Overview
The guide is based on a series of case studies, from the United States and one from Great Britain, that describe successful business processes. The case studies show how business processes were successfully improved in operational areas such as traffic incident management (TIM), work zone management, planned special-event management, road weather management, and traffic control system management. This guide identifies influences that lead to process integration, common obstacles faced when implementing process integration, and an outline of the steps that can be referenced to implement and institutionalize processes. The steps reflect the need to define specific reliability goals, document current business processes and recommended changes, implement a process, measure outcomes against reliability goals, and institutionalize the process. The guide is not specific to any one process. Its purpose is to assist any agency that is seeking to improve travel time reliability through improved coordination and integration of multiple processes and agencies.
This guide and an accompanying report provide a detailed introduction to business process mapping. The approach to business process mapping was developed by the IBM Corporation for use in automating business processes, called Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN). This approach proved highly adaptable to business processes related to traffic operations. BPMN Business processes diagrammed using BPMN are simple to comprehend and communicate. This guide, along with the accompanying report and other SHRP2 Reliability track products related to institutional structures and business process reengineering, are intended to help transportation agencies move forward in addressing nonrecurring traffic congestion and delivering more reliable travel times on their highway networks.