Chapter 1 - Advanced Quality Systems: Guidelines for Establishing and Maintaining Construction Quality Databases (FHWA-HRT-07-019) - Concrete - Pavements

Advanced Quality Systems: Guidelines for Establishing and Maintaining Construction Quality Databases

CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND

State highway agencies (SHAs) have long recognized the importance of quality assurance (QA) as a means to control early failures of highway structures. Agencies have focused on developing appropriate standards and made considerable efforts in establishing and improving specifications so that high-quality construction practices are assured.

Increased testing during construction projects makes data processing more and more challenging when using traditional manual methods. Hence, database systems have come to fore in the management of construction quality data. These systems have become an integral component for construction QA processes. Effective QA systems can improve data processing efficiency, minimize errors, unify data administration, and provide data security. They also provide the data source for a variety of analyses, such as construction quality monitoring, developing pay adjustments, and performing detailed statistical analyses. Therefore, a construction quality database is essential for the effective and efficient operation of a highway construction program. A construction quality database is also essential as part of an effective management process of the highway facilities (including pavement structures) over time.

Feedback from SHAs received during the conduct of this study indicates that there are many different uses and users for construction quality databases, and the more data that are contained in a database, the more potential there is to use and analyze the data and thereby benefit from it. Potential uses are for technical, administrative, and legislative-level analyses and to generate periodic output reports. At the technical level, project-level analyses, acceptance quality characteristic (AQC) analyses (e.g., smoothness), and district- or statewide analyses can be performed.

Information assimilated in a construction quality database system may also be integrated with other databases, such as with performance information from the State pavement management system (PMS) and maintenance records. This allows the agency to perform more advanced analyses, such as those needed to develop or refine performance-related specifications (PRS), warranty specifications, innovative contracting procedures, and material/process pay factors, and those needed to check material design adequacy or validate structure design assumptions.

Clearly, a good construction quality system has more than just stand-alone benefits, as it supports other vital SHA activities. However, for such a system to be effective, the database and its attributes must be well defined and the database must be constructed in a manner that will readily permit wide use within an agency. This study aims at providing a detailed description of an ideal construction quality database.

1.2 OBJECTIVE AND SCOPE

The purpose of this study is to provide guidelines for SHAs in establishing and maintaining database systems geared towards construction quality issues for asphalt and concrete paving projects. This guidance includes recommendations on data types to be included, architecture of the database system, the data schema, data security, and procedures for data analyses. Another objective is to establish and make known the importance of construction quality database systems, so that SHAs are encouraged to implement new or improved databases that improve the overall quality of highway pavement projects.

1.3 METHODOLOGY AND RESEARCH APPROACH

As a first step in achieving the project objectives, current QA practices nationwide, and the associated database systems in use, were examined. Next, based on a synthesis of the state-of-the-practice in these areas, the project team developed a representation of an ideal database and recommended features that can enhance the capabilities of such a system. The following main tasks were performed to accomplish the project goals.

1.3.1 Surveys

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) initiated a survey in 2004 to collect information from four SHAs on their QA practices and their construction quality databases systems. The project team expanded that survey to cover other areas of interest to this project and solicited the assistance of nine additional SHAs to complete them. The surveys were distributed electronically to interested agencies. The survey results helped the project team gain insight into the functionality and implementation of construction quality database systems nationwide.

1.3.2 In-depth Interviews

Building on the initial surveys, the project team conducted in-depth interviews with representatives from six selected State Departments of Transportation (DOTs) that were proactive in maintaining and utilizing the database systems. During these interviews, the project team gained significant feedback on the potential uses and enhancements their respective construction quality database systems can undergo to make them more beneficial.

1.3.3 Program Demonstrations

The project team collected product reference manuals and literature, and received program demonstrations from selected SHAs, thereby providing insight into the functioning of all the various systems and software complexities.

1.3.4 Development of a Model Database

The project team developed a framework for an ideal database system that consists of features and capabilities that can (a) best store construction quality data and allow access by a range of users for analysis and reporting, and (b) link the data with data from other database systems in order to support other activities of the SHA.

1.4 HIGHWAY QUALITY ASSURANCE TERMS

The Transportation Research Board (TRB) released a circular (TRB, 2005) containing a glossary of highway QA terms. This document was developed to provide a uniform understanding of technical terms that have specific meanings in the highway engineering field. Definitions for these terms are cited below, to introduce and clearly distinguish among them.

QA—All those planned and systematic actions necessary to provide confidence that a product or facility will perform satisfactorily in service. QA addresses the overall problem of obtaining the quality of a service, product, or facility in the most efficient, economical, and satisfactory manner possible. Within this broad context, QA involves continued evaluation of the activities of planning, design, development of plans and specifications, advertising and awarding of contracts, construction, and maintenance, and the interactions of these activities.
In summary, QA is a process to ensure that the quality of the finished product meets specifications. It is the responsibility of the highway agency and is comprised of QC, inspection and acceptance, and IA.
QC—Also called process control, QC includes those QA actions and considerations necessary to assess and adjust production and construction processes so as to control the level of quality being produced in the end product.
QC is motivated by QA and acceptance procedures, and typically is the responsibility of the contractor and/or producer.
Inspection —The act of examining, measuring, or testing to determine the degree of compliance with requirements.
Acceptance—The process of deciding, through inspection, whether to accept or reject a product, including what pay factor to apply. Where contractor test results are used in the agency’s acceptance decision, the acceptance process includes contractor testing, agency verification, and possible dispute resolution.
IA—A management tool that requires a third party, not directly responsible for process control or acceptance, to provide an independent assessment of the product or the reliability of test results, or both, obtained from process control and acceptance. The results of IA tests are not to be used as a basis of product acceptance.

1.5 ORGANIZATION OF THE REPORT

This report is divided into six chapters and an appendix. Chapter 1 (this chapter) provides a brief introduction to the objectives of the study and the methodology adopted to accomplish the goals of the project. Chapter 2 provides a review of literature available on construction quality database systems and discusses the standards developed by different national studies.

Chapter 3 summarizes the information collected from SHAs as part of this study. Included are the findings from surveys conducted with individual agencies and in-depth reviews carried out by the project team to learn about the features and functions of the databases the surveyed agencies manage.

Chapter 4 discusses the development of an ideal database system and recommended features for a comprehensive system. In light of the current needs of SHAs and the construction industry, this chapter describes the various modules of a comprehensive database and how they can interact with each other to provide analysis capabilities for agencies to evaluate and improve their construction and testing practices. Guidelines for an ideal construction quality database are provided.

Chapter 5 illustrates examples of analyses/reports for various levels of large and small databases. This chapter provides samples of statistical analyses that can be performed to streamline construction activities and constantly improve the quality of construction within an agency.

Chapter 6 summarizes the entire work effort and presents important conclusions from this project. Appendix A contains a bibliography of the literature collected and reviewed for potential use in the study.

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