiser Personnel performing any specialty appraisals Owner Property owner Acquisition Negotiator Personnel negotiating sales price with property owner Agency Official Official from agency that has authority to buy parcel Arbitrator Official who has authority to arbitrate the parcel price Title Agent Personnel who establishes clear title of the parcel Legal ROW legal counsel Relocation Relocation Specialist Personnel who assist persons and businesses requiring relocation Displaced Person Person being relocated Displaced Business Owner Owner of a business being relocated Property Management Property Manager Personnel managing agency-owned property Appraiser Personnel appraising agency-owned property for lease or sale Contract Manager Personnel responsible for lease and maintenance contracts Contractors Personnel or contractors responsible for maintaining state-owned properties Oversight Committee Committee that approves state-owned parcel sales Tenant Persons who lease state-owned property Public General public who may have an interest in a project Table 5. Anticipated use cases.
Assessing Your Requirements 21 Right-of-Way Area Business Process Function Project Development Project establishment Initial planning Early acquisition Project authorization Project agreement Funds encumbered ROW mapping and engineering Utility relocation and management Staff identification Parcel identification & cost estimation Title document processing Identification of parcel type Corridor Management Corridor management Appraisal Parcel selection Initial review Appraiser assignment Contract appraiser Value donation Waiver Process Appraisal review Appraiser certificate Just compensation establishment Acquisition Pre-negotiation Negotiation Closing Relocation Relocation planning Services Assistance payments Property Management Pre-construction property management During construction property management Post-construction property management Rodent control Security inspection Hazardous materials Acquired property Construction Project Closing Update excess to inventory Review project plans Accumulate and store records Status report ROW certification State-defined processes Final claims Close accounting Re-open if necessary Encroachment cleaning Excess property disposition Construction Table 6. Summary of high-level business process functions from the Project Development Guide by right-of-way business area. Appendix B indicate the readily identifiable areas as âstate specific,â which are summarized below: ⢠Condemnation and everything associated with pursuing this process to obtain real property ⢠Mobile homes acquisition ⢠Protective buying
⢠Approved state-specific process for appraisal ⢠Approved state-specific process for acquiring property (not condemnation) ⢠Assessments ⢠Functional replacement of publicly owned facilities ⢠Inverse condemnation ⢠Highway access management ⢠Right-of-way leasing ⢠Leasing property outside of the right-of-way ⢠Airspace marketing ⢠Rules for disposing of excess property ⢠Mineral/water rights The 8-55A logical model does not develop these areas any further than to identify them as state specific. As you build your model, you may want to explicitly identify these regulations and the cor- responding activities in your design since these often relate directly to state and federal auditing and reporting requirements. 22 Guide for Implementing a Geospatially Enabled Enterprise-wide Information Management System