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Volpe Center Highlights - Fall 2005

Organizational Excellence

Director's Notes | Focus | Safety | Mobility | Organizational Excellence | Awards
Published and Presented | Volpe Journal

Road Inventory System Proves Successful, Enhancements Continue (BIADOT)

With the availability of increasingly powerful data systems, the practice of transportation asset management has become more feasible, and its benefits more evident. For the Bureau of Indian Affairs Division of Transportation (BIADOT), the Volpe Center developed and continues to enhance a road inventory system that is becoming the cornerstone of the Bureau's integrated transportation information and management system. A Volpe Center team recently introduced a new release of the Road Inventory Field Data System (RIFDS).

RIFDS provides web-based software to manage more than 59,000 miles of roads on Indian lands. It was designed to reduce data maintenance, facilitate data entry, and ease integration with other BIADOT asset management systems, including a bridge management system previously developed by the Volpe Center. Since its adoption last year, RIFDS has significantly reduced the paperwork backlog at the Branch Engineering Office while improving data acceptance tenfold. Recent RIFDS improvements include better navigation features and data-management tools requested by users.

The team, led by Mr. Walter Gazda of the Economic and Industry Analysis Division, is also working with BIA senior staff to identify, prioritize, and develop further upgrades and enhancements to RIFDS.

This work provides another opportunity for the Volpe Center to contri-bute to the nation's transportation system by leveraging expertise developed on U.S. DOT projects to meet the transportation needs of other federal agencies.

Excellence In Management

The Volpe Center has continued its project management initiatives by encouraging its staff to obtain project management credentials recognized by the Project Management Institute--the world's leading association for the project management profession. Recently, 15 Volpe Center employees received their Project Management Professional certifications. To obtain this certification, staff members must have the requisite project management experience and have passed a rigorous examination that demonstrates project management knowledge in six domains: initiating the project, planning the project, executing the project, monitoring and controlling the project, closing the project, and demonstrating professional and social responsibility. This professional development effort is part of a broader effort designed to strengthen the Volpe Center's organization, respond to the President's Management Agenda, and manage for results.

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