Overview
Every year, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) Automated Permit Routing and Analysis System (APRAS) issues over 400,000 Special Hauling Oversized/Overweight (OS/OW) permits. As the carriers’ and permit services’ business processes modernized, the original APRAS developed in 1998 was not able to keep pace. Industry requested that Special Hauling Permits management work to upgrade the APRAS web application. A Project Execution Management Team (PEMT) was formed and met monthly with program area and Information Technology leadership which formed the Project Governance Committee (PGC). A three phased rollout was developed. In total, approximately 2000 APRAS users were successfully transitioned to the new web application.
In this case study you will learn:
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How Pennsylvania DOT (PennDOT) updated their Automated Permit Routing and Analysis System (APRAS) after a Legacy system was found to no longer be modern or efficient.
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How a phased rollout allowed project team to identify and address problems before more users were switched over to the new system, increasing user acceptance and support.
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How transition to cloud-based infrastructure allows for application deployments with zero downtime to end users.
Background
Every year, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) Automated Permit Routing and Analysis System (APRAS) issues over 400,000 Special Hauling Oversized/Overweight (OS/OW) permits. These permits authorize carriers to move extremely large and/or heavy items on state-owned roads and bridges and generate over $32M in revenue each year.
When the original system (aka APRAS Legacy) was implemented in 1998, it was considered state-of-the-art. With advancing technologies and the demand from our user community on the rise, APRAS Legacy became dated and updates to the system were required. While PennDOT could still use the backend APRAS Legacy applications to manage workflows, the web application used by the external business users no longer met industry expectations. As the carriers’ and permit services’ business processes modernized, APRAS was not able to keep pace. Compared to other states, PennDOT had fallen behind and business partners encouraged PennDOT’s Special Hauling Permits management to upgrade the APRAS web application.
TSMO Planning, Strategies and Deployment
By the mid-2010s, PennDOT developed a strategy to modernize APRAS that would integrate the latest geospatial technologies and provide a user experience that aligned with business partner needs. As part of this process, PennDOT evaluated business partner needs and PennDOT objectives to determine an approach.
High level requirements included the following:
• Modernize the user interface for both external business partners and internal permit staff to reduce the time to complete a hauling permit
• Implement cutting edge technology and GIS-based features using Esri ArcGIS to eliminate time spent manually creating routes via turn-by-turn entry
• Provide map-based routing options to improve the auto-approval process and get loads on the road as quickly as possible
• Increase probability of immediate issuance (without manual review)
• Provide analysis of routes without requiring application submission to assist in job bidding
• Provide guidance and validation during application creation to help assure a complete and accurate submission
• Make a simple and easy to follow application creation and submission process workflow
With a list of needs and goals, PennDOT considered all modernization options. After a thorough evaluation, PennDOT concluded industry Commercial Off the Shelf (COTS) solutions would not meet Pennsylvania’s needs. To ensure new a APRAS web application met the needs of industry, PennDOT directly included carriers and permit services in the APRAS modernization effort. In June 2018, PennDOT began the APRAS Modernization External Web Application project, the first phase of the APRAS Modernization program. Because APRAS is critical to the issuance of over 1,000 permits daily and supports movement of billions of dollars of OS/OW equipment and materials annually, it was imperative to deliver a successful go-live and seamless transition. Using an overlapping iterative approach, the project team completed development on schedule and on budget, going live in December of 2019.
PennDOT minimized risk by developing a detailed Rollout Plan. The plan included pre-rollout activities and a three-wave rollout that incrementally transitioned users from the legacy solution to the modern solution over a period of approximately six months. Pre-rollout tasks included training and demonstrations for business partner users and internal PennDOT permitting staff. Training was conducted via videos, FAQ documents, and live question and answer sessions. The three rollout waves began in December of 2019, with a very small number of consulting carriers and with project team members on site at the carrier locations when they transitioned to the new APRAS. After Wave 1 was successfully completed, Wave 2 brought on a larger number of carriers and permit services. The largest wave, Wave 3, began in early March and continued through mid-June. Despite Wave 3 occurring during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic and the related upheaval in the hauling industry, Wave 3 was completed successfully and as planned. The final users were onboarded on May 17, 2020, and the legacy system was decommissioned on June 14, 2020 as scheduled.
Additional phases are planned through 2024 to address other aspects of the system, including a new internal user interface, improving automated route analysis, and expanding payment options.
Communications Planning and Execution
Frequent and effective communication was critical for the success of this project. Overall progress, status, risks and activities were closely tracked and communicated through a structured project governance plan. This included bi-weekly meetings of the Project Execution Management Team (PEMT) and monthly meetings with program area and Information Technology leadership which formed the Project Governance Committee (PGC).
To develop requirements and test the application, the PEMT engaged internal and external APRAS users through virtual and in person meetings at least monthly. External agencies including the PA Turnpike Commission and PA State Police were also engaged during development and testing to collect feedback and coordinate program activities. During the phased rollout, regular communication was maintained with all users for their awareness and preparation to transition to the new application.
Outcome, Benefit and Learnings
In total, approximately 2000 APRAS users were successfully transitioned to the new web application. The benefits achieved included the following:
Faster Application Creation: Permit applications which use the map to automatically generate a route take less time than Turn by Turn entry by the user.
• Creating a permit application using Turn by Turn entry can be time consuming, especially for longer routes.
• Map based routing is automated and drastically simplifies the route creation portion of an application.
• Analysis of submitted applications showed that map created routes are 20% more complex.
• To date, more than 121,122 applications have been created using the map interface
Reduced Denial Rate: Map based routing avoids many road and bridge restrictions.
• Over 90% of denied applications result in the user copying or creating a new application.
• By using map-based routing, the user avoids many restrictions that Turn by Turn entry does not.
Reduced Planning Time: Time spent outside the system to create and review a route is reduced or eliminated.
• Creating a map using Turn by Turn entry requires the user to plan the route outside of the system.
• Outreach to multiple carriers revealed an estimated 5-15 minutes saved per application when using the map to generate a route.
Through this ongoing project, PennDOT has documented several lessons learned, including the following:
• Engaging key external users in the requirements development and application testing helped to ensure support and eased the change to the new web application.
• Phased rollout allowed project team to identify and address problems before more users were switched over to the new system, increasing user acceptance and support.
• Transition to cloud-based infrastructure allows for application deployments with zero downtime to end users