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Glossary

To help you better understand SHRP2

The glossary of terms will help you better understand SHRP2. These terms are specific to SHRP2 and in some cases may differ from traditional or more commonly used definitions.

  • Development

    Activities that refine research by advancing products beyond a prototype, framework, or concept. A part of the Research and Development Phase, development may include pilots conducted at experimental, analytical, and full-scale levels. Development may also include activities that help partner organizations plan for future implementation of a product such as identifying potential users and stakeholders; involving stakeholders in research and development efforts; preparing knowledge transfer documents and implementation strategies; and disseminating information about research status, outcomes, and products.

  • Every Day Counts

    A FHWA program designed to identify and deploy innovation aimed at shortening project delivery, enhancing the safety of roadways, and protecting the environment. The Every Day Counts website is located here: http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/everydaycounts/

  • Focus Areas

    Four research classifications – identified as Safety, Renewal, Reliability, and Capacity – that support the overarching research approach and respond to areas of need identified in the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU), the Congressional legislation that funds SHRP2. The focus areas direct research towards goals that are meaningful to highway users, such as increasing safety, reducing congestion, minimizing disruption to users when roads are being rehabilitated, and providing new capacity that enhances neighborhoods and avoids environmental harm.

  • Highways For Life

    A FHWA program that advances longer–lasting highway infrastructure using innovations to accomplish the fast construction of efficient and safe highways and bridges. The three goals of Highways for LIFE are to improve safety during and after construction, reduce congestion caused by construction, and improve the quality of the highway infrastructure. The Highways for LIFE website is located here: http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/hfl/

  • Implementation

    The routine use of SHRP2 Solutions. Implementation is an end state carried out by users: state Departments of Transportation (DOTs), Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs), resource agencies, and other highways industry stakeholders (e.g., vehicle manufacturers, tow-truck operators, police officers, and emergency personnel). If the initial applications are successful, users will incorporate SHRP2 Solutions into their ordinary ways of doing business and will routinely account for these products within their budgets. Implementation is also a general term that describes activities occurring within the Implementation Phase of SHRP2.

  • Implementation Advisory Committee

    The Implementation Advisory Committee (IAC) provides expert advice to the partner organizations on Implementation Phase activities and program management. The IAC complies with Section 15 of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) Amendments of 1997 and is also commonly referred to as the “SHRP2 FACA.” Many of the members of the IAC may have also served on the Oversight Committee.

  • Implementation Assistance

    A collaborative implementation support activity between the partner organizations and a target end user of a SHRP2 Solution. Implementation assistance activities illustrate the product’s application and benefits to other potential users. Within SHRP2, these activities are heterogeneous in structure and focus and may involve actual construction projects or advanced highway operations trials. Implementation assistance may lead to the development of guide specifications or the application of suggested change management processes to intra- or multi-agency decision making. This is a part of the implementation process for market-ready innovations that have been selected as SHRP2 Solutions. However, it is possible that minor refinements to a SHRP2 Solution could result from implementation assistance activities.

  • Implementation Phase

    The period in the SHRP2 implementation process following the Research and Development Phase. During this phase partner organizations make product prioritization decisions and determine which products will become SHRP2 Solutions. The partner organizations then organize IPWs to create implementation plans for SHRP2 Solutions and prepare the products to be marketed to users through implementation support and strategic communications and marketing.

  • Implementation Plan

    The implementation plan is tactical and outlines how a product will be delivered, the potential users of the product, the risks to product delivery, the timeline for product delivery, the communications activities that will support deployment, and the resources required to deliver the product. The implementation plan also includes tools or processes to evaluate the success of product implementation.

    The implementation plan is drafted as the primary output from an IPW. The product implementation strategy, developed during the product KTW, is a primary input to the implementation plan. Draft implementation plans must be reviewed, revised, and approved by the partner organizations before being finalized.

  • Implementation Planning Workshop (IPW)

    A collaborative meeting in which partner organizations and likely end users develop a detailed implementation plan and budget for a SHRP2 Solution. The IPW is tactical in nature and defines roles and responsibilities; identifies implementation activities; and identifies key partners and product champions.

  • Implementation Strategy

    The primary output of a KTW. The implementation strategy is a starting point and draft roadmap to guide and prioritize implementation activities once a product or group of products become a SHRP2 Solution.

  • Implementation Support

    A wide range of tactics, tools, and services that help a user implement a SHRP2 Solution. These activities further deployment of a product and may include technical training, conferences, and technical support. Implementation support activities should be detailed in the implementation plan. Another term often used for this purpose is “technology deployment activities.”

  • Knowledge Transfer Workshop (KTW)

    A collaborative meeting in which the research team, partner organizations, and potential early adopters of a product share information, make early projections for market interest, and identify resources needed to implement the product. The KTW is strategic in nature and is a step toward handing off and implementing a product. The primary output of a KTW is an implementation strategy. The SHRP2 partner organizations will organize a KTW for most products.

  • Marketing Plan

    A section of or addendum to a product or product group’s implementation plan that describes how the product or product group will be marketed to potential users and audiences.

  • Oversight Committee

    The oversight committee was established to guide the Research and Development Phase of the SHRP2 program. The oversight committee provides TRB with expert advice on the research priorities of the SHRP2 focus areas and is ultimately responsible for all aspects of SHRP2 research.

  • Partner Organizations

    The organizations responsible for SHRP2. The partner organizations include the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), and the Transportation Research Board (TRB).

  • Pilot

    A development activity that tests, defines, or illustrates a product as an extension of research. Part of the Research and Development Phase, pilot results and evaluation may identify refinements and modifications that are necessary before the Implementation Phase can begin. Pilots are intended to define the boundary conditions, refinements, and limitations under which products provide value and positive cost/benefit results.

  • Product

    An output of SHRP2 research that has been further developed for implementation and is suitable for use by end users. Products include a wide range of developed outputs, from guidebooks and technical standards documentation to market-ready innovations. Research activities identify new and innovative processes and technologies that are explored and developed within TRB reports, pilots, and KTWs. If the partner organizations jointly determine that a product is of a high priority, the implementing agency deploys the product as a SHRP2 Solution.

  • Product Champions

    A SHRP2 product champion actively supports the implementation of SHRP2 Solutions through partnership and outreach activities. Public advocates for a SHRP2 Solution, champions are often early adopters or likely end users and will likely participate in IPWs or implementation assistance activities.

  • Project

    A set of research and development activities for a defined topic; coordinated by TRB.

  • Project Manager

    The individual with primary responsibility for overseeing, tracking and reporting on the execution of an approved SHRP2 Solution implementation plan. Jointly designated by AASHTO and FHWA as part of the implementation planning process, project managers will likely be AASHTO or FHWA technical staff, but may in some cases be an employee of another key organization with substantial responsibilities in the approved implementation plan (e.g., lead state or MPO, industry professional organization, academic research center).

  • Readiness

    A determination by the partner organizations that a product is sufficiently developed for implementation planning to begin.

  • Research

    The identification of new processes and technologies through a variety of techniques, including literature reviews; surveys; data collection; laboratory and field experiments; and development and validation of methodologies. TRB manages research as part of the Research and Development Phase.

  • Research And Development Phase

    The period preceding the Implementation Phase, led by TRB. Research identifies and studies innovative process and technologies and development activities advance emerging products to prepare for implementation.

  • Research Report

    The collected results and findings of a specific SHRP2 project. A research report includes study steps, research data, conclusions, and general recommendations for how the research findings could be applied in the field or within professional practice. SHRP2 research reports are not considered products.

  • SHRP2 Solutions

    Joint high-priority products selected by the partner organizations and funded for implementation. Not all high-priority products will become SHRP2 Solutions due to limiting factors such as available funding, organizational capacity, and market requirements.

  • User Or User Group

    A user is an individual or organization that directly uses a SHRP2 Solution (or would benefit from its use). Users incorporate SHRP2 Solutions into their business practices as part of comprehensive implementation.

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