The following appendix contains detailed survey findings for each of the nine (9) agencies for which the team conducted follow-up telephone surveys.
The Right of Way Section of the Idaho Transportation Department (ITD) is responsible for the acquisition of property required for highway construction, material sources, and maintenance shed sites and provides oversight for LPAs in Idaho that acquire property for highway purposes using Federal funding. The Right of Way Section is currently centralized with a headquarters office, six district Property Managers, and a scenic enhancement representative, but the division is moving towards becoming a centralized group. During fiscal years 2011 and 2012, ITD acquired an average of over 200 parcels per year, with acquisitions valued at over $20 million per fiscal year. ITD did 21 relocations in FY 2012 and 20 relocations in FY 2011, with relocation costs of $1.2 million and $580,000 respectively per fiscal year.
The business functions supported by the ITD PAECETrak system are identified in Exhibit 9
Exhibit 9: Business Functions Supported by ITD Right of Way System
Business Function |
System PAECETrak |
Appraisal |
✔ |
Negotiation |
✔ |
Acquisition |
✔ |
Relocation |
✔ |
Property Management |
✔ |
GIS |
The original right of way system that the division used was developed internally using a Microsoft Access Database. The program became fairly complex in the 1990s and it worked well while the developer of the system was still around to maintain and make required modifications to the system. However, since the developer's departure from the Right of Way Section, the system has not been updated. The system is still able to collect data but it has otherwise become obsolete. Although the system initially had all the components that were needed, including outdoor advertising, relocation, property management, and others, the system is now out of date and has evolved into three independent databases that do not talk to each other.
The section recently decided to purchase a commercial off-the-shelf right of system, PAECETrak by BEM Systems, to track all of its right of way activities. Implementation is currently underway with initial go-live of the new system expected during 2014.
The ITD PAECETrak system will support the following business processes:
The system will be able to generate all documents for acquisition and generate reminders about certain events. Although the previous system had some reminder capability, over time, the functionality became obsolete because it was not maintained, and staff had to keep track of milestone dates on their own.
The system will include workflows and as appraisals are assigned, the system will keep track of milestones as the acquisition process is completed for each parcel. In order to move the acquisition process forward and track progress, the person responsible for the current workflow item has to indicate it is completed before the next workflow item can proceed.
Signatures will be documented electronically in the database and hard/paper signatures will not be required.
PAECETrak is integrated with the following systems:
There are currently 9 staff members, but the Section is expected to grow to 11 members during the upcoming fiscal year. Appraisers will be able to upload documents and the design team for ITD will have limited system access. Local Public Agencies may have read only access, but the details are being worked out since implementation is still underway. Although the Right of Way Section has the ability to assign access to any user, it wants to make sure that appropriate security measures are in place.
Since the previous system could no longer be supported, the agency made the decision to procure a new system. The agency went through the bid process and it took approximately 1.5 years to get to the implementation stage.
The RFP was developed with heavy involvement from internal staff and the Department of Purchasing. Internal staff worked together with the Department of Purchasing to identify specific business requirements that would meet the Right of Way Section's needs.
Implementation of the new system is currently underway. The process was scheduled for six months, but implementation is now expected to take nine months because of some issues related to data conversion that were encountered along the way. The go-live date was initially scheduled for the end of July 2014, but it has been pushed back to an estimated date of late September 2014 due to ITD internal system security compatibility issues with the new system, which has delayed staff from becoming familiar with the new system and has prevented the use of historic data in the new system.
The ITD Right of Way Section went through an extensive business re-engineering process. Each person in the ITD Right of Way Section identified current business processes and improvements, and the group then worked together to define how these processes would be incorporated into the new system. In some instances, this required changing business process to match the new system.
The original budget for implementation was $560,000, including the first year's maintenance fee, but the project has since exceeded this budget by approximately $14,500.
Representatives from the vendor will be sent out for a week to conduct training. The ITD Right of Way Section has already gone through the process of looking at the system screen by screen, but before and after the system is scheduled to go-live, the Section will spend a week on how each person's role fits into the system. There will also be online support.
Since the system is still being implemented, user acceptance has yet to be determined.
The ongoing cost to maintain the agency's system is estimated to cost approximately $75,000 per year.
The new system is expected to reduce the time to complete various activities and to improve access to data. The anticipated system benefits are as follows:
Because data conversion was not initially included within the scope of the RFP for implementation, ITD had to come up with additional funds for data conversion.
Organizational change management was also identified by ITD as an implementation challenge because staff members are accustomed to using the old system but the new system will require users to adapt to a new way of doing things.
ITD identified several key lessons learned from its implementation process:
The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) Division of Right of Way and Utilities is responsible for the acquisition of right of way, relocation of affected families, businesses, and utilities, and safety improvements to highway railroad crossings. KYTC accomplishes these objectives through the Right of Way and Utilities Division in the central office which establishes policy and procedures and a Right of Way function and Utilities function in each of the 12 KYTC districts which have primary responsibility for project related work.
The KYTC Division of Right of Way and Utilities acquires 1,800 to 2,000 parcels each year, which translates into approximately $20-25 million in annual acquisition costs. The relocation program consists of approximately 200 to 300 parcels, which amounts to approximately $10 million annually. There are a total of 70 staff members, and about 60 percent of the work is currently done in-house, with the remainder done by consultants. In the next few years, this breakdown is expected to shift; 60 percent of the work is expected to be done by consultants and 40 percent of the work is expected to be completed in-house.
The business functions supported by the KYTC RWUMS application or the paper/hybrid system are outlined in Exhibit 10.
Exhibit 10: Business Functions Supported by KYTC RWUMS Right of Way System or the Paper/Manual System
Business Function |
System |
|
RWUMS |
Paper/Manual |
|
Appraisal |
✔ | |
Negotiation/Acquisition |
✔ | |
Relocation |
✔ | |
Property Management |
✔ | |
GIS |
||
The KYTC Division of Right of Way and Utilities uses the Right of Way and Utilities Management System (RWUMS) for right of way, but has switched over to the Kentucky Utilities and Rail Tracking System (KURTS) to manage utility and railroad relocation. RWUMS is custom-developed and supports tracking of the appraisal and acquisition processes. The relocation program is not part of the system yet.
RWUMS supports the following business processes:
Property management is done using Microsoft Word forms and not with the database system.
An IT staff member has been assigned to generate status reports for each project, but the generation of documents is not otherwise automated.
The KYTC Division of Right of Way and Utilities was originally planning to include work flow capabilities within RWUMS, but this functionality has not been implemented. When a certain stage in the process is completed, there are no trigger emails and the staff has to rely on individual person to person communications instead. For example, once an appraiser has completed an appraisal, the appraiser notifies the Right of Way Supervisor and the completed appraisal is logged into a separate status report. The appraisal is then forwarded to the review appraiser and the review appraiser then notifies the supervisor when the review appraisal has been completed. The appraisal is then routed to the central office for review. Once the central office approves the appraisal, the central office then notifies the district. KYTC reported these manual hand-offs can delay the flow of work through the acquisition process and it is hoped that additional work-flow type automation can be implemented in the future.
RWUMS is stand-alone and does not integrate with any other KYTC systems. The system does not have GIS capability.
The system has less than 200 users, including fee appraiser and acquisition consultants that have access to the system. The central office handles uploading of the project number and other project information and then the project manager or supervisor has access to upload parcel data. When assignments are made, certain roles have restricted access to the system; for example, appraisers will only have access to appraisal forms for the parcels they are assigned to.
Although there is a user guide that goes through the steps of using the system, generally training is on the job. A new agent will shadow another agent to learn the process.
KYTC reviewed the right of way systems in place in a few different states to assess the capabilities of these systems, including Virginia and Pennsylvania, but found that these systems would not really work for Kentucky. The KYTC Right of Way and Utilities Division also evaluated purchasing an off-the-shelf system but determined this approach to be cost prohibitive. KYTC then made the decision to implement its own system.
KYTC retained an outside consultant to assist with planning and designing the new system. The consultant served as the project manager for system development and implementation. The project manager worked with internal staff, and internal staff provided him with a list of needs for the new system. The project manager had access to internal IT staff and worked with the KYTC Right of Way and Utilities Division for over a year to design the specific forms that KYTC required. KYTC then completed the system development internally after the departure of the project manager.
Although business process re-engineering was considered, this was not a primary objective during the systems development process.
Implementation began in the summer of 2010 and took approximately 1.5 years. Implementation began with a couple of districts first as a pilot before the system was rolled out statewide.
KYTC estimated the implementation cost at $300,000 to $400,000.
There was a person in the central office who was assigned to go to the pilot districts and give a brief overview of how the system would work and show the district staff how to enter and track information. This presentation was then eventually given to the rest of the districts as each district began to use the system.
The ongoing maintenance of the KYTC RWUMS application requires staff time equivalent to 0.5 FTE. One individual takes care of role assignment and another person takes care of any information technology issues.
The system has not undergone any upgrades since implementation, but KYTC has discussed potential upgrades, including incorporating the ability to print appraisals and status reports with one click. Internal IT staff members are reviewing this request to determine feasibility. Users agree that there are opportunities to improve the system.
The benefits resulting from implementation of RWUMS are as follows:
The biggest challenge during implementation was getting people to try the system. Once certain information is entered into the system, the system is supposed to be able to take that same information and populate certain fields on different forms. However, KYTC initially encountered a problem because the system was not reading the information correctly and it was not possible to override the mistakes.
KYTC also identified several opportunities for further improvement with the system:
KYTC reported the system to be a work in progress and the agency is continuing to work towards implementing its full vision of the system.
KYTC identified the following key lessons learned from its implementation process:
The Public Works Real Estate Division of Maricopa County is responsible for the acquisition of the necessary land rights for Maricopa County public works projects and the disposal of excess land. The Division consists of three functional units: Property Management, Acquisition, and Property Engineering. The Acquisition branch includes seven agents that liaise with the County Attorney's office or outside counsel for property condemnation. The branch acquires between 300 and 600 parcels a year for the Maricopa Department of Transportation (MCDOT) and the Flood Control District of Maricopa County, which amount to approximately $9 million to $21 million in acquisition and relocation costs.
The business functions supported by the Maricopa County REAA application and other agency paper/manual processes are outlined in Exhibit 11.
Exhibit 11: Business Functions Supported by Maricopa County Real Estate Acquisition Application and Associated Paper/Manual Processes
Business Function |
System |
|
Real Estate Acquisition Application |
Paper/Manual |
|
Appraisal |
✔ | |
Negotiation |
✔ | |
Acquisition |
✔ | |
Relocation |
✔ | |
Property Management |
✔ | |
GIS |
✔ | |
*GIS is a separate system
Each functional unit of the Maricopa County Public Works Real Estate Division has its own database that has been custom-developed over time and acts as a record of action. The Acquisition branch worked with the Maricopa County IT Department to develop the Real Estate Acquisition Application. Since the system was built in-house, the branch has been able to add additional components on an as-needed basis.
The Real Estate Acquisition Application supports the following business processes:
The system currently does not handle demolition or relocation. The Property Management branch handles demolition activities for MCDOT and the Flood Control District of Maricopa County. The Acquisition branch is looking into building a relocation element into the acquisition database at some point, but there is currently not enough relocation activity to justify the staff time it will take to develop the module. MCDOT has internally developed its own database for utility relocations.
Maricopa County has been slowly adding templates to the system. Since documents change over time, the county wanted to ensure templates that were being added were not outdated. Although the system does not have workflow capabilities, the main page of a project contains a work breakdown structure that gives a quick visual of the status of each parcel.
The Real Estate Acquisition Application is integrated with several of Maricopa County's other systems. These include:
The Real Estate Acquisition Application is integrated with the County's financial management system which is responsible for generating all required payments for acquisition related activities.
The Real Estate Acquisition Application also integrates with Maricopa County's GIS. GIS enables staff to see which parcels it has obtained and which parcels it has transferred. In addition, the Maricopa County GIS is also linked to the Property Management function.
The Acquisition Branch has eight staff members that use the system, in addition to appraisers and project managers at MCDOT and the Flood Control District of Maricopa County. Since Maricopa County has a tight firewall in place, consultants are not yet able to access the system. There were also challenges with sharing the system with the County Attorney's office since they also have their own firewall. IT staff is exploring FTP and SharePoint as alternatives for user access to information in the system.
IT staff wrote a user manual to go along with the system. Since the Acquisition team treats this procedural manual as a live document, it was easier to match up processes when developing the system. Whenever there is an issue with the system, the system sends an alert to the person who developed the program and that person will work on troubleshooting the issue. The product appears to have strong end-user ownership.
The Acquisition branch previously used a mainframe-based Data General database management system to track milestones for projects. When everything was transitioned from this Data General system into Microsoft Excel, access to the information became more difficult. This is especially change for the Acquisition branch since the branch works with multiple other Maricopa County agencies.
The Acquisition branch looked at a couple of different off-the-shelf programs but the cost was too high and could not be justified given the small number of users that would use the product. In addition, an off-the-shelf program would likely have required a great deal of customization to meet the specific needs of the organization, which would have resulted in a fairly expensive project effort. Each of the software vendors with whom Maricopa County met was willing to customize programs and make them integrate with other systems within the Public Works Real Estate Division, but the solution was cost prohibitive since funding would have had to be pulled from the budgets of all three branches of the Public Works Real Estate Division (Acquisition, Property Management, and Property Engineering). Thus, Maricopa County ultimately decided to develop the program in-house using County IT staff.
When the IT Department came in to begin development of the system, they were initially amazed at the amount of information that had to be tracked. The IT staff attempted when designing the system to prevent the screens in the system from being too busy with a lot of information on a single screen. It took the IT Department some time to understand why something was important, which pointed to a need for everyone to use the same language for consistency. Since everyone understood things visually, IT staff and branch staff used visual aids to communicate with each other.
The branch began its initial search in 2010 and the last few months of 2010 was when the IT Department began reviewing the procedural manual. From the end of 2010 to June 2011, there were monthly meetings that took place where IT showed screenshots of the system and went through the logic of how they coded things. It was six months before a working product was developed. After three months of beta testing and some tweaking, the system was launched in November 2011. By 2012, everything was in the system and the branch no longer used Excel to track projects.
The Real Estate Acquisition Application has received the 2014 National Association of Counties (NACo) Award for its development and implementation.
The total cost of implementation was under $30,000.
There are two levels of users, users that only view information and users that enter data into the system. When the system was first rolled out, both types of users were given a half day training session. As new people come onboard, they will receive training on how the system operates.
The Real Estate Acquisition Application is widely accepted by the branch; agents have really embraced the system and see a lot of value in it. All the information is in one place, which makes it easy for staff to obtain what they need, even if other staff members are out of the office or on temporary leave. However, there are limitations to what information can fit into a field, which is especially problematic for project coordination reports.
The system is currently undergoing an upgrade to incorporate reporting. There are seven reports that can be generated out of the database using report writer capabilities within the system but the Acquisition branch is looking to incorporate other types of reports as well.
Maintenance costs are minimal compared to the labor cost of development. Maintenance costs for the first six months were estimated to be under $1,000.
The primary benefit of the Real Estate Acquisition Application is improved access to information. The previous Excel-based database was very isolated, which was challenging especially since the Acquisition branch works with several other agencies. Ensuring everyone had access to data was a challenge with Excel spreadsheets, which was especially problematic when staff members were absent. The primary benefits of the new system are as follows:
The Acquisition branch faced some difficulties with data conversion, but the branch was able to overcome this challenge because the in-house business solutions team was willing to put in the time to understand the acquisition process.
Maricopa County identified several key lessons learned from its implementation process:
The Office of Real Estate of the Maryland State Highway Administration (MDSHA) is responsible for all right of way activities on the Maryland State highway system including acquisitions, relocation assistance, outdoor advertising, appraising, appraisal review, property management, dispositions, and records and research. The MDSHA Office of Real Estate also supports right of way acquisition activities required by other modal administrations within the Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT). Over the last 3 years, the Office of Real Estate has acquired an average of 360 parcels and the average annual acquisition and relocation cost was $15.6 million. Since the Office is also acquiring parcels for the Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) and has had a significant increase in work due to a State Revenue Increase (SRI), the acquisitions for this year and the next several years will probably increase by 75 to 100 percent.
The business functions supported by the OREMS application are outlined in Exhibit 12.
Exhibit 12: Business Functions Supported by Maryland State Highway Administration OREMS Application
Business Function |
System |
OREMS |
|
Appraisal |
✔ |
Negotiation |
✔ |
Acquisition |
✔ |
Relocation |
✔ |
Property Management |
✔ |
GIS |
The MDSHA Office of Real Estate utilizes two main systems to manage its right of way activities. The Office of Real Estate Management System (OREMS) handles tracking of most functions, excluding outdoor advertising and junkyard management. OREMS is Oracle-based and has been in use for approximately 10 years. The Outdoor Advertising and Junkyard Management System is a Salesforce.com system that is hosted in-house, and is less than a year old.
The OREMS application supports the following business processes:
Property disposition is managed by the Office of Real Estate, based on direction from other business units within the Maryland State Highway Administration (MSHA). There is a database for disposals that various stakeholders have access to, but it is not a true management system. Disposals are currently mostly done through a paper process.
OREMS has the capability to generate certain documents used in the acquisition process, but the documents are more drafts than final documents ready for distribution. The Outdoor Advertising system is able to generate some letters and correspondences.
Both OREMS and the Outdoor Advertising system also have workflow capabilities. There are also required fields in OREMS that must be completed before moving to the next step or function.
Documents that require signatures are printed, signed, then scanned. The only exception is for cost estimates, which can be approved through the system. OREMS has the capability to approve many things, but this is duplicated with written signatures because when the system was originally designed ten years ago the agency was unsure whether FHWA would accept electronic signatures.
OREMS is integrated with several other MDSHA systems. These include:
OREMS interfaces with MDSHA's document management system, which gives users access to right of way documents.
OREMS also interfaces with the MDOT financial management system to share data related to project cost and budget.
The MDSHA GIS is integrated with the Outdoor Advertising System. Integration between GIS and OREMS is planned as an upcoming enhancement to OREMS.
In addition to staff of the Office of Real Estate, consultants and the Office of Attorney General also have access to the system.
There is a user manual for the system and each screen in the system also has a help button. There is also a small IT group that supports the system.
The Office of Real Estate did not conduct a benefit-cost analysis for developing a new system; instead, the Office was given direction from the IT group that a system would be developed in-house. OREMS is a product of a few smaller programs that were eventually combined. IT had questioned the benefits of enhancements and improvements versus purchasing an off-the-shelf system, but ultimately decided to retain the current program.
Original development of the system took two to three years, but the system continues to undergo development. The system was developed with consultants that worked for MDSHA and two internal IT staff members. The system was initially deployed to districts with lighter workloads and then deployed to all districts.
The total cost of the implementation was $2.6 million.
Training was fairly comprehensive, although it took a while for users to get used to the system. Users did not initially understand what they could get out of the system until they became more familiar with the system and saw that it had more functionality than the previous system. OREMS training was provided by in-house staff and the consultants assisting with the implementation of the system.
There are several key priorities for upgrades to OREMS that have been identified, including GIS integration and the ability to be able to produce certain reports from the system. The requirements enhanced reporting in OREMS was part of recommendations from a recent audit. The Office of Real Estate has compiled a list of improvements for future upgrades; this list is revisited periodically and used to inform the next phase of improvements.
The system was not widely accepted when it was first rolled out, but it is now a part of the daily routine.
Maintenance costs are approximately $150,000 per year.
The Office of Real Estate staff is achieving several benefits from the system including:
The consultant met with staff for over a year to go through what everyone's job entailed. However, each functional area dealt with their specific part of the new system without necessarily integrating with others, which resulted in silos. The mangers had decided which individuals would meet with the consultants, but the people selected were not always the ones that would be doing the work. There needed to be a better cross section of people, from the lower level to higher management, involved with system development. At the time, the program was set up by divisions rather than work functions, and not all divisions were included in the process; certain divisions and functions were emphasized over others, such as acquisitions.
Although MDSHA set aside money for the system, it did not set aside a budget for ongoing maintenance and enhancement needs, especially since work processes can change. To address this, the MDSHA Office of Information technology had to establish a budget for enhancements and continued support following implementation.
The MDSHA Office of Real Estate identified several key lessons learned from its implementation process:
The Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) Office of Land Management is responsible for managing right of way acquisition, utility relocation, and property management. Policy and procedures for right of way acquisition are established by the central office, with projects delivered by staff in each of MnDOT's eight (8) decentralized districts. MnDOT handles approximately 400 to 600 acquisitions statewide annually. Over the last four fiscal years (FY 2010-FY 2014), average annual acquisition costs were $36.2 million per fiscal year and average annual relocation costs were $1.7 million per fiscal year.
The business functions supported by the OREMS application are outlined in Exhibit 13.
Exhibit 13: Business Functions Supported by MnDOT REALMS Application
Business Function |
System |
REALMS |
|
Appraisal |
✔ |
Negotiation |
✔ |
Acquisition |
✔ |
Relocation |
✔ |
Property Management |
✔ |
GIS |
✔ |
MnDOT uses Right of Way Electronic Acquisitions Land Management System (REALMS), a custom electronic system for managing its right of way activities. REALMS is based on the Virginia Department of Transportation's (VDOT) Right of Way and Utilities Management System (RUMS), with customizations to address MnDOT specific needs and business processes. The agency estimates that 95 percent of RUMS was modified because of differences between the way MnDOT does business and the way VDOT does business. A major difference is how each agency goes about the condemnation process. While MNDOT groups parcels during the condemnation process by counties, VDOT treats each parcel as its own eminent domain case.
REALMS supports the following business processes:
REALMS tracks various documents across the entire acquisition process and is able to populate somewhere in the magnitude of 150 forms. The system also has extensive work flow and notifications capabilities (through a work list). REALMS can also send emails to an external email system, but this notification function is turned off to prevent users from receiving an excessive amount of notifications from the system. The one exception is that external notifications are used when work is required by another department. For example, since there are some work activities performed by the Environmental unit that are tracked within REALMS, the system will send a notification to Environmental when their involvement is needed to complete an activity.
REALMS is integrated with several other MnDOT systems. These include:
REALMS is integrated with Hummingbird, MnDOT's document management system. Hummingbird stores all documents on which signatures are required. Documents requiring a signature are printed, signed, and then scanned to store in Hummingbird. REALMS stores a link to the documents which users can click on to access the signed documents within Hummingbird.
Although REALMS is not integrated with Primavera P6, the project management system that is used as the department standard for tracking and scheduling projects, MnDOT uses information from REALMS to input information into the P6 application. Project status, milestones, schedule progress, budget, and other project-related information are shared between the two systems.
REALMS integrates with the PeopleSoft-based Statewide Integrated Financial Tools (SWIFT), the State of Minnesota's financial management system. Project cost, budget, and other financial data are shared between REALMS and SWIFT.
REALMS is integrated with MnDOT's GIS application to allow some spatial display of project and parcel information.
There are approximately 75 MnDOT users of REALMS. In addition, contract consultants also have access to the system. External users are able to access the system through a Citrix client
REALMS is generally regarded as a fairly intuitive and user-friendly application. End-user help is provided through RoboHelp, which supports development and display of context specific help screens.
MnDOT had two applications prior to REALMS. The agency initially developed an application based on Oracle Forms. This application was then migrated to a .NET application. MnDOT determined that implementing a full life cycle electronic system including workflow capabilities was the next logical step in the evolution of technology to support right of way.
When MnDOT began the process for procuring a new system, the agency solicited information from a number of other state DOTs about their right of way management systems. MnDOT liked the look and feel of Virginia's electronic system. MnDOT acquired the rights to the Virginia system from VDOT and then contracted with the consultant who had implemented RUMS to come on-board to facilitate the implementation of REALMS.
MnDOT did not go through business process re-engineering prior to implementation because the agency felt that right of way processes are based for the most part on law or regulation and have remained, for the most part, the same through the years. Initially, some districts thought they did things differently than other districts, but upon closer inspection, there really was not much of a difference across the business processes of all the districts.
The system was implemented in phases and took approximately two years. The initial implementation phase was focused on program delivery activities. There were then several additional follow-up phases to deploy property management, environmental, and other areas. The internal project management team worked with several consultant staff and also involved other individuals from within MnDOT (e.g., Crystal Reports programmer, the database administrator, the GIS administrator) to develop the application. Once the consultant taught internal staff how to use the application, staff began to take on more responsibilities. Overall, the implementation process was fairly smooth.
The cost to buy RUMS from VDOT was $800,000 and another $2 million was spent on customization and implementation. MnDOT owns the system and makes all updates and add-ons internally.
Classroom training was utilized to deliver training to all system users (central office, district staff and consultants). Training materials were developed as a collaborative effort between the consultant and MnDOT.
REALMS is well accepted by its users and meets the agency's key needs. One gap that was identified was that if certain fields are not populated, the system will not work as well as it should. The agency also cited that the system is not always used to its full potential because of user preferences to continue using existing business processes.
REALMS is maintained by five (5) to six (6) internal staff members. MnDOT continues to enhance the system as necessary to support business requirements (for example the incorporation of environmental due diligence). The next major upgrade will involve integrating the utilities application into the system. In addition, MnDOT would also like to expand the integration between REALMS and Primavera P6.
REALMS has helped to ensure data consistency throughout the state. Other benefits from REALMS identified by MnDOT include:
A primary challenge that was encountered during implementation was difficulties with data conversion from the existing automated or manual systems. This challenge was overcome by working directly with the IT groups. Having a business IT group within the office that understands the acquisition and property management processes was helpful in working towards resolution of issues during implementation.
MnDOT identified several key lessons learned from its implementation process:
The Right of Way and Real Estate Section of Polk County is responsible for managing the right of way acquisition for all Polk County projects. This includes managing land inventory and all activities associated with real property needs, including vacation of right of way and easements. The Right of Way and Real Estate Section was previously a part of Polk County's transportation division but is now its own separate division.
The Polk County Right of Way and Real Estate Section acquires on average approximately 60 parcels a year and maintains an inventory of over 2,900 parcels. Approximately 85 percent of the parcels are used in buildings and conservation, while the rest of the parcels are surplus candidates. The program is much smaller than what it was a few years ago. Previously, Polk County was acquiring upwards of 600 parcels a year, but during the economic downturn, the workload reduced significantly and staff was reduced by 40 percent.
The business functions supported by Polk County's paper-based system are outlined in Exhibit 14.
Exhibit 14: Business Functions Supported by Polk County's Paper-Based System
Business Function |
Paper-Based |
Appraisal |
✔ |
Negotiation |
✔ |
Acquisition |
✔ |
Relocation |
|
Property Management |
|
GIS |
When the current Right of Way Manager came onboard, there was no system in place, but the Polk County Right of Way and Real Estate section had a need to track and readily report cost information for its right of way activities. The Right of Way Manager worked with internal staff to develop a series of Microsoft Excel spreadsheets to track project schedule, status, and cost. This system has been in place for approximately 12 years.
The system supports the following business processes:
The paper-based system contains standard templates; however since these templates are not fill-in forms, they must be modified when preparing various required documents.
Approvals and sign-offs are handled by the Polk County Board. The Board meets twice a month and the right of way staff handles putting together the agenda packets to send to the Board. Prior to approval, the check request is forwarded to the accounting section of the Clerk of Court's office. The office will manually cut the check once the Board approves the agenda item.
The system is not integrated with any other systems.
External users may request right of way information by submitting the request through the Information Technology section. Information Technology can fulfill the request if it is a standard request. If the request is more specific, then it is forwarded to the Right of Way section to handle.
Before the current Right of Way and Real Estate Section Manager came on-board, the section did not have a system in place, but there was a need identified to be able to track and report right of way activities at any given time, including costs of projects or parcels and whether or not a project is on-time, on-schedule, and within budget.
Since the size of the program is so small, the right of way staff could not justify the costs associated with purchasing an electronic system.
The Polk County Right of Way and Real Estate section utilized the tools it had available to it (i.e., Microsoft Office Suite) to develop a system that would help track its right of way activities from cradle to grave.
Not applicable
New staff members and consultants are provided one-to-one training on the various forms and templates.
The paper-based system is maintained by the Right of Way and Real Estate section's six staff members.
Polk County is implementing an enterprise document management system, but it has not been deployed to the Right of Way and Real Estate section yet. Historical documents are stored in a file room and capturing all of these documents electronically will be a large level of effort.
The primary benefit of a paper-based system that was developed in-house was the cost savings realized from providing gaining some business process efficiencies and improved access to information, while not purchasing an electronic system.
Budget and resource constraints are preventing the agency from transitioning to a new system. There is currently a lot of duplication in regards to how right of way activities are tracked. As a result, the Right of Way and Real Estate section would like to revisit the potential conversion to an electronic system in the next few years. The current paper-based system is compatible with the present size of the right of way program and its operations; an electronic system may make more sense once the program begins to grow and handle more acquisitions and larger projects. Until then, the Right of Way and Real Estate section will operate with its current paper-based system as it goes through what amounts to a recovery period.
The Polk County Right of Way and Real Estate section identified the following key lesson learned:
The Right of Way Program of the South Dakota Department of Transportation (SDDOT) is responsible for the acquisition of property necessary for highway purposes, which includes providing relocation assistance. The office is responsible for acquiring between 600 and 1,100 parcels a year. These parcels range from just a few square feet for a curb corner or urban gutter section to several acres for residential and commercial acquisitions. While most of the work is done in-house, consultants are occasionally used. The annual program budget is between $8 and 12 million.
The business functions supported by the SDDOT Landowner Database Inventory System and the Property Management System applications are outlined in Exhibit 15.
Exhibit 15: Business Functions Supported by SDDOT Landowner Database Inventory System and the Property Management System Applications
Business Function |
Landowner Database Inventory System |
Property Management System |
Appraisal |
✔ | |
Negotiation |
✔ | |
Acquisition |
✔ | |
Relocation |
✔ | |
Property Management |
✔ | |
GIS |
✔ |
The SDDOT Right of Way Program uses the Landowner Database Inventory system and the Property Management system to track its right of way activities. Both systems have been in use for approximately 10 years and utilize Citrix on the frontend and a SQL Server database on the backend (note the Landowner Database Inventory system used to be a mainframe system and was converted to SQL Server). The Landowner Database Inventory System tracks acquisitions and relocations. The Property Management System contains an inventory of parcels and provides a range of reporting capabilities on SDDOT's property inventory.
The Landowner Database Inventory system keeps track of the status of projects and properties. Users from Right of Way and other offices enter data into the system at various steps in the acquisition process. The system uses manual workflows through emails, which are separate from the system.
Reports on the status of different aspects of a project can be printed out or reviewed electronically. All documents are stored in manual folders that are turned in, reviewed, and then signed off by the Program Manager. The documents are then scanned and stored for recordkeeping in File Director. When an acquisition and any associated relocation assistance is complete, the PDF of the deed and any associated documents (i.e., plat, temporary easement) are stored in the Landowner Database system. Forms are currently separate from the system, but forms are scheduled to be integrated into the system in the next phase of system enhancements. Electronic signatures are another planned improvement for the near future.
The Property Management System contains an inventory of parcels. The system has been enhanced periodically over the years, including the ability to generate a variety of management reports.
The Landowner Database Inventory system integrates with SDDOT's GIS. GIS integration is accomplished by bringing shape files into the GIS environment as polygons, and then adding attributes to those polygons. When a user clicks on a polygon, the deed and plat for that particular property will appear.
The Property Management system integrates with SDDOT's financial management system.
User access is restricted to South Dakota DOT employees and depends on the role of the user; different users have different editing capabilities for particular areas within the system. Most people have viewing capabilities.
The Right of Way Program gets inquiries on a regular basis regarding what the agency owns so a mapping system will eventually be available for mass public viewing on the web. There are currently four employees (equivalent to 1-2 FTEs) that handle inquiries, but the web mapping system will significantly eliminate the level of staff time required.
The decision to develop systems to manage right of way activities came from a need for asset management and the amount of time that was being spent on research for requests on property interests that the Department has in the state of South Dakota. Since both systems were created internally with out-of-the-box GIS type software and applications that are part of the software inventory within the Department, a benefit cost analysis was not performed.
During the last revision of the Landowner Database (over the course of six to eight months), the SDDOT Right of Way Program tried to incorporate a lot of ideas from other offices to make the system more user friendly. The Program Manager sent around a questionnaire to identify what was working well with the system and what improvements should be made to the system. The feedback from the questionnaire is currently being worked through and addressed. The system was last upgraded 1.5 years ago, although there have been some minor enhancements since then.
During a major upgrade, the Right of Way Program forms a task group, which is comprised of IT staff, users, and upper management, to identify improvements that will save time and resources and provide business benefits. The task group then must develop a formal document that outlines proposed enhancements to the system and submit this request to an IT governance board for review and approval.
The cost to develop both systems was $198,000. Adjustments for upgrades or user-friendly programming changes add minor amounts annually.
Once modifications are made, there are typically four to six users involved in the testing process. After alpha testing, a user guide is developed and provided to several users to review and recommend modifications. The user manual is then modified based on the input of the test users before it is more widely disseminated. There is also informal, in-house training that can be administered upon request.
The mapping system is widely accepted and people look forward to updates. The Landowner system has gained acceptance over the past several years as a result of the effort to make it more user friendly and intuitive for entering and extracting data. Users appreciate the system for its utility.
The Landowner and Property Management systems are supported by the South Dakota Bureau of Information and Telecommunications (BIT) staff. There is an additional staff person that is working on the GIS components.
The next planned system improvement that is scheduled to occur within the next year is to integrate all forms and make them available electronically. This enhancement would enable field agents to access important documents electronically. There are also plans to implement an electronic signature system, although this request has not yet been approved.
In addition, the SDDOT Right of Way Program is working to establish a contract to mass populate the Property Management system with several hundred thousand parcels that it owns.
When the mapping system becomes available to the public, the SDDOT Right of Way Program will be able to re-direct the time of staff members that are currently handling inquiries from the public to other activities. The mapping system will also enable SDDOT to provide improved customer service and transparency by readily allowing the public to access information about property owned by SDDOT.
Challenges faced during the implementation process included resource availability, time and gaining upper management buy-in regarding return on investment.
The SDDOT Right of Way Program identified the following lesson learned from its implementation process:
The Right of Way Division of the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) is responsible for the appraisal and acquisition of land needed for state highway construction and the relocation of families and businesses affected by TDOT construction projects. The Division consists of a headquarters office and four regional offices. The Division handled 1,002 acquisitions in 2012, incurring $43.9 million in compensation costs and $2.3 million in residential and non-residential costs.
The business functions supported by the TDOT IRIS application are outlined in Exhibit 16.
Exhibit 16: Business Functions Supported by TDOT IRIS Application
Business Function |
System |
IRIS |
|
Appraisal |
✔ |
Negotiation |
✔ |
Acquisition |
✔ |
Relocation |
✔ |
Property Management |
✔ |
GIS |
✔ |
System Background
The TDOT Right of Way Division's legacy right of way system, known as the Tennessee Right of Way Information System (TRIS), tracks the various steps in the right of way acquisition process and generates standard forms and letters. The system has a Microsoft Access front-end and an Oracle Spatial back-end. The TDOT Right of Way Division decided to acquire a new system to help reduce the cost of hiring additional staff to take on an increasing work load.
TDOT recently entered into a contract with BEM Systems to develop a new right of way management system to be known as the Integrated ROW Information System (IRIS). Implementation is currently underway. The system will be based on BEM's PAECETrak application. The basic premise and process flow of the system will be off-the-shelf (approximately 60 percent of system functionality) with additional customizations driven by specific requirements TDOT has requested (approximately 40 percent of system capability).
System Capabilities
IRIS will support the following business processes:
TDOT's IRIS application will incorporate approximately 280 documents and will have work flow processes. Electronic signatures for federal and state compliance will be controlled through user security. Signatures needed by external individuals, such as attorneys or property owners, will be printed, signed, then scanned back in the system and archived in FileNet.
In order to facilitate system use, a "hover over" function will be implemented; when a user places their cursor over an item, a box will pop up to explain what the function of that item is. A user manual is to be developed.
IRIS will be integrated with several other TDOT agency systems. These include:
As is the case with TDOT's current right of way system, IRIS will be highly integrated with FileNet, which is TDOT's document storage system, to store, archive and support retrieval of documents.
IRIS will create coding sheets for manual input into Edison, the State of Tennessee's PeopleSoft-based Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system. A direct interface between IRIS and Edison is currently planned by the Department after delivery of the application.
IRIS will be integrated with TDOT's Program, Project and Resource Management (PPRM) system. PPRM is TDOT's project management system that tracks all phases of project development, including state and Federal project numbers, local project participation, staff assignments, and schedule dates.
The Tennessee Roadway Information Management System (TRIMS) is currently being used for capturing, maintaining, and viewing roadway data. It is anticipated that this system will integrate with IRIS. The Right of Way Division will also get parcel information from the Design division for import into IRIS through GeoPAK and DGN files (a CAD file format).
TDOT has identified approximately 150 users for IRIS. Consultants will have the capability to access to the system since it will be web-based. In the past, the Division had issues with giving access to people that did not utilize the system on a regular basis as this infrequent use often led to misinterpretation of the information. The enhanced new system is expected to provide interactive data more reliably with a dashboard and more intuitive data portrayals. If Local Public Agencies (LPAs) choose to contract with the Division to acquire right of way, key steps of the process are captured for auditing purposes. Access to the system is controlled through user security.
Implementation of the new system was driven in part by the desire to avoid the cost of hiring additional staff to manage an increasing work load, reduction in paper usage, and the ability to retrieve information quickly. Although TDOT conducted a benefit cost analysis to support the purchase, there was a clear justification even without this analysis to purchase a new system.
TDOT initially looked at the Virginia Department of Transportation's (VDOT) Right of Way and Utilities Management System (RUMS), but found that the system would not meet Tennessee's unique state requirements. Although TDOT had considered an off-the-shelf solution, it was initially thought that an off-the-shelf solution would not be able to integrate with its other systems. TDOT initially prepared its RFP document for a custom solution, but the eight proposals that were received all proposed using commercial off-the-shelf applications as the core of a new system so TDOT had to re-advertise its solicitation to allow for an off-the-shelf solution with customizations.
The timeframe for the entire implementation process including RFP development and vendor selection was targeted to be three years, with the RFP outlining an 18 month timeline for the implementation vendor to install the new system. However, it is expected that the actual implementation phase of work where the software is installed and deployed will be approximately two years. Implementation of IRIS began in October 2012. Training is scheduled for the end of September and the go-live date is scheduled for October/November of 2014.
The implementation vendor is performing the required conversion data mapping but TDOT will be responsible for actually converting data from the existing TRIS application to IRIS so that TDOT will not be running parallel systems. While the new system is being implemented all at once, there are some system capabilities that were not included in the initial implementation phase. Since TDOT owns the code for the new system, it is looking at addressing final modifications in-house that were not addressed by the vendor. There is also some GIS capability that will have to be finished in-house.
The selected vendor contracted with a consultant, DTS, to implement the GIS component. The IT department also had a project manager for IT development and the Right of Way Division Assistant Director acted as the lead subject matter expert.
The total cost of implementation was approximately $1 million, which consisted of the vendor contract to develop the system. The hardware was already in place and Turbo Relocation was obtained through an AASHTO license.
TDOT will utilize instructor led training. The RFP includes two weeks of training. TDOT decided not to use a "Train the Trainer" program to ensure consistency of the training provided and make sure staff receive training on how to most effectively use the new system in hopes of making it more difficult for users to be able to continue to do business "the old way" in the new system. Training will be provided to groups of users in seven specific functional areas.
The ongoing cost to maintain the new TDOT system will include department overhead costs (for the project manager and database manager), server support cost, and cost associated with the disaster recovery site.
The primary benefits of the new system include cost avoidance to hire additional staff to manage an increasing work load and a reduction in paper handling cost. Additional benefits of the system include:
TDOT did not report many of the typical challenges during a new system implementation such as user acceptance, buy-in, and change management to be issues during the implementation of IRIS because users were looking for a replacement for the legacy system.
The TDOT Right of Way Division identified the following key lesson learned from its implementation process:
The Right of Way Division of the West Virginia Department of Transportation (WVDOT) acquires all the real estate that is necessary for the construction and maintenance of public roads and highways under its jurisdiction. The WVDOT Right of Way Division has approximately 80 staff members, which includes central office staff and 10 districts. Between July 2013 and May 2014, the Division purchased $20 million worth of property. Relocation costs for that same period was $650,000.
The business functions supported by WVDOT's RWUR application are outlined in Exhibit 17.
Exhibit 17: Business Functions Supported WVDOT RWUR Application
Business Function |
System |
RWUR |
|
Appraisal |
✔ |
Negotiation |
✔ |
Acquisition |
✔ |
Relocation |
✔ |
Property Management |
✔ |
GIS |
✔ |
The WVDOT Right of Way Division recently implemented a commercial off-the-shelf solution with extensive customizations to manage its right of way processes. The system known as the Right of Way, Utilities and Railroad (RWUR) application was developed as part of the State of West Virginia's larger enterprise resource planning project to integrate WVDOT's right of way management business processes with the state's Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system known as wvOASIS. The module was built from the ground up using the AgileAssets product and moves most of the business processes from paper to electronic documents. This includes most acquisition activities from the setup of acquisition parcels from CAD plans through the abstraction, appraisal, negotiation, condemnation, relocation, payment, and closing processes. Much of the system is built around electronic workflows.
WVDOT has also used ApplicationXtender for its document management system since 1995 to electronically file and retrieve right of way documents.
The WVDOT RWUR module will support the following business processes:
The WVDOT Right of Way Division previously had over 170 forms, but it has now reduced that number to 70 forms that the system is able to generate and either fully or partially complete. The system can also generate a number of different reports and summaries.
The WVDOT Right of Way Division can assign a parcel interest before the system workflow begins. This workflow allows WVDOT to assign personnel, which typically begins with the Chief Acquisition Manager or the District Right of Way Managers. Once each step is completed, an email message is sent with the work flow and the job assigned. Managers can go in and review workflows and see which parcel is at which stage of the workflow. All functionality in the system is workflow based, including security.
RWUR is integrated with several other WVDOT systems. These include:
RWUR integrates with ApplicationXTender to store all right of way related documents.
There is a manual interaction between RWUR and the State of West Virginia's new CGI Advantage financial system. Information is collected within RWUR that is needed for entry into the financial system for property acquisition and relocation payments
The system is integrated with GIS and West Virginia's geocoding system. Plans from plan sheets can be converted to CAD- or GIS-type layers and then imported as a layer into the RWUR module, which will provide a parcel index, parcel number, and a polygon of the property.
The RWUR application has approximately 125 users, including consultant appraisers, FHWA West Virginia Division office staff, and WVDOT central office Finance staff, and WVDOT District Comptroller staff.
Consultant review appraisers have access to the system, but they are only able to view, obtain, and enter information for the parcels they are assigned to. The FHWA Division Office staff members also have access. FHWA staff can review a range of information in the system. FHWA is also able to provide electronic approvals and attach written letters. Attorneys or other service contractors were not given approval for system access.
Several years ago WVDOT received an audit finding that recommended that WVDOT implement an electronic system that could track how much property was purchased and sold each fiscal year and be able to break this information into greater detail without having to rely on paper files.
Based on this audit finding, the WVDOT Right of Way Division initiated some preliminary investigation of potential systems. Before this process moved forward, the State of West Virginia started its wvOASIS ERP project and a decision was made to include a new right of way management system as part of this larger project.
Requirements definition began in May 2010 and the wvOASIS ERP implementation vendor team including the RWUR solution was selected in the fall of 2011. Implementation began in December 2011. The RWUR application went live in January 2014. There was a significant amount of system development that had to take place because, while the core of the system was built on AgileAssets' existing application framework for other state DOT functions such as maintenance management, most of the right of way specific elements of the system was built from scratch.
There was some business process re-engineering as part of the implementation process, but WVDOT indicated that these were minor changes that did not significantly affect or materially change WVDOT's right of way management business processes.
The implementation cost for the RWUR part of the wvOASIS project is estimated at $3 million.
Training was delivered through classroom instruction. The first two classes were taught by the vendor, with the remaining classes taught by WVDOT staff. Districts were brought to Charleston one at a time as an integrated district team for training on the new system. Training sessions were also provided for central office staff and contract appraisers and an overview class was presented to WVDOT management. Training materials and the user guide were developed as collaboration between the vendor and in-house staff. The user manual for the system is completed, but when WDOT goes live on the new wvOASIS financial system, the manual will need to be updated.
The vendor worked with in-house staff to ensure that the business documentation would be user friendly. The partnership was very successful since internal staff was able to translate the vendor's technical language into a language that could be easily understood by DOT staff.
The ongoing cost to maintain the agency's system is estimated to be approximately $250,000 per year.
The expected benefits for the new RWUR system includes a more streamlined acquisition process and making employees more accountable for performing their responsibilities. The system will also help WVDOT to more effectively keep track of different parcel interests (land, mineral, timber, etc.)
The primary challenge with the implementation was that the WVDOT Right of Way Division staff assigned to the project as subject matter experts had to do a significant amount of knowledge transfer to the vendor team on right of way business processes. Once the vendor team became more familiar with the WVDOT Right of Way Division processes and requirements, the implementation went smoothly.
The WVDOT Right of Way Division identified several key lessons learned from its implementation process:
