Office of Operations
21st Century Operations Using 21st Century Technologies

Organizing for TSMO
Case Study 4: Culture - Changing the Culture Towards TSMO in State Departments of Transportation

Chapter 1 - Introduction

Historically, transportation agencies have managed congestion primarily by funding major capital projects that focused on adding capacity to address physical constraints such as bottlenecks. Operational improvements were typically an afterthought and considered after the new infrastructure was already added to the system. Given the changing transportation landscape that includes increased customer expectations, a better understanding of the sources of congestion, and constraints in resources, alternative approaches were needed. Transportation systems management and operations (TSMO) provides such an approach to overcome these challenges and address a broader range of congestion issues to improve overall system performance. With agencies needing to stretch transportation funding further and demand for reliable travel increasing, TSMO activities can help agencies maximize the use of available capacity and implement solutions with a high benefit-cost ratio. This approach supports agencies' abilities to address changing system demands and be flexible for a wide range of conditions.

Effective TSMO efforts require full integration within a transportation agency and should be supported by partner agencies. This can be achieved by identifying opportunities for improving processes, instituting data-driven decision making, establishing proactive collaboration, and performing activities leading to development of performance optimization processes.

Through the second Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP2), a national partnership between the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), and the Transportation Research Board, (TRB), a self-assessment framework was developed based on a model from the software industry. SHRP2 developed a framework for agencies to assess their critical processes and institutional arrangements through a capability maturity model (CMM). CMM uses six dimensions of capability to allow agencies to self-assess their implementation of TSMO principles2:

  1. Business processes - planning, programming, and budgeting.
  2. Systems and technology - systems engineering, systems architecture standards, interoperability, and standardization.
  3. Performance measurement - measures definition, data acquisition, and utilization.
  4. Culture - technical understanding, leadership, outreach, and program authority.
  5. Organization and workforce - programmatic status, organizational structure, staff development, recruitment, and retention.
  6. Collaboration - relationships with public safety agencies, local governments, metropolitan planning organizations (MPO), and the private sector.

Within each capability dimension, there are four levels of maturity (performed, managed, integrated, and optimized), as shown in Figure 1. An agency uses the CMM self-assessment to identify their level of maturity in each dimension, determine their strengths and weaknesses in each dimension, and determine actions they can take to improve their capabilities.

Chart showing the four levels of maturity from FHWA's Jan 2012 document - Creating an Effective Program to Advance Transportation System Management and Operations
Figure 1. Chart. Four Levels of Maturity
Source: Creating an Effective Program to Advance Transportation System Management and Operations, FHWA Jan 2012

Purpose of Case Studies

In the first 10 years of implementation of the TSMO CMM, more than 50 States and regions used the tool to assess and improve their TSMO capabilities. With the many benefits experienced by these agencies, FHWA developed a series of case studies to showcase leading practices to assist other transportation professionals in advancing and mainstreaming TSMO into their agencies. The purposes of the case studies are to:

  • Communicate the value of changing the culture and standard practices towards TSMO to stakeholders and decision-makers.
  • Provide examples of best-practices and lessons learned by other State and local agencies during their adoption, implementation, and mainstreaming of TSMO.

These case studies support transportation agencies by showing a wide range of challenges, opportunities, and results to provide proof for the potential benefits of implementing TSMO. Each case study was identified to address challenges faced by TSMO professionals when implementing new or expanding existing practices in the agency and to provide lessons learned.

Identified Topics of Importance

A TSMO-focused culture is the backbone for success in all other TSMO components. The agencies highlighted for this case study improved their TSMO culture through consistent collaboration, outreach, training, and enhancing other CMM dimensions.

Interviews

Agencies were selected for each case study based on prior research indicating that the agency was excelling in particular TSMO capabilities. Care was taken to include a diversity of geographical locations and agency types (departments of transportation, cities, and MPOs) to develop case studies that other agencies could easily relate to and learn from. Interviews were conducted with selected agencies to collect information on the topic for each case study.

Description of Culture

Creating a TSMO culture within an agency is contingent on having engaged professional staff who adopt and implement agency goals as well as consider how they can improve daily activities to meet objectives. The culture dimension of TSMO includes:

  • Technical understanding.
  • Leadership and championship.
  • Outreach.
  • Program authority

Senior leadership determines the level of TSMO outreach and education. Goals, expectations, education, and objectives are defined for all applicable staff members. For example, executives of State departments of transportation would provide TSMO guidance and information to all members involved in project planning, development, safety, construction, operations, and maintenance. Communication of TSMO, both internally and with partner agencies, is essential to the program's success.

The business case for TSMO in an agency or across a region is defined during development of strategic business plans and includes reasoning for why TSMO is important and how it will mitigate transportation challenges. The business case should include information on benefit-to-cost scenarios, regional challenges, and the value of TSMO to regional stakeholders and travelers. It should be written in such a way that it can be shared with multiple audiences to convey the message that implementing TSMO strategies will increase productivity and efficiency more than traditional solutions alone.

Additional resources to improve TSMO culture in an organization include:

2FHWA, Office of Operations, "Organizing for Reliability - Capability Maturity Model Assessment and Implementation Plans Executive Summary, " May 2015. https://ops.fhwa.dot.gov/docs/cmmexesum/sec1.htm [ Return to Note 2 ]

Office of Operations