BACKGROUND

In recent years, transportation agencies have developed knowledge and skills in the application of three disciplines: performance management, risk management, and process improvement. The high-level definitions of these three disciplines are as follows:

• Performance management is the practice of using measurements to track progress toward established goals. The dissemination of reporting and insights supports evidence-based decision-making and provides transparency to stakeholders.
• Risk management is a methodology that looks at uncertainties on all levels, including activity, project, program, and strategic risks. Risk management aims to identify, assess, and respond to potential pitfalls that affect transportation systems, operations, and objectives.
• Process improvement involves the business practice of defining, analyzing, and improving processes, products, and services to optimize performance and improve the experience for the end users.

While these disciplines are heavily researched and applied individually, little research has taken place regarding the relationship between the three efforts and the benefits and challenges of integrating them. Generally, the steps of each discipline are established and treated separately within the specific system, which may limit efficiency, create redundancies, and disrupt plans due to mixed messages. Integrating the functions and relationships among the disciplines could provide efficiencies across agencies and align agency decisions and practices more readily to overarching goals and objectives. Research is needed to reveal the potential benefits and opportunities for integrating risk management, performance management, and process improvements by transportation agencies, including identifying the practices, methods, and data requirements of doing so. This research will be particularly useful to transportation agency executives, managers, and practitioners seeking to proactively integrate risk management, performance management, and process improvements to meet agency goals and objectives.

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this research is to develop a guide to assist transportation agencies with integrating risk management, performance management, and process improvements. The practical guide must

1. Feature a decision framework applicable to integration of the three disciplines in enterprise-level, program-level, and project-level decision-making;
2. Identify the relationship of the three disciplines, including common purposes or areas of focus that could be integrated to inform decision-making and practice;
3. Present the business case for linking these disciplines, including but not limited to meeting federal and state mandates;
4. Define the obstacles and opportunities to integrating the disciplines; and
5. Determine the best communication tools to support application of the framework by transportation agencies.

RESEARCH PLAN

Phase I – Data Collection and Analysis

Task 1. Literature Review. Conduct a comprehensive literature review from transportation and related industries in the public and private sectors within the United States and internationally. Document the sources reviewed, summarize the data collected, and lessons learned into a technical memorandum for panel review. The literature review will seek to accomplish the following:

• Characterize the risk management, performance management, and process improvement disciplines and their purposes in transportation;
• Identify the use of language and terminology within each discipline, including language differences that could cause confusion;
• Identify the relationship between and common ground among the three disciplines;
• Identify experience with the integration of risk, performance, and process improvements both within and outside the transportation industry, including examples of the data and methods that are being used; and
• Identify the benefits and costs of discipline integration.

Deliverable

·       Technical Memo: Literature Review

Task 2. Practitioner Outreach. Plan, execute, and document practitioner outreach to specifically identify whether and where the integration of risk management, performance management, and process improvement is being performed; which agency functions are involved; how success is defined and measured; how the integration performs; and what gaps exist in knowledge and practical methods for integrating the disciplines. 

The team will use information from tasks 1 and 2 to inform the type of engagement to conduct for the different stakeholders. These will include:

·       The team will seek to conduct individual focus groups of representatives from state DOT’s that have successfully integrated two or more disciplines. However, the team may use a virtual workshop if there are a lot of states to engage;

·       A virtual workshop of state DOTs will be conducted to discuss opportunities and constraints for discipline integration

·       A survey will be used to access information from various international practitioners.

The engagement plan, including a list of practitioner participants, will be shared with the panel. Revisions will be made to the plan that reflect panel input prior to execution. 

The process, data collected, and outcomes of each activity will be documented into a technical memorandum.

 Deliverables:

·       Draft and Revised Practitioner Engagement Plan

·       Technical Memo: Practitioner Engagement

Task 3. State of Practice. The research team shall prepare a state-of-practice technical memorandum for panel review using the data and information collected in Tasks 1 and 2, specifically identifying the following:

• The extent to which transportation agencies are seeking to integrate risk management, performance management, and process improvements;
• The strategies, data, and methods that have been successfully used to integrate the disciplines;
• The types of decisions affected by integrating the disciplines;
• The lessons learned from the integration;
• The gaps in knowledge and practice with respect to integrating the three disciplines; and
• The obstacles and opportunities for implementation by transportation agencies.

This technical memorandum will shed light on the successful integration stories. It will encompass a list of the processes, tools, methods, and data that propelled this success. It will also highlight the existing gaps, challenges, and limitations that hinder such integration. Accompanying the technical memorandum will be two appendices that enrich the documentation: (1) a detailed practice compendium and (2) a comprehensive terminology glossary to ensure seamless communication.

A virtual panel meeting will be held to discuss the data collected to date and the content appropriate for the guide. 

Deliverables: 

·       Technical Memo: State-of-practice

·       Appendix A: Terminology Glossary

·       Appendix B: Practice Compendium

 Task 4. Guide Outline. Prepare an annotated outline of the guide to be shared with the panel in advance of the interim meeting. It will be discussed during the interim meeting as specified in Task 5.

 Deliverable:  Guide outline

Task 5. Prepare an interim report and a proposed Phase II work plan that details the research process, data collected, and data analysis conducted in Tasks 1-4, specifying gaps in knowledge or practical methods that should be researched during Phase II. The Phase II work plan shall include tasks to address these gaps and outline the methods proposed for testing the guide and integration framework in a practical setting.

This report will be submitted to the panel for a 30-day review and will be presented at an in-person interim meeting to be convened by NCHRP in Washington, D.C. The research team shall revise any of the deliverables from Tasks 4 and 5 as agreed to with the panel during the interim meeting.

Deliverables:

·       Interim Report, draft and final

·       Phase II work plan, draft and final 

Phase II – Information Synthesis and Product Development

Task 6. Implement Phase II Work Plan to gather and assess additional data, and/or revise the outlines of the practical guide and framework in anticipation of testing on a series of case studies in Task 7.  Deliverables will include a revised plan for testing and validating the draft guide and framework. Additionally, the team will prepare a first draft of the guide for testing in Task 7. These deliverables will be shared with the panel for review and comment in advance of commencing Task 7.

Deliverables:

·       Revised plan for testing and validating the draft guide and framework

·       Revised guide and framework outlines in response to additional data collected in Task 6

Task 7. Plan, execute, and document a method of testing or validating the draft guide and integration framework in a practical setting. 

The research team will execute the approved plan for testing the guide and its recommendations to ensure it is practical, achievable, broadly applicable to a variety of agency contexts, and replicable. The team will seek to replace a full annual cycle, working with between 3-6 program areas in state DOTs to deploy the steps in the framework guide. 

This testing will facilitate refinements to the guide and the framework around several factors:

·       Identifying the context around the performance areas

·       Outlining the scope of the analysis or effort under review

·       Defining the performance and risk processes to be adopted or documented

·       Communicating and championing the integration

·       Applying process improvement analysis to areas in need of improve performance

Each case study/example will be documented into a technical memorandum to include lessons learned from the case studies and recommended modifications to the draft guide.

Deliverables: Technical Memo: 3-6 documented case studies

Task 8. Develop draft and final deliverables. Draft deliverables will be developed for panel and NCHRP review and comment in accordance with NCHRP policy. Draft deliverables will be revised in response to comments. A separate document will be submitted with the final deliverables that provides an itemized response to each comment received by the panel on the deliverables.

The deliverables from this research project include, but are not necessarily limited to the following:

• A guide for developing and applying a strategic framework for integrating risk management, performance management, and process improvement;
• A conduct of research report that documents the entire research effort;
• A communications packet that can be used to describe the research benefits and methods to a variety of audiences, including agency executives and practitioners; and
• A technical memorandum, “Implementation of Research Findings and Products”.

The deliverables from this research project include, but are not necessarily limited to the following:

• A guide for developing and applying a strategic framework for integrating risk management, performance management, and process improvement; 
• A conduct of research report that documents the entire research effort;
• A communications packet that can be used to describe the research benefits and methods to a variety of audiences, including agency executives and practitioners; and
• A technical memorandum, “Implementation of Research Findings and Products”.

STATUS: Contract start date was October 1, 2024. Project is in Phase I.