BACKGROUND

State departments of transportation (DOTs) routinely employ fleet maintenance technicians with a variety of technical backgrounds and skill levels to perform maintenance and repairs on agency fleets. State DOTs use a combination of in-house technicians, out-sourced repair shops, and equipment operators to perform specific functions. Allocations of staff assignments typically use formulas that consider common factors such as financial constraints, fleet age and condition, fleet equipment class mix, and the availability of adequately trained and credentialed technicians to complete the work. 

As highway maintenance equipment fleet technology evolves, the tools and methods used to assign maintenance technician staffing must also evolve. Rapidly aging fleets are creating new repair and maintenance challenges, and state DOTs are having difficulty hiring and retaining qualified fleet technicians. Vehicle fleets operated by state DOTs have become more complex and require specific technical expertise to maintain. As a result, previous methods to reach an optimal ratio of maintenance staff to fleet size are no longer effective. Research is needed to identify effective methods for optimizing the assignment of technicians to efficiently maintain state DOT fleets that reflect the evolution of the vehicle fleet technology and the skills required to keep the fleets in a good state of repair.  

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this research is to develop an interactive tool that projects technician labor needs and assigns the technicians required to efficiently maintain vehicle fleets. To the extent practicable, the tool should address technician needs for repairs and maintenance activities using a standardized ratio, methodology, or formula that will guide the quantity, type, and source of staff assignments for specific fleet maintenance needs.

The tool should be applicable to any state DOT, regardless of the specific needs and conditions of the local context. A manual providing instruction on the application of the tool in decision-making should be developed to enable application and adaptation as vehicle fleet technologies and maintenance techniques evolve.

The final deliverables, at a minimum will include:

• A final report that documents the conduct of research;
• An interactive tool with a manual to guide agencies in the allocation of staff to fleet maintenance; and
• A stand-alone technical memorandum titled “Implementation of Research Findings and Products".

TASKS:

Task 1. Conduct a literature review and synthesis of completed and active research and industry documentation establishing core equipment technician requirements, technician requirements and skill bases, and technician assignment methodologies.

Deliverable: Technical Memo: Literature Review and Synthesis

Task 2. Conduct virtual interviews with managers and leadership from state DOTs and other public and private entities with fleet management responsibilities to determine factors, constraints, and data that influence staffing decisions. The interviews will also be used to collect specific examples of tools, methods, and processes in use today by these organizations, obtain information on the strengths and weaknesses of these methods, and identify remaining needs or challenges that could be addressed by this research.  The interview questions; list of people interviewed with their agencies agency roles specified; and analyzed interview results will be documented into a technical memo for review by the project panel. 

Deliverable: Technical Memo: State DOT interviews and results

Task 3. Complete an analysis of the data collected in Tasks 1 and 2 to document the state-of-practice within state DOT and related industries. This document should be written to explain what gaps in knowledge and specific technical challenges remain that could be addressed by the products of this research. It should also identify and discuss examples of successful methods used by DOTs and other organizations to assign technicians to specific fleet repair and maintenance tasks.

Deliverable: Technical Memo: State of Industry Practice 

Task 4. Develop a proposed methodology for assigning maintenance staffing in consideration of the factors, constraints, and other needs identified in previous tasks. Document this methodology into a technical memorandum that includes the functional and technical specifications for the tool and clearly defines the factors, assumptions, and data requirements. The functional specifications will define what the tool does and describe how the tool will be used by fleet managers for projecting staffing needs.

Deliverable: Technical Memo: Proposed methodology for staff assignments with functional and technical specifications of a tool identified as the basis for developing the tool in subsequent tasks. 

Task 5. Build a tool prototype based on the functional and technical specifications approved in the Task 4 memo.  Prepare and submit an interim report to the NCHRP panel to include the following:

·       Documentation of the processes used, and the information collected in Tasks 1-4

·       Technical memorandum describing the proposed staffing methodology (from Task 4)

·       Presentation of the tool prototype with documentation

·       Description of the development and testing plan that will happen in Task 6 

The interim report and tool prototype will be presented at an in-person interim meeting to be convened by NCHRP in Washington, D.C. The interim report and tool prototype will be revised as needed to respond to panel input.

Deliverable: Interim Report  

Task 6. Develop an interactive tool (using Microsoft Excel or another widely available software) that will inform technician staffing levels for different vehicle fleets. To ensure that the tool functions correctly, the team will conduct the following tests:

·       Functional testing ensures that the functionality specified in the tool requirements document works as intended from the end user’s perspective.

·       Regression testing, or repeated functional testing, ensures that the tool’s functionality continues to work as intended after it has been modified, updated, or when new features are built.

·       Microsoft and operating system version testing ensures that the tool is performing as expected across Excel versions and common operating systems.

The team will use data from three to five DOTs (identified from Task 2 outreach) to compare the tool outputs with each DOT’s current staffing configuration. The team will also ask the DOTs to participate in evaluating the tool from a user perspective. The process and outcomes of the tool testing shall be documented into a technical memo.

Deliverables: 

·       Draft Tool

·       Technical Memo: Documentation and results of tool testing

Task 7. Develop the final deliverables, at a minimum to include:

·       A final report that documents the conduct of research;

·       An interactive tool;

·       Tool user guide and video;

·       PowerPoint presentation for communicating project results; and

·       Technical Memo: “Implementation of Research Findings and Products”.

STATUS: Project contract underway as of September 3, 2024.  Project is within Phase I.