Leadership Guide for Strategic Information Management for State Departments of Transportation (2016)

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91 Assessment Tools and Checklists A P P E N D I X A Informaon Improves Agency Decision-Making Staff at all levels have easy, efficient, and managed access to the right informa on at the right me in the right form to make good decisions and effec vely carry out their responsibili es. We use the best available informa on to target our available funds and resources where they will have greatest impact. We use current technologies to provide real- me situa onal awareness that allows our field staff and contractors to operate in a safe and efficient manner. Informaon Is Shared to Provide Transparency and Accountability We provide our customers and stakeholders with meaningful and mely informa on about the condi on and performance of the system, and what we are doing to maintain and improve it, through mul ple channels. We maintain readily accessible informa on about the basis for project selec on and other key decisions. Informaon Is Integral to Effecve Delivery of Service to Customers We provide travelers with mely and accurate informa on that helps them to travel as efficiently and safely as possible. We leverage social media to provide two-way communica on with our customers. We provide mely informa on on the status of customer work requests. Informa on is managed to ensure regulatory compliance and minimize risk exposure. We maintain informa on needed to efficiently meet our repor ng obliga ons. We maintain informa on needed to efficiently respond to public informa on requests. We ac vely manage agency risk exposure associated with informa on protec on, reten on, and access control. Informaon Is Acquired and Managed Efficiently We ensure that informa on acquisi on and management efforts leverage current technologies and services and are sustainable with available funding. We minimize duplica ve or redundant collec on, manipula on, storage, and repor ng of data and informa on. Table A-1. Elements of a DOT information management vision.

92 Leadership Guide for Strategic Information Management for State Departments of Transportation Issues/Improvement Needs Priority of Taking Acon to Address Issue/Need A. Improving Informaon for Beer Internal Decisions Improve ability to get reliable answers to basic ques ons about what we manage and what we are delivering Urgent High Moderate Low Improve ability to provide senior management with an up-to-date picture of key agency performance indicators Urgent High Moderate Low Improve ability to analyze implicaons of future major investment strategies Urgent High Moderate Low Improve ability to make beer-informed decisions about allocang funds or priorizing projects Urgent High Moderate Low Improve ability to ensure that available funds are fully leveraged Urgent High Moderate Low Improve ability to maximize maintenance and operaons efficiency based on informaon about staff and equipment availability and locaon Urgent High Moderate Low Improve ability to track current project delivery status (schedule, scope, and budget) Urgent High Moderate Low Improve ability to guide response to incidents and emergency situaons based on real-me informaon and cooperaon with first responders Urgent High Moderate Low B. Meeng External Informaon Requests and Reporng Requirements Reduce me and effort required to respond to Freedom of Informaon or Public Disclosure Requests and legal discovery orders (including e-Discovery) Urgent High Moderate Low Reduce me and effort required to answer quesons from the legislature Urgent High Moderate Low Meet current and emerging federal reporng requirements (FMIS, HPMS, ARNOLD, MAP-21, etc.) Urgent High Moderate Low Meet current and emerging state reporng requirements Urgent High Moderate Low Improve ability to meet public expectaons for sharing informaon about current travel condions Urgent High Moderate Low Improve ability to meet public expectaons for sharing informaon about plans, programs, and projects Urgent High Moderate Low C. Improving Informaon Usability and Reliability Make it easier to find and access informaon collected or maintained within the DOT Urgent High Moderate Low Take addional acons to avoid loss of unique knowledge about how to access, analyze, and use data (as staff with specialized skills leave the DOT) Urgent High Moderate Low Upgrade or replace older informaon systems that are no longer meeng agency needs Urgent High Moderate Low Improve data quality to reduce risk of providing inaccurate informaon to elected officials and the public Urgent High Moderate Low Table A-2. Assessment Tool 1: Prioritization of Needs for Better Information.

Assessment Tools and Checklists 93 Risk Likelihood (if no acon is taken) Consequences/ Impacts Score (Likelihood × Impacts) A. Improving Informaon for Internal Decisions Increased incident or emergency response me due to lack of readily available informaon to guide resource deployment 3-High 2-Medium 1-Low 3-High 2-Medium 1-Low Slower progress on crash reducon due to lack of informaon required to opmize targeng of safety countermeasures 3-High 2-Medium 1-Low 3-High 2-Medium 1-Low Slower progress on improving infrastructure condion due to lack of informaon required to opmize asset maintenance and rehabilitaon 3-High 2-Medium 1-Low 3-High 2-Medium 1-Low Increased average project costs due to lack of available informaon to inform scoping and design or insufficient project tracking informaon during construcon 3-High 2-Medium 1-Low 3-High 2-Medium 1-Low B. Meeng External Informaon Requests and Reporng Requirements Loss of federal funding or reduced funding flexibility (due to lack of compliance with reporng requirements) 3-High 2-Medium 1-Low 3-High 2-Medium 1-Low Inability to produce supporng evidence in defense of lawsuits or claims 3-High 2-Medium 1-Low 3-High 2-Medium 1-Low Inability to comply with external informaon requests 3-High 2-Medium 1-Low 3-High 2-Medium 1-Low Loss of public confidence in the agency due to lack of transparency and informaon sharing 3-High 2-Medium 1-Low 3-High 2-Medium 1-Low C. Improving Informaon Usability and Reliability Loss of valuable informaon (e.g., data stored on individual computer hard disks, thumb drives, or mobile devices) 3-High 2-Medium 1-Low 3-High 2-Medium 1-Low Exposure of sensive informaon 3-High 2-Medium 1-Low 3-High 2-Medium 1-Low Misuse or misinterpretaon of data due to staff turnover and/or inadequate documentaon 3-High 2-Medium 1-Low 3-High 2-Medium 1-Low Release of inaccurate informaon to the public resulng in loss of agency credibility 3-High 2-Medium 1-Low 3-High 2-Medium 1-Low Table A-3. Assessment Tool 2: Risks Related to Information Management.

94 Leadership Guide for Strategic Information Management for State Departments of Transportation Pracce Use of this Pracce A. Improving Informaon for Internal Decisions We have idenfied informaon resources that should be shared across business units and therefore managed from an agency-wide perspecve. Strongly Agree Mostly Agree Partly Agree Disagree We have an agency-wide body that makes sure data and informaon investments are coordinated across business units and aligned with agency priories. Strongly Agree Mostly Agree Partly Agree Disagree B. Meeng External Informaon Requests and Reporng Requirements We have automated reporng processes and tools to meet roune external reporng needs. Strongly Agree Mostly Agree Partly Agree Disagree We have implemented consistent ways of storing and classifying our informaon to enable rapid retrieval and linkage of informaon in order to respond to requests. Strongly Agree Mostly Agree Partly Agree Disagree We consistently and acvely idenfy and protect sensive informaon. Strongly Agree Mostly Agree Partly Agree Disagree C. Improving Informaon Usability and Reliability We coordinate across informaon technology, GIS, data management, library management, web content management, and communicaons and records management funcons to avoid duplicaon of effort and enhance integraon and findability across different types of informaon in the agency. Strongly Agree Mostly Agree Partly Agree Disagree We have converted our most valuable paper records to electronic formats to facilitate preserva on and future retrieval. Strongly Agree Mostly Agree Partly Agree Disagree We have a process to limit the prolifera on of systems with similar func ons for managing documents, design plans, and other digital assets. Strongly Agree Mostly Agree Partly Agree Disagree We have a process for users to iden fy erroneous data and correct them aer review by the data owner. Strongly Agree Mostly Agree Partly Agree Disagree We assign ownership and accountability for different types of informa on to ensure quality and maximize usability. Strongly Agree Mostly Agree Partly Agree Disagree We manage policies, procedures, and standards to ensure that staff and contractors are accessing and following current and authorita ve versions. Strongly Agree Mostly Agree Partly Agree Disagree We set and enforce agency-wide data standards to enable integra on of informa on across different systems. Strongly Agree Mostly Agree Partly Agree Disagree We ac vely iden fy opportuni es for elimina on or consolida on of duplica ve data and documents across the agency. Strongly Agree Mostly Agree Partly Agree Disagree Table A-4. Assessment Tool 3: Current State of Information Management Practice.

Assessment Tools and Checklists 95 Strengths Weaknesses Opportunies Threats • Ample pool of available skilled data analysts •Well-defined informa on management processes and roles • Dependable funding streams for informa on management •Well- documented informa on assets •Modern tools and technologies • Shallow bench strength in data management and analysis • Limited awareness of good informa on management prac ces • Lack of stable funding for informa on management •Unreliable data •Undocumented informa on assets •Outdated tools and technologies •New performance management requirements •New funding for data/informa on improvements •New informa on sources (e.g., GPS data streams) •New analysis and visualiza on tools • Cross-agency collabora on opportuni es • Loss of funding • Loss of specialized exper se • Increasing volume and complexity of informa on requests •New expecta ons for open data • Discon nued support for exis ng technology pla‰orms • Discon nued availability of current external data source Table A-5. Sample strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats for DOT information management.

96 Leadership Guide for Strategic Information Management for State Departments of Transportation Informaon Life Cycle Phase/Issues A. Plan Are intended uses idenfied? Yes No Are accuracy requirements defined based on business needs? Yes No Is the Business Owner idenfied? Yes No Is the Informaon Steward idenfied? Yes No Is an individual assigned responsibility for creaon of data diconary and data set metadata? Yes No Does the plan have realisc assumpons? Yes No Are resources available to meet the desired informaon requirements? Yes No Has informaon project been approved? Yes No B. Obtain or Update Do opportunies exist to take advantage of exisng data collecon or acquision? Yes No Do opportunies exist to use new technology for data collecon and acquision? Yes No Are staff and equipment idenfied for data collecon (either in-house or outsourced)? Yes No Is there a plan in place for quality assurance and cerficaon? Yes No C. Process and Store Are access restricons defined based on sensivity? Yes No Is a suitable storage locaon idenfied? Yes No Does the informaon meet agency standards (e.g., spaal referencing standards) Yes No Does the informaon need to be cleaned and standardized? Yes No Is all necessary informaon documented, including data diconary and metadata? Yes No Is an informaon retenon plan in place? Yes No Informaon Life Cycle Phase/Issues D. Analyze Is there availability for agency-wide mapping and reporng? Yes No Is method of analysis idenfied, and does informaon work with this method? Yes No Table A-6. Sample information life cycle checklist.

Assessment Tools and Checklists 97 Criteria Rang Consistency with informaon management vision and roadmap High Moderate Low Consistency with other agency plans (informaon technology strategic plan, GIS strategic plan) High Moderate Low Time or cost savings High Moderate Low Sustainability—staff capabilies to maintain and existence of champion to support High Moderate Low Coordinaon and integraon (score low if duplicates exisng funcons; score high if coordinated or integrated across informaon management funcons [web, data, library, records, etc.]) High Moderate Low Project risk level (e.g., acceptance, resources) High Moderate Low Scope of impact Impacng mulple areas Specific to one area Necessary for external mandate Yes No Number of staff impacted Directly: Indirectly: Likely number of external customers affected Likely number of external stakeholders affected Scale of budget decision impacted Esmate of savings and cost avoidance/costs Life cycle requirements and costs Urgency Must do Should do Would like to do Don’t need to do Table A-7. Sample form with criteria for evaluating and prioritizing new information management initiatives.