Page 56 - GCN, Oct/Nov 2017

TRANSPORTATION
“As our planners or engineers are looking at these roadways, they have situational awareness of what else is going on, both what’s been installed by seeing the signs that are already exist- ing and...what’s been proposed,” said Cordell Schachter, DOT’s CTO.
“They can see those orders in progress because they may be working around the corner or down the street from an existing order, and they can make sure that their work is going to harmonize with the existing order or, if they see that there’s a conflict, bring that to ev- eryone’s attention before all the work is implemented,” he added.
Schachter added that the display grid of work orders also helps NYC DOT’s Legal Affairs Division because a major issue in traffic crash litigation is the regulation in effect at the time of the accident and whether information was properly posted.
RESEARCH Report
FUTURE BUSINESS NEEDS
The department opted for a web- based, open-source app as opposed to a commercial solution because none of the off-the-shelf products officials tried met all their needs, Schachter said. Cambridge Systematics helped build the custom open-source stack.
An interactive map was a key re- quirement of the new system because “the city’s map is a transitory thing,” Schachter said. “Every day we change regulations, streets are added or changed, [and] lanes are changed, so that’s one of the reasons this applica- tion is so important. The traffic con- trol information on the street needs to keep pace with the growth and change within the city.”
Easier, more accurate data analy- sis was another requirement. Gen- erating reports from a mainframe system required them to be “hand-
crafted,” said Harry King, SIMS pro- gram manager.
“It wasn’t always easy to build re- peatable processes that made things more automated,” he added. “Going to the modern system, where we use SQL-like databases, then you have a little bit of data ready to be manipulat- ed in ways that you need to see things more quickly.”
Although the department doesn’t lead with technology when research- ing solutions to business problems, Schachter said that as other needs arise that could benefit from an asset or work order management system, the team would consider SIMS before buying or developing another plat- form. “And because it’s open-source, we know that the future investments will go toward coding to address the future business needs and not to pay more licensing fees,” he added. •
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56 GCN OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2017 • GCN.COM