Operations Performance Measures and Management (OPMM) Program Road Map

THE "PERFECT WORLD" OF MEASURING CONGESTION

In December 2013, a peer exchange workshop on the "Perfect World of Measuring Congestion" from an operations perspective was conducted to identify the "perfect world" of measuring congestion as well as possible projects and implementation efforts that could be taken in the next five years to help FHWA and the greater Operations community get there. The results of the workshop were used to assist in the development of this OPMM Road Map. Many of the projects in the OPMM Program Road Map were discussed at the December 2013 peer exchange.

To stimulate discussion at the workshop, four "white papers" on key performance monitoring and management topics were prepared. One of the papers was entitled "Framework for Gauging State-of-the-Practice in Performance Monitoring and Management." The paper presents a framework (see Figure 1) to classify best practices in operations performance monitoring based on these characteristics:

• Performance measures (content and form),
• Performance management (agency culture),
• Data used,
• Transportation modes,
• Facility and trip coverage, and
• Traveler preferences and tradeoffs consideration.

The framework shown in Figure 1 illustrates four "ribbon categories" of bronze, silver, gold and platinum to illustrate maturity level for the given characteristics. The capability maturity model illustrated in Figure 1 was inspired by the capability maturity model applied to systems operations and management described in SHRP 2 Report L06 (Institutional Architectures to Improve System Systems Operations and Management) (http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/shrp2/SHRP2_S2-L06-RR-1.pdf).

Observation of practices for operations performance monitoring and management provides evidence of a varying degree of the extent that performance data are used in decision-making for transportation projects and programs. The platinum level shown in Figure 1 was used in the workshop to provide a visual illustration to attendees of what the "perfect world" might look like. This framework illustration of the "perfect world" guided the workshop and inspired many of the project activities included in this Road Map.

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