Using a Concept of Operations to Support Regional Integration Projects

1. Using a Concept of Operations to Support Regional Integration Projects

2. Purpose and Project Sponsor • Introduce the concept of operations and its role in regional, statewide, and multi-state transportation management systems • Provide an overview of guidance document • This project was sponsored by the Transportation Management Center Pooled-Fund Study program

3. Presentation Outline • The Concept of Operations in the Regional Context • Importance of a Concept of Operations for a Regional Integration Project • Challenges Posed by a Regional Integration Project • Developing and Using a Concept of Operations for a Regional Integration Project

4. The Concept of Operations in the Regional Context

5. Concept of Operations and Systems Engineering • Systems engineering is essential for developing and building large, complex projects • The Concept of Operations is the critical first step in initiating this process

6. Role Within Systems Engineering

7. Planning and Regional Projects • Regional ITS Architecture • Regional Concept for Transportation Operations (RCTO) • Concept of Operations for a Regional Project

8. Concept of Operations, ITS Architecture, and RCTO

9. Importance of a Concept of Operations for a Regional Integration Project

10. Concept of Operations provides structured, comprehensive guidance by: • Serving as a tool to identify and engage stakeholders • Identifying the users of the proposed system • Developing goals and objectives • Revealing institutional barriers • Describing the current infrastructure and institutional framework

11. Providing scenarios showing how the proposed system should function • Describing the current operations within the region • Differentiating between appropriate local and regional functions • Identifying the resources necessary to build, operate, and maintain the new system • Detailing the number and types of agreements needed • Defining the roles and responsibilities of the various agencies involved

12. Challenges Posed by a Regional Integration Project

13. As compared with a stand-alone or localized system, in a regional system there is: • Greater difficulty in identifying and bringing together stakeholders, who represent diverse and sometimes competing interests • A more complex process for forging essential agreements • A greater need for communication, while communication is usually more difficult to establish and maintain

14. A greater need for the coordination of management and control (interoperability) of the system, which is made more difficult by inter-jurisdictional institutional barriers • Greater technical complexity in the proposed integration, making it difficult to present and therefore "sell" to stakeholders and the public • Greater difficulty in securing funding for the building, operation and maintenance of the proposed system

15. Developing and Using a Concept of Operations for a Regional Integration Project

16. Concept of Operations Development • Initiation of the Process • Stakeholder Identification and Involvement • Developing the Elements

17. Initiation of the Process • Assembling the Writing Team • Required Resources • Staff vs. Consultant • Transportation-related Documents

18. Stakeholder Identification and Involvement • Institutional Barriers • Institutional Inertia • Tunnel Vision • Intra-agency Barriers • Performance Measures

19. Developing the Elements • Scope • Referenced Documents • User-Oriented Operational Description • Operational Needs • System Overview • Operational and Support Environment • Operational Scenarios

20. Scope • Boundaries can be functional, political or institutional as well as spatial and temporal • Avoid “over-scoping” • Early Stakeholder and User Identification

21. Referenced Documents • The Concepts of Operations and Functional Requirements • Regional Business Planning Documents • Human Resources • Regional Studies • System Development Meeting Minutes • Strategic Plans and Strategic Plan Updates

22. User-Oriented Operational Description • Describe the user's roles and responsibilities – including shared responsibilities • Interactions between systems and subsystems • Describe all policies and procedures • Descriptions both in this section and in Operational Scenarios

23. Operational Needs • Regional operational needs not met by current system • Context and methodology for assessing these needs

24. System Overview • High-level description of entire system • Diagrams recommended

25. Operational and Support Environments • Physical operational environment • Institutional environment

26. Operational Scenarios • Most important segment of the Concept of Operations • Stakeholder and user input • Regional initiative requires more scenarios

27. Use a Concept of Operations in Regional Integration Initiatives • High-level Functional Requirements • Cooperative Agreements • Planning

28. Support for Functional Requirements Development • User-oriented description of the proposed system • Concept of Operations developers are not necessarily the functional requirements developers • Must clearly describe the technological variance and institutional authority factors affecting cross-jurisdictional operations

29. Cooperative Agreements • Concept of Operations supports agreements for its own development • Concept of Operations supports agreements needed to design, build and maintain the system • Concept of Operations informs the degree of formality required

30. Planning • Concept of Operations for a regional project is particularly useful for planning at the regional level