Implementing a Project and Portfolio Management System for TxDOT Project Development.

摘要

Beginning in the summer of 2009, Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) started developing the framework for implementing a sophisticated new system to manage its large and diverse portfolio of projects during their development phase. This was followed by the implementation itself for managing project schedules, project and portfolio resources and costs during their development cycle. This unique and challenging implementation across TxDOT encompassed all functional areas involved in the project development phase. It was successfully completed by overcoming technical, technological, and cultural challenges inherent with any implementation of this scale and magnitude. During the course of this implementation, hundreds of TxDOT employees spread across various district and division offices were trained. The needs and benefits of this system were continuously communicated vertically and horizontally across TxDOT. Technical constraints in the use of a new and sophisticated system were overcome and technological barriers in integrating various information systems were surmounted to provide a seamless and integrated system from which internal and external stakeholders can obtain project and portfolio related information. The system is now populated with several thousand project schedules, with work calendars and resource assignments for a large subset of the portfolio. It is capable of providing decision-support that was not previously possible. Moreover, since all functional areas of project development process are represented in the system, the system can be used to analyze various issues using the same portfolio of projects. This was not possible in the past, due to the lack of a standardized enterprise platform for such needs. During this implementation, the Center for Transportation Research (CTR) at The University of Texas at Austin provided critically needed experience and expertise. CTR had previous experience in developing and implementing a similar system across the Dallas District of TxDOT. During 2009-2010 CTR Assistant Director Nabeel Khwaja co-led the implementation, along with Maureen Wakeland of TxDOT. Today, the system is helping TxDOT develop and manage its four-year portfolio of active projects by helping define the portfolio of projects that can be developed in the next four fiscal years within the resource and fiscal constraints of its revenue projections. Through this system, TxDOT staff can monitor and track the progress and ensure timely delivery of projects, meeting commitments to the public on thousands of projects. The following report summarizes work performed by CTR under the RTI Implementation Project 9-9012-01.