ATRC research notes

              A R I Z O N A D E P A R T M E N T O F T R A N S P O R T A T I O N
CUSTOMER-ORIENTED LEVEL OF SERVICE
MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
The PErformance COntrolled System (PeCoS)
system has been used by the Arizona
Department of Transportation (ADOT) for over
25 years. It has helped maintenance managers
develop and carry out maintenance programs.
However, PeCoS does not provide information
on level of service (LOS) outcomes, i.e., the
effectiveness of the maintenance programs.
The objective of this project is to develop a
customer-oriented LOS maintenance
management system, a unique approach that
focuses on the needs of Arizona’s traveling
public and identifies the results of maintenance
work. To achieve this objective, the functions
have been defined and conceptual design
conducted for the new system. Industry best
practices have been surveyed among eleven
states to identify how the new system can
benefit from industry innovations. A highly
detailed approach has been employed for
gathering public perception of Arizona’s
highway maintenance program through
statewide focus groups and attitude surveys to
identify customer needs and concerns. The
project also employs a rigorous approach to
condition assessment and determining budget
levels. Opportunities have been evaluated to
integrate life cycle cost analysis (LCCA) into
ADOT’s maintenance activities. Finally the
project has developed a software strategy and
implementation plan.
FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS AND
CONCEPTUAL DESIGN
The new maintenance management system
retains the capabilities that are now in the PeCoS
(ADOT’s current system), but has the following
additional capabilities:
• LOS Objectives. Pass-fail tests are
used, showing a percentage of each
feature that either passes or fails the
measurement criteria.
• Customer Involvement Process. Focus
groups and two types of attitude surveys
have been conducted on a statewide
basis to determine the service levels
desired by Arizona citizens.
• Condition Assessment Tracking and
Trend Analysis. Assessments of
existing conditions are conducted at
least annually to establish the current
LOS for each maintenance feature. Data
is then studied to determine trends in
road conditions and to compare existing
conditions with desired service levels.
• LOS to Level of Effort (LOE)
Conversion Factors. A conversion
factor (workload factor) converts the
Project 418 December 2005
A R I Z O N A D E P A R T M E N T O F T R A N S P O R T A T I O N
difference between planned and actual
LOS into an LOE that will produce the
annual work quantity needed to raise or
lower the LOS to the desired value.
• Service Request/Work Order System.
Service requests are logged and a work
order generated and forwarded to the
appropriate foreman for investigation
and resolution.
• Management Reports for LOS
Outcomes. LOS outcome reports are
provided, such as actual LOS
summaries, actual versus planned LOS,
or trends in LOS values over a period of
time.
INDUSTRY BEST PRACTICES
Telephone interviews were conducted with
maintenance managers in twelve states to assess
the state-of-the-practice. Maintenance managers
in three states (Colorado, Florida, and
Washington) were then contacted to provide
additional details on specific focus areas. The
findings of these surveys are analyzed, and the
industry best practices that can benefit ADOT’s
new customer-oriented level of service
maintenance management system have been
identified.
PUBLIC PERCEPTIONS
To help establish a customer-oriented LOS
maintenance management system, public
perception of Arizona’s highway maintenance
program was obtained using a statewide
telephone survey; focus groups with residents of
Phoenix, Tucson, and Flagstaff; and a
supplemental survey. Focus groups were also
held with 92 ADOT maintenance staff from
regions around the state. The findings are
outlined below.
Current Maintenance Levels
Arizona residents generally rate current
maintenance favorably. Residents rate the
current maintenance levels for traffic control and
safety, vegetation, snow/ice removal, and
roadside maintenance the highest. Urban
residents have the highest level of satisfaction
with current service levels, including the
efficiency of ADOT maintenance staff. Arizona
road maintenance is rated higher than
maintenance provided by local jurisdictions and
other states. Actual maintenance conditions are
worse than public perceptions in all service
areas.
Desired Maintenance Levels
Service levels should be improved in all
maintenance areas. Safety should be the most
important maintenance goal. Enhancement of
traffic control and safety, bridge, drainage, and
roadside maintenance should be considered as
key improvement objectives. Roadway surface
maintenance is in need of the most
improvement.
Program Funding
Residents are willing to spend more tax money
to achieve their desired levels of service, if they
are assured that it is necessary. The maintenance
areas of traffic control and safety and paved
roadway surfaces should have the highest
funding priorities. State spending on preventive
maintenance is strongly encouraged.
ADOT Maintenance Staff Findings
Maintenance staff members are generally in
touch with public perceptions regarding
maintenance. Maintenance staff members have
significantly lower opinions of current
maintenance conditions than the public does.
Supplemental Findings
Residents perceive paved shoulder erosion and
ride quality to be well maintained. Paved
shoulder drop-offs are also generally seen as
well maintained. Residents do not perceive
unpaved shoulder erosion and unpaved shoulder
drop-offs to be well maintained. Residents seek
high maintenance levels in all five areas tested.
A R I Z O N A D E P A R T M E N T O F T R A N S P O R T A T I O N
CONDITION ASSESSMENT AND
BUDGET
A two-year maintenance budget was prepared,
based on the newly developed maintenance
management procedures. The development of
this budget required establishing:
1. The existing condition of the
infrastructure.
2. The desired condition of the system
(LOS).
3. The cause-and-effect relationship
between maintenance activities and
system condition.
The various maintenance activities were grouped
into nine categories to assess the existing
condition and to determine the desired condition
of the highway system.
Cause-and-Effect Relationship Between
Maintenance Activities and System Condition
In order to determine the cause-and-effect
relationship, four ADOT maintenance personnel
worked with Jorgenson & Associates at their
Maryland office for one week. The group was
used as an expert task group to determine the
amount of effort necessary to obtain the five
conditions for each of the PeCoS items related to
the nine maintenance categories. For each
PeCoS item the investment required to maintain
each LOS was determined, and the budget
amount was then aggregated into a total budget
for each of the nine categories.
Budget and Data Model Development
The public’s subjective evaluation does not
correlate directly with the quantitative
measurements used by ADOT to rate current
conditions. For this reason, data models were
developed to represent the relationship between
the investment and the resulting LOS obtained
for each of the nine maintenance categories.
Budget Assumptions
The budget was calculated using eighteen
PeCoS maintenance items. The budget was
prepared for each of these items by dding the
investment necessary to produce the consumer
shift to last year’s budget amount and increasing
that total by an inflation rate of 3.3 percent
LIFE CYCLE COSTS
ADOT currently tracks cost data using its PeCoS
maintenance management system; however,
costs are not directly linked to specific
treatments applied at specific locations. No
formal treatment performance data are collected
or retained in PeCoS, making cost analyses
highly problematic. For this reason,
opportunities were evaluated to integrate LCCA
into ADOT’s maintenance activities. The results
of the evaluation for various maintenance
activities are outlined below.
Pavement
Pavement maintenance is especially appropriate
for this type of analysis because there are
alternative treatments available. There is also a
mechanism in place (ADOT’s pavement
management system) for tracking impacts of
treatments on performance; however, the
following modifications to the system are
needed for performance monitoring and
modeling:
• A tracking system to keep track of
treatments and the locations where they are
applied.
• A means of monitoring performance.
• A system to predict pavement condition and
trigger the need for treatment.
• Assessment of treatment recommendations
from the pavement management system to
assess the accuracy of the analysis and
update the models.
A R I Z O N A D E P A R T M E N T O F T R A N S P O R T A T I O N
Other Maintenance Activities
ADOT is also interested in evaluating the
applicability of extending LCCA to other
maintenance decision processes beyond
pavements. In all maintenance activities, LCCA
should be used to select among alternative
treatments with non-equal costs and/or lives.
However, in considering LCCA in decision
making for other maintenance features,
appropriate maintenance activities and factors
affecting performance should be evaluated
(outlined in Chapter VI of this document).
SOFTWARE STRATEGY AND
IMPLEMENTATION PLAN
An analysis of the requirements, the state of
information technology capability at ADOT, and
the availability of viable vendor software
products on the market was conducted, and four
alternatives were identified, each having the
capability of satisfying ADOT’s requirements:
• Alternative 1 – Purchase a maintenance
management system package that includes
both asset inventory and work management,
and custom build an LOS planning
framework software application.
• Alternative 2 – Keep PeCoS and custom
build asset inventory and LOS planning
framework software applications.
• Alternative 3 – Keep PeCoS, purchase an
asset inventory system, and custom build an
LOS planning framework software
application.
• Alternative 4 – Custom build a complete
LOS-capable maintenance management
software application.
The evaluation of these alternatives resulted in
Alternative 1 and Alternative 3 being very close,
with a slight advantage to Alternative 3 based on
cost and risk criteria.
Based on this evaluation, the recommendation is
to proceed with Alternative 3, and keep the
PeCoS system, purchase a packaged asset
inventory system, and proceed with the
specification, design, construction, and
implementation of an LOS planning framework
application. This is predicated on the assumption
that the PeCoS system will prove to be a viable
tool for planning, organizing, and directing
ADOT’s maintenance work. Once the complete,
detailed requirements for integrated asset
management have been documented, a formal
evaluation of the PeCoS system should be
conducted, and a decision made as to whether
PeCoS should be kept or replaced. If it is
decided that ADOT should replace PeCoS, then
the recommendation would be to proceed with
Alternative 1.
The full report: Customer-Oriented Level of Service Maintenance Management System, by Dye
Management Group, Inc. (Arizona Department of Transportation, report number FHWA-AZ-05-418,
published October 2005) is available on the Internet. Educational and governmental agencies may order
print copies from the Arizona Transportation Research Center, 206 S. 17 Ave., MD 075R, Phoenix, AZ
85007; FAX 602-712-3400. Businesses may order copies through ADOT’s Engineering Records Section.