Guidance for Conducting Effective Work Zone Process Reviews
Appendix C. Work Zone Process Review Report Template
Executive Summary (Optional)
If the body of process review report is lengthy some agencies prepare a 1-2 page summary of the objectives, scope, conclusions, and action/implementation items documented.
INTRODUCTION/BACKGROUND
This section sets the stage and provides information that may be relevant to how the process review was developed and performed the agency. Possible items covered in this section could include:
- A summary of the action items identified from the previous process review and subsequent efforts made to implement them since then,
- Other efforts undertaken since the last process review to improve work zone safety and mobility, and
- Any other efforts to improve overall transportation management effectiveness in a state or region that had work zone management implications (e.g., results of an application of the work zone capability maturity framework by the agency, etc.).
PURPOSE/OBJECTIVE
In this section, the agency should describe what aspects of its work zone policies, processes, and procedures were focused on during this review. Possibilities include:
- Verification of agency policy and process compliance with 23 CFR 630 Subpart J and K requirements (or a quick recheck if previously verified)
- Assessment of the quality of implementation of the required policies and procedures (or a quick recheck if previous assessments indicated good implementation)
- Assessment of whether other work zone process improvements were needed to further improve work zone safety and mobility, and identification of those improvements.
SCOPE/METHODOLOGY
In this section, the agency should describe how the process review was performed. Items that should be covered are the following:
- Listing of the members of the process review team
- Sources of data used in the process review (documents, files, checklists, FHWA division ratings, survey/interview questions, comparison of crash experiences and rates across projects, travel times, etc.) and how that data were selected/obtained
- Analyses performed on that data
OBSERVATIONS/FINDINGS
The observations of the analyses performed are presented in this section. Any measures of performance computed should be reported, and compared to similar measures from previous reviews (if available) to determine what changes have occurred. Comments from interviews and surveys as to areas of potential improvement should also be noted, and any mobility and safety data gathered pertaining to those areas examined to further quantify the need for improvement.
CONCLUSIONS/RECOMMENDATIONS
Based on the collective assessment of all of the data gathered and examined in the previous section, the agency should generate a list of conclusions from the review. The conclusions should identify those areas and topics where the agency is performing well, as well as identifying areas to be improved. For the latter, the agency should develop a specific list of recommendations for changes to agency procedures, emphasis areas, etc., that are believed to be necessary to address those improvement needs.
ACTION/IMPLEMENTATION PLAN
In the last section of the process review report, the agency should prioritize the recommendations for improvements to agency processes, select those that agency will pursue, and develop an action plan for implementing those recommendations. Consideration should be given to how the various recommendations relate to each other (e.g., does one recommendation need to be accomplished before another?) and to whether any actions needed in order to implement one recommendation will assist or inhibit the ability to implement any other recommendations.
For the actions selected that will be pursued by agency, a matrix can be developed identifying:
- What resources are needed in order to take that action
- Who will be responsible for ensuring that the action is taken
- The anticipated timeline needed in order to take the action
- How completion of the action will be determined, and by whom
The action plan can then serve as the starting point for the next process review.
APPENDICES (Optional)
If desired, an agency may choose to include supporting materials used or referred to in the process review report. Items that have been included by some agencies include:
- Copies of policies, procedures, guidelines
- List of questions used in the review (if questionnaires or interviews were used)
- Checklists, if deemed important for the implementation of the action plan
- Detailed data analyses results used in the review
U.S. Department of Transportation
Federal Highway Administration
Office of Operations
1200 New Jersey Ave., SE
Washington, D.C. 20590
www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov
April 2015
FHWA-HOP-15-013
