Overview
The National Operations Center of Excellence (NOCoE) is a new, comprehensive technical services center and website that was launched during the 2015 Transportation Research Board (TRB) annual meeting. The NOCoE will help transportation professionals utilize state-of-the-art, real-time proactive management techniques to improve safety and system reliability, combat congestion, and better serve the traveling public.
The Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) is assisting the NOCoE’s Director in developing the first Technical Services Plan (TSP) to guide the products and services to be offered or facilitated by the Center. In an effort to consider the full range of potential activities and products, the TAC is considering both the Transportation Systems Management & Operations (TSM&O) Capability Maturity Model categories of issues that define the degree of maturity of TSM&O programs within agencies as well as categories of responses from a 2015 survey of agencies regarding their priority needs that was conducted jointly by the AASHTO STSM&O Systems Operations Working Group and the NOCoE. The Systems Operations Strategies working group, one of the five working groups of AASHTO’s Subcommittee on TSM&O (STSM&O), and the NOCoE had jointly distributed a needs assessment survey. The survey resulted in several main themes that are listed below:
- Workforce development
- Create a business case for TSMO
- Provide leadership
- Policy and procedural issues
- Research repository
- Develop a "Green Book" for operations
- Technology related issues
- Planning and performance measurement/management
The menu of products and services in this inaugural TSP must be tempered against the reality that there are limited resources, and to do everything all at once at the inception of the NOCoE is not practical. At the same time, tangible and highly valuable products and services must be provided in the short term to demonstrate the value of the NOCoE and to garner the support needed from sponsoring agencies to ensure a sustainable and long term future for the center. The products and/or service ideas were ranked based on the relevancy to the themes identified above and the score received from the voting by the TAC members. The top ranked products or service ideas are listed below:
- In-Person Peer Exchanges
- Virtual Peer Exchanges
- Webinars
- Speakers Forum
- TSM&O Research library
- National TSM&O Summit
- Assist agencies in conducting CMM self-evaluations
- Regional Operations Forum
The top ranked products and services are described within the TSP while also providing details related to the expected quantity, timeline of deliverables, location(s) (if applicable) and the estimated cost. The remaining products and services are described briefly with the intent that as resources, funding and needs require these services within the capabilities of the Center, the products and/or services can be developed.
This TSP is expected to be updated annually and consider the immediate and achievable goals within a short period, while also considering a rolling 3-year future plan to allow the Center to be responsive to the needs of the industry and change with technology.