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Practices for Improving the Coordination of Information Technology and Transportation Systems Management and Operations Resources: A Reference DocumentChapter 3. Challenges of Information Technology and TSMO Coordination and Related PracticesThe relationships between TSMO staff and IT staff have evolved significantly. As noted in chapter 2, the differences between the disciplines suggested the importance of learning experience regarding improved understanding and cooperation. This project, through literature review interviews and project team experience, has:
This chapter presents both a challenge-driven view of the payoff for practices (including a correlation matrix) as well as a practice-driven view (including their crosscutting applicability). Challenge-Practice RelationshipsThere has been a wide range of “lessons learned” to deal with the identified challenges, category by category. By and large, this experience has not been substantially documented, and thus this project primarily drew from the experience of practitioners through interviews, listening sessions, and webinars. For the eight categories of challenges, there are practices that are beneficial for coordination across a range of cases and contexts. Where available, specific agency examples are provided. It is important to recognize that, in many cases, the lessons learned examples are a point of departure for continuing evolution for individual agencies over time in developing responses to the challenges. Through this review the project team found that (1) a given challenge could be supported by multiple practices, and (2) some practices could help address multiple challenges. A key finding of this project, as reflected in the challenge matrix, is that there is not a one-to-one relationship between a challenge and a specific practice related to that challenge. That is, multiple practices, or combination of practices, could address any given challenge. For example, in table 2, related to culture, the challenge related to scarce resources may require multiple approaches, reflected in the four distinct practices that are presented. Conversely, practices can relate to more than one challenge. Thus, examining the relationship between challenges and practices may be approached from either perspective, looking at addressing challenges by combing practices, or looking at how certain practices are applicable across a range of challenges. For this reason, the project presents both challenge-driven and practice-driven perspectives. The challenge-driven perspective in terms of the challenge matrix is presented in the following section, which is followed by a section that summarizes the practice driven view. The following challenge tables present a selection of situations and agency-specific potential practices associated with key challenges. The practices can be grouped into five broadly defined categories. In each group, broadly applicable general practices are identified (in italics below) together with related specific practices. Collaboration
Specific practices:
Staff Capabilities
Specific practices:
Planning/Programming
Specific practices:
Program Delivery
Specific practices:
Equipment/Systems
Specific practices:
A more complete description of the practices is included after the challenge tables and more detail is presented in appendix B. The Challenge Matrix—A Tool to Capitalize on Existing ExperienceThe project team developed a “Challenge Matrix” as a tool that readers can use to identify potentially valuable and approaches to respond to the wide range of challenges experienced to date that have been identified by this project. The tables are intended to allow document users to search for the challenges they are facing by category. The challenges are presented in eight separate tables, grouped into institutional challenge categories, and business and technical challenge categories, of four each. For each specific challenge shown, the table lists one or more potential practices that can address the challenge with a short description and a section number reference. ChallengesChallenges discovered during this project fall into two basic categories. The first category consists of institutional challenges that can hamper programmatic activities. The second category includes challenges in key business and technical processes that are critical to integrating TSMO and IT during TSMO program development, implementation, and operations. Institutional ChallengesAs characterized in chapter 2, institutional challenges reflect characteristics of the basic disciplines of TSMO and IT as they are reflected in their organizational orientation and configuration. Institutional challenges fall into four categories:
Business and Technical Processes ChallengesBusiness and technical processes challenges reflect the intersection between institutional challenges in the business process and technical processes integral to the pursuit of their respective TSMO and IT program objectives. Process challenges fall into four categories:
A full listing and more detailed description of the challenges can be found in appendix A, and a full and more detailed listing of the practices are found in appendix B. The matrices provide the indexing for this detail. The abbreviated “IDs” for each challenge provide the indexing for the challenges detailed in appendix A and the section numbers for each practice are cross-referenced to appendix B. For example, the challenge related to “Different Staff Backgrounds and Roles Leads to Silos” is described in appendix A, Culture-3. Similarly, the practice “Implement Coordination Policies” is detailed in appendix B under section B.1.2 within the “Collaboration” practices. (In electronic versions of this document that support internal document links, the challenge ID and the practice section number are electronically linked directly to the sections in the appendices that describe challenge or practice in more detail. For the example above, clicking or selecting Ctrl+Click on the ID “Culture-3” will link directly to the description for “Different Staff Backgrounds and Roles Leads to Silos” in appendix A. Similarly, clicking or selecting Ctrl+Click on the section # “B.1.2” will link directly to the description for “Implement Coordination Policies” in appendix B.) Institutional ChallengesThe interaction between TSMO staff and IT staff is often influenced by the organization itself, including professional culture, organizational structure, staff capabilities, and resource allocation. Challenges can arise when the organization’s history, the underlying culture of its staff, or the available resources do not align with the current mission or task. Common institutional challenges can be encountered at all levels of the organization from leadership decision-making to frontline implementation. CulturalCulture consists of the values and behaviors that influence personal relationships or interactions between the differing agency functions or groups. Culture includes technical understanding, leadership, outreach, and program legal authority. Table 2 presents the culture challenge and practice relationships. As can be seen, various mixes of six practices can address the four principal challenges. General practices beneficial to cultural challenges:
(Source: FHWA.) Staff and Financial ResourcesStaffing and financial resources are essential components to fulfilling TSMO and IT needs and are required for nearly all aspects of acquisition, development, and maintenance of IT systems. Table 3 presents the staff and financial resource challenge and practice relationships. As can be seen, various mixes of five practices can address the four principal challenges. General practices beneficial to staff and financial resources challenges:
(Source: FHWA.) Organizational StructureOrganizational structure includes the formal and informal structural arrangements around which staffing, roles, and responsibilities are managed and carried out. Table 4 presents the organizational structure challenge and practice relationships. Various mixes of eight practices can address the five principal challenges. General practices beneficial to organizational structure challenges:
(Source: FHWA.) Outsource Services for Support TSMO-based operational activities and strategies are continuous (24 hours per day/7 days a week/365 days per year) efforts that do not follow normal business hours. As such, department of transportation (DOT) TSMO units often need IT support during unplanned IT events or failures. However, the enterprise IT groups are often not accustomed to supporting systems in real time. Many State enterprise IT units operate on a ticketing system and typically respond in the order that could delay service to the DOT TSMO group. This approach does not align with the urgency experienced during a technical failure with ITS. In addition, the IT technical support staff work “normal” business hours. Limited service is available on weekends, holidays, and after hours, which can present issues when the network or other IT systems fail. One successful approach to this problem is to work with the IT organization to determine a way for the TSMO organization to pay for IT staff to be on-call for those extended hours. If that is not a possibility or it would create policy issues with the IT organization, TSMO and IT groups working together to outsource those services for night and weekend service may be an option. PolicyPolicy includes executive-level directives, departmental policy, or requirements (including any applicable legal or regulatory requirements) that are not directly targeted to TSMO or are outside the departments or divisions of either IT or TSMO. Table 5 presents the policy challenge and practice relationships. Various mixes of three practices can address the two principal challenges. (Source: FHWA.) Business and Technical ChallengesImplementing technology within an agency can be affected by the business and technical processes associated with developing systems, including planning, procurement, security and data, and new technology specific challenges. Challenges can arise when processes that worked well before the proliferation of IT systems and devices are simply no longer effective. In other situations, processes may have been developed in isolation within either the TSMO or IT organizations and worked well if the organizations remained isolated. Common business and technical challenges can be encountered at any stage of project activity or development. Planning and ProgrammingStrategic planning includes the vision, mission, and objectives of the different organizations or functions, and integrating each in overall agency planning and resource allocation. Table 6 presents the strategic planning challenge and practice relationships. As can be seen, various mixes of five practices can address the three principal challenges. General practices beneficial to strategic planning challenges include:
(Source: FHWA.) ProcurementProcurement consists of the processes and procedures associated with obtaining IT-intensive products or services. Table 7 presents the procurement challenge and practice relationships. Various mixes of eight practices can address the five principal challenges. General practices beneficial to procurement challenges:
(Source: FHWA.) Systems and TechnologySystems and technology encompass all hardware and software components of data acquisition, management, and utilization technologies. Table 8 presents the systems and technology challenge and practice relationships. As can be seen, various mixes of 10 practices can address the seven principal challenges. General practices beneficial to systems and technology challenges:
(Source: FHWA.) Risk and SecurityRisk and security include those challenges associated with network security, data sharing, third-party applications, hosted or cloud platforms, and automation. Table 9 presents the risk and security challenge and practice relationships. As can be seen, various mixes of 12 practices can address the six principal risk and security challenges. General practices beneficial to risk and security challenges:
(Source: FHWA.) PracticesThis section synthesizes the “lessons learned” through the project research and provides a range of current practices to deal with the common challenges described in the section above. The individual practices are categorized within functional groups based on common approaches. It is important to understand, as discussed above, that combining practices may be helpful when dealing with specific challenges. That is, there is no one-to-one relationship from practices to challenges or from challenges to practices. Users of this document may wish to consider their context-specific issues from either direction. In the discussion below, practices are grouped into five broadly defined categories:
Within each category, there are one or two general high-level approaches or practices that are beneficial for coordination as well as a set of specific practices that address specific challenges. Specific agency examples are provided for individual practices based on interviews and outreach efforts. Collaboration PracticesThere are many challenges in coordinating and integrating TSMO and IT considerations that are encountered because of differences in culture, differential availability and applicability of resource needs, standard organizational structures and expectations, and technology considerations such as applicability and flexibility needs. Each of these challenges requires new forms or levels of collaboration between TSMO and IT units, and their respective professionals. Such collaboration may be informal or formal. Examples of informal collaboration include increasing the understanding of IT and TSMO objectives, clarifying roles, and integrating staff. More formal efforts relate to modifying organization structures, implementing policies, and creating IGAs or memorandums of agreement (MOUs). Collaboration General PracticesImproved CommunicationThe general practices supporting and reflecting improved collaboration depend heavily on improved communication among respective staffs, typically in the form of regular meetings or facilitated workshops. Initial meetings could take the form of a facilitated workshop or partnering session to develop a common understanding of each group’s business goals, needs, and priorities. The meetings could evolve into forming an IT advisory group that could identify and recommend solutions to a wide variety of issues that can produce benefits from both TSMO and IT perspectives. Regularly Scheduled Meetings to Improve Communication To promote mutual understanding and improve working relationships, the LADOTD and the Louisiana OTS meet on a regular basis to discuss IT needs for maintaining ITS operations. These meetings are attended by a “client manager” within the enterprise OTS that is assigned to the DOTD. These meetings have increased OTS’ understanding of ITS systems and improved its’lity to provide support. Similarly, the DOTD ITS staff now have a better knowledge of the enterprise OTS organization and how to obtain technical support. Clarify Roles and ResponsibilitiesAn important crosscutting activity, and a key product of improved communication, is to clarify the respective roles and responsibilities of TSMO versus IT units and staffs. Available organization charts and directive responsibilities can be helpful in this regard This is particularly important because it relates to shared facilities or functions, as can be the case between TSMO and IT, which can play an important role in reducing confusion in obtaining service, justifications, and approvals. Managing devices and assets is an example of the importance of identifying and clarifying roles and responsibilities. IT staff members have knowledge and experience in maintaining important IT-related assets and systems, IT-related service contracts, network devices and network management systems, software, and data analytics tools. Assigning IT staff to these assets and systems can prove to be effective and efficient. Clarify Roles and Responsibilities Like many public agencies, Florida DOT’s TSMO group has IT governance and support at both the enterprise level and the DOT level. Their enterprise level provides the State with guidance and strategic direction on areas such as cybersecurity and data analytics, while also providing master contracts for essential technology services. Within the DOT, the internal IT staff are responsible for aligning IT strategies and operations to support the safety and connectivity of the roadways. Coordination between the various groups has been improved through targeted efforts to clarify roles and responsibilities. In general, the enterprise IT staff focuses on the IT security aspects, documentation, policy, and IT business processes while DOT IT staff focuses on the operational implementation of technology. Separate from both groups, the TSMO staff manages the ITS/TSMO related IT systems and devices. Within the DOT, TSMO and DOT IT have clearly coordinated to better understand the skills and strengths of each other. Specific to planning efforts, TSMO included IT staff in developing the TSMO Strategic Plan and continue to clarify roles and responsibilities in the CAV Plan. From an ongoing perspective, senior managers from the IT group attend statewide TSMO, ITS, and CAV workshops to remain engaged with the TSMO related IT needs and issues. These ongoing efforts in the planning stages have improved coordination during the implementation stages. Collaboration-Specific PracticesThis project identified four specific practices with broad applicability across several challenges, as indicated in the challenge-driven section above:
Integrate IT Staff Within TSMO Workgroups The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC) relies on its TSMO and IT staffs to maintain system functionality and provide continuous customer service. As is typically the case, the IT and TSMO staffs came from different backgrounds, which led to perceived or actual silos. Historically, this then led to “shadow IT” use by the TSMO staff (i.e., the use of technology without the knowledge or approval of the formal IT department). To overcome these silos, the PTC integrated IT staff into its operations business so that there was better understanding and collaboration. An IT Advisory Board was established to provide overall technology direction and initiatives rather than just providing approvals on individual projects. The IT staff was also included in major efforts such as the TSMO CMM workshop. The PTC now sends IT staff into the field three to four times a year to work with and observe operational field staff. This interaction provides IT staff with a better perspective of day-to-day operational needs and how IT can positively impact TSMO operations. This has also helped IT staff evolve from being strictly technology experts to understanding how IT relates to project management needs.
Increased IT-TSMO Coordination Most Statewide IT departments or offices provide oversight of all IT efforts across the various State agencies, which often leads to approval processes that are very rule-driven and time consuming. In California, Caltrans found the approval process timeframes were creating delays in budget approvals and project delivery because of a lack of delegation outside the Department of Technology. To combat the challenges, Caltrans identified a dedicated liaison to work directly with the Department of Technology staff to provide project justifications and gain internal approvals. The liaison was a senior staff member who had deep knowledge of the individual technology (hardware, software, data) and the how these pieces contribute to the agency’s goals and operational procedures. The IT liaison met weekly with the enterprise IT staff to discuss general issues and monthly to work on specific projects. The coordination effort with the Department of Technology was beneficial and resulted in increased value to Caltrans. By involving IT staff early in the process, the Department of Technology could help develop the vision for the project, assist in procurement strategies, and assess the future IT maintenance and support needs. Similarly, the IT staff view the additional touchpoints positively and there has been increased interest in transportation, particularly with standardizing software, equipment, security, and big data. Staff Capability PracticesA range of practices relate to staffing to access the necessary capabilities to support the IT function within TSMO programs. Staffing challenges range from defining the core technical capabilities required but also the availability of key resources on a 24/7 basis. Given scarce resources both within TSMO and IT functions at the State and unit levels, acquiring the needed capabilities may rely on several practices. Staff Capabilities General PrinciplesEstablish Staffing NeedsTo facilitate IT coordination, any technology-based TSMO effort can detail the IT resources required to develop, operate, and maintain TSMO related IT functions or systems. This effort can be based on historical efforts (if available) or projected needs and can include required staff skillsets in addition to number of staff members. In response, IT organizational units can develop a staffing plan to ensure resources are available or a plan to obtain the skillsets both in the short-term and the long-term. A key consideration is defining the core capabilities that are required in-house on a recurring basis—versus specialized expertise that may be accessed through outsourcing. Provide Staff TrainingAppropriately combining knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSA) is essential for TSMO. Agencies may wish to access training opportunities for TSMO and IT staffs to build adequate internal resources and maintain consistency in the agency. Training not only increases staff and agency technical capability but can also provide promotional opportunities and indirectly increase retention through personal growth. Continuing training is also essential—at several levels—to maintain competence considering evolving technology and issues. Cross-training may be important to improve staff flexibility. There is a broad range of training modes—internal and external. Staff Training Opportunities The National Operations Center of Excellence provides a searchable TSMO training database that includes several IT-related topics, such as:
On the same website, there is a section on student education that includes listings of undergraduate and graduate courses. Staff Capabilities—Specific PracticesThis project identifies three specific practices that can address challenges that relate to maintaining organizational culture, organizational structure, resource requirements and risk management:
Mix TSMO and IT Staffs Within Maricopa County, AZ, a regional fiber network and data archival system was developed to support multiple public agencies across an entire metropolitan area and to integrate the various ITS systems. The coordination was led by a coalition formed in 1996, AZTech, which cooperates on regional ITS projects and consists of representatives from the various agencies. To support the coalition, Maricopa County loaned an IT person to directly support the development of center-to-center communication and the fiber network. By assigning an IT person to the TSMO/ITS effort, the coalition could direct priorities and timeframes without outside influence from agency IT groups. After the initial fiber network was complete, the dedicated IT person remained embedded in the TSMO/ITS group, because they understood the operations and functions better than available enterprise IT groups. As efforts continued to build an archiving platform, data support became a critical function that was supported by a different dedicated role that specialized in TSMO data rather than relying on an IT generalist from an enterprise group. Through shared resources between the partner agencies, dedicated IT and data staff remain who support the regional mission. Each staff member is available to the partner agencies to support the needs of the TSMO/ITS operational staff.
Outsource Services—To IT Department After the State of Michigan centralized all IT services in the Department of Technology, Management and Budget (DTMB), Michigan DOT’s TSMO Planning activities identified frustrations with working on IT issues. Michigan DOT ITS Program Office staff identified ways to work more effectively with DTMB. They included DTMB staff in all conversations from concept to implementation. ITS Program Office staff found they needed to better understand the “rules of engagement” on IT-related projects and that keeping DTMB staff involved to identify IT needs helped understanding on both sides. The ITS Program Office used their funds to have DTMB staff assigned to the ITS Program Office. Some areas of note where DTMB staff have been very helpful include:
Before including DTMB staff from the very beginning of a project, Michigan DOT used to get far down the project/procurement path and fight to keep Michigan DOT the lead for software and technology procurement. Now they have a cooperative, hand-in-hand approach to use IT procurement processes and allow IT to manage the procurement. Michigan DOT consultants develop business requirements, and Michigan DOT uses the IT procurement process. An example of this cooperation is in communication network development. Previously, Michigan DOT would design communication networks for a specific purpose with specific ITS equipment and specific network equipment. Then, adding other network equipment was often a problem because the original rules needed to be changed. The resulting problems could affect physical network or device addressing (assigning IP addresses) or the need for virtual private networks. Michigan DOT found that, in some circumstances, they needed to reconfigure the network. They are now thinking about working with DTMB staff to develop an overall network strategic plan to better configure the network for future needs. Michigan DOT is leveraging the relationships between DTMB and the ITS Program Office for other types of systems, like signal systems. which are not included in the ITS Program Office.
Improving Staff Recruitment and Development DOTs can have trouble recruiting for positions that require multidisciplinary knowledge required in TSMO due to private industry competition and internal human resources constraints. To combat this issue, in addition to hiring staff through their traditional human resources processes, FDOT augments general criteria with some potential TSMO roles and responsibilities within the job description. Once hired, staff is cross trained on the job with experienced in-house staff to develop the necessary knowledge, skills, and abilities to carry out the required job functions. Due to the increased need to train staff, FDOT has documented many of the IT processes so that there is standardized understanding of the systems, processes, and institutional knowledge is not lost. While the above approach has worked in obtaining staff, it can be difficult to retain staff. Once trained, some staff have taken their increased skill levels and left for higher-paying opportunities after a few years. The State’s use of consultants for supplemental services has allowed some pay rates to increase to help provide more stability, but the agency still sees the most experienced persons leaving and/or retiring. National Operations Center of Excellence Resources The National Operations Center of Excellence provides valuable resources in workforce development. A page on their website provides guidance for recruiting TSMO positions. The guidance applies to a wide variety of positions, including those related to IT. The topics include:
Planning/Programming PracticesA range of practices relate to planning and programming of TSMO that require IT to support early plan coordination, develop long-range needs, and allocate and maintain adequate budgets. Planning and programming challenges range from establishing the business case for TSMO in support of defining financial and staff needs, identifying the resources required for maintaining legacy systems and accessing new technology and data sources, and recognizing key IT specific policy and program issues. Planning and Programming General PrinciplesAllocate Budgets and Resources Based on Historical DataTo ensure IT-TSMO budget and resource needs are sufficiently and accurately described, budget requests are most compelling when based on historical cost data as applied to anticipated future needs. Separating costs by function or area can be useful in applying for different funding sources, such as TSMO versus IT, and can assist in managing the budgets during the fiscal year. Establish and Maintain Systems to Manage TSMO and IT Devices and AssetsA system that tracks TSMO and related IT devices and systems can assist an agency with planning and programming by evaluating the performance of existing equipment. Asset performance information can become more accurate and reliable as data is accumulated over equipment lifecycles to support development of annual maintenance and replacement costs, staffing needs, and general planning efforts. IT staff is often knowledgeable in incorporating IT devices and systems in management systems and in managing those assets. Planning and Programming—Specific PracticesThis project identifies three specific practices with broad applicability across several challenges as indicated in the challenge-driven section above:
Figure 2. Flow chart. Pennsylvania Turnpike’s technology planning approach. Pennsylvania Turnpike first identifies IT needs with the help of IT and TSMO groups (i.e., business relationship management, IT advisory board, innovation council) and then creates projects for those needs. Business plan and project prioritization, monitoring, and reporting is the process of delivering those projects. Those deliverables are then reviewed and assessed via studies, requirements, procurement, and/or implementation. Pennsylvania Turnpike then assesses the business value of these deliverables to ensure that the needs of the business were met. Based on that assessment, the cycle restarts, and new IT needs are identified.
Coordinate TSMO and IT Strategic Plans To manage IT across the entire State, the Connecticut IT Division develops customer-specific five-year IT plans based on each agency’s objectives. The plans include defining technology needs and priorities, identifying funding sources (or gaps), and aligning business goals and initiatives with technology solutions. Program Delivery PracticesTSMO has its own characteristic project delivery cycle—each of which may have an IT component. These practices help ensure active IT involvement with project planning, technical reviews, and procurement. Program Delivery General PrinciplesInvolve Information Technology Personnel in Project Delivery TeamsTSMO project delivery teams have comprised a wide range of subject matter experts, typically covering traffic operations, traffic safety, ITS, and traffic incident management and others. The additional involvement of IT staff in project delivery can help ensure that State and agency policies relating to hardware, networking, and data management are followed. This involvement can also serve to speed or streamline the project delivery process because many of the primary groups who could have a say in the project would be represented on the team. It can also serve to build and cement relationships between IT and TSMO staffs by providing an opportunity to learn more about each other’s needs and work processes. Use of Lifecycle Cost ModelsTSMO projects typically involve long-term operational staffing, equipment costs, and maintenance activities that agencies account for and program. Input from both TSMO and IT groups—based on historical data for staffing effort, equipment costs, maintenance cycles, and effective lifespan of hardware and software—are important inputs to both TSMO and IT business planning and budgeting efforts. Future project resources and costs can be incorporated into annual operating costs for the respective owner and be coordinated with any system maintenance efforts. Properly considering project resources can insure smooth TSMO program delivery. Develop Lifecycle Costs The costs to deploy and maintain IT-TSMO systems are often significant and require annual resources, both in terms of staffing and maintenance. In many cases, over time, various groups deploy TSMO technology without considering product lifecycle, technical support, or replacement costs. PennDOT developed an approach to evaluate their IT and ITS investments from a holistic lifecycle cost perspective. The largest hurdle involved in the lifecycle approach was inventorying everything in the field and understanding what was installed, what purpose it was serving, and how it related to other features. This required a systems approach to map out the inventory from the software platform to various network connections to field devices. While the cost of staff resources who maintain and service the equipment increases with the number of assets installed, each PennDOT District also had preferred vendors and manufacturers. The preferences often differed by district, resulting in several different devices and systems across the State providing the same function. Consequently, staff and budget constraints within PennDOT prevented IT from supporting the number and variety of devices and systems. As a solution, PennDOT simplified the number of available manufacturers and required projects to remain within the standards to increase the efficiencies within the IT group and ultimately reduce recurring costs. From the reverse perspective, adding technology to automate functions can also be beneficial to the lifecycle cost. PennDOT identified value in providing communication to traffic signal corridors and allowing remote connectivity. The increased upfront investment in technology offset the ongoing time investment for managing the signals and resulted in an overall cost savings, because staff could modify timing remotely. Program Delivery—Specific PracticesThis project identifies four specific practices with broad applicability across several challenges as indicated in the challenge-driven section above:
Equipment/SystemsTSMO systems and equipment rely on certain specific procedures to ensure functionality. These identified practices are wide ranging, from establishing security systems and improving communication infrastructure to data sharing and data management. Equipment/Systems General PrinciplesMaintain an Intelligent Transportation Systems ArchitectureITS architectures provide a high-level framework that illustrate how existing and planned ITS elements interconnect and interface to exchange information and collectively deliver transportation services and functions. The development of the ITS architecture can include the agencies that have a role in the various systems to ensure consensus among the owners and users. Within each agency, the involvement of IT staff in ITS architecture activities can increase mutual understanding of the system requirements, data needs, communication, and security. Agencies may undertake periodic reviews and updates to keep the architecture relevant with new services and emerging technologies. Improve Data Communications InfrastructureNewer technology systems provide increased surveillance, data, and analysis but generate and use significantly more data, both in terms of volume and velocity. Therefore, the functionality of technology systems relies on data transmission. The health of the data communications infrastructure is critical to reliable operations—including considerations of capacity, reliability and redundancy, and security. The network evaluation and improvement can extend beyond a single agency. Options for infrastructure sharing with neighboring agencies, public-private partnerships, and lease lines can improve network reliability at a reduced or shared cost. Equipment and Systems—Specific PracticesThis project identifies four specific practices with broad applicability across several challenges, as indicated in the Challenges section:
Joint IT-TSMO Cybersecurity Risk Management Exercise Michigan DOT’s ITS Program Office wanted to assess the cybersecurity vulnerability of their ITS network. They found it was difficult and expensive to get their maintenance contractor to provide this service. Instead, they worked with the State of Michigan DTMB cybersecurity group and had them analyze their networks. DTMB identified cyber risks and informed Michigan DOT about the vulnerabilities. Michigan DOT now has robust rules and firewalls to keep operations networks and enterprise networks secure. DTMB also identified risks with partner agencies that share the Michigan DOT network. The partner agencies do not have the same in-house expertise that Michigian DOT has with DTMB. Partner agencies may not be able to mitigate the identified security risks and vulnerabilities that were identified, but they are aware of them and Michigan DOT has acknowledged those risks. Michigan DOT may be able to use the DTMB equipment to analyze the network again in the future.
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United States Department of Transportation - Federal Highway Administration |
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