Elements of Business Rules and Decision Support Systems within Integrated Corridor Management: Understanding the Intersection of These Three Components
CHAPTER 4. EXAMPLES OF OPERATIONAL DECISIONS WITH AND WITHOUT BUSINESS RULES CONSTRAINING OPTIONS
The goal of this section is to provide the reader with several examples of a decision recommendation and the importance of incorporating a business rules filter. This can provide
guidance to the operator or decision maker with respect to setting constraints for decisions to be implemented based on the underlying context of interagency coordination (the chess board along
with move rules noted in chapter 1). Examples have been generalized, but are based on actual response scenarios in situations that occur on corridors where an integrated corridor management (ICM) system has been applied.
EXAMPLE 1
A minor incident occurs on the main highway. The decision support system (DSS) may suggest diverting traffic to parallel frontage roads for X amount of time until after the incident clears.
- Recommendation without incorporating business rules: The DSS may recommend only diversion, without regard for the frontage road capacity, authority, or coordination.
- Recommendation incorporating business rules: The DSS may recommend diversion, but with a prioritized order of frontage roads based on information provided by the local agency overseeing those roads. In addition, there may be a recommendation for the operator to contact counterparts and provide appropriate information for a coordinated response (including possibly local law enforcement to intervene in traffic direction, signal timing adjustments, messaging with media partners, etc.).
EXAMPLE 2
A major incident or unplanned event occurs on the main highway. The DSS may suggest diverting traffic to parallel frontage roads as well as strategic arterials for X amount of time until after the incident clears.
- Recommendation without incorporating business rules: The DSS may recommend only diversion, without regard for the frontage road or arterial roads capacity, authority, or coordination.
- Recommendation incorporating business rules: The DSS may recommend diversion, but with a prioritized order of frontage and arterial roads based on information provided by the local agency overseeing those roads. There may be a coordinated protocol for routing through agreed upon arterials. In addition, there may be a recommendation for the operator to contact counterparts and provide appropriate information for a coordinated response (including possibly local law enforcement to intervene in traffic direction, signal timing-adjustments, messaging with media partners, etc.).
EXAMPLE 3
A planned event in the downtown area will cause expected delays and heavy congestion. The DSS may suggest (in addition to diversions onto detours of frontage roads and arterials) diverting travelers to public transportation as a mode switching strategy.
- Recommendation without incorporating business rules: The DSS may recommend messages that encourage travelers to use public transportation. But, without coordinating with the local transit authority, there may not be enough resources (e.g., trains and buses) to handle the excess numbers.
- Recommendation incorporating business rules: The DSS may recommend messages that encourage travelers to use public transportation. But, in this situation, protocols are incorporated into the recommendation that include proper messaging and utilize the coordinated channels established with transit partners as well as local agencies overseeing roads. There would also be guidance about interacting with agreed upon liaisons to coordinate increased capacity during the diversion times. In addition, the DSS would have information about agreed-upon protocols, updates on planned outages for the transit partners (e.g., rail work), and other contingencies that would yield a more informed recommendation.
