June 2021
A steering committee determines the priorities and order of business for a project. It strategically manages the general course of operations. In the May newsletter, we listed the people who make up our APOST Steering Committee from ODOT and Infotech. They meet together monthly to guide and direct decisions for AP at ODOT.
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What are the APOST Steering Committee’s current priorities?
- Determining how to get an intern or other resources assigned to assist materials with data population.
- Meeting with finance to discuss digital signatures on contractor payments.
- Escalating the decision on a standard interface for AP to the Management Oversight Committee.
We have faced many challenges in the last year, as an agency and as individuals. We continue to meet difficult tasks head on even though our resources have been limited. Resource allocation has been under constant review. David Kim, ODOT Statewide Project Delivery Manager, wants to ensure that ODOT’s priority projects, like APOST, get the attention each needs and deserves.
After considering all the options, David has concluded that he will take on the role as interim sponsor for the APOST project. Implementing AASHTOWare Project CRL and C&M is a large and complex endeavor for ODOT. The APOST sponsor is its champion. It is the sponsor’s responsibility to keep APOST in the spotlight and to ensure we have the resources needed for success. In addition, the sponsor approves change orders keeping the project moving forward. We know that strong support and leadership will continue with this transition.
Our current sponsor, Joe Squire, State Construction & Materials Engineer, will now focus solely on the wildfire recovery efforts. He will serve as the backup sponsor for APOST as a resource and advisor where needed. His responsibilities with the wildfire issues are expected to last until the end of 2021. The sponsor role will be revisited at the conclusion of our wildfire recovery period.
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The APOST Excellence Award recognizes teams or individuals whose actions or accomplishments exemplify one or more of ODOT’s agency values: Integrity, Safety, Equity, Excellence and Unity.
This distinction is given to the recipient by the APOST Steering Committee. Nominees are submitted by the APOST subcommittees. Our first Excellence Award will be determined soon. We will post it in the July newsletter.
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The entire APOST team would like to give a special shout out of gratitude and appreciation to Kenny Gunn from the ODOT Office of Civil Rights. He has been an integral member of the CRL, Training, Communications & Support, and Project Core team subcommittees helping to identify as-is and to-be processes for OCR and project implementation for the project overall.
Without Kenny's commitment to the project and knowledge of OCR processes, defining and creating a tool that will meet OCR's needs would have been much more challenging. On behalf of the APOST team, it's been great to have Kenny on our subcommittees and we will miss him dearly.
We wish Kenny all the success and happiness in his next adventure. Thank you!
The Shout Out is different from the APOST Excellence Award. Anyone is eligible for a shout out. We celebrate when project staff working on APOST goes above and beyond. If you see someone doing something good in AP or on the project, let us know! Send us an email and tell us about it. We want to say, “Thanks!”
The APOST Implementation team is made up of all the subcommittees covering areas that work with Civil Rights & Labor, Construction and Materials. Each group has been very busy over the last year. They are developing roles, processes, procedures and more. Click on the link below to read about subcommittees that may affect your specific area of work. Learn what you can expect as we develop AP for ODOT.
If you’d like to join any of the APOST subcommittees and help build this amazing new tool, be sure to let us know. Use the contact us link at the end of this newsletter to send us an email.
You can build your adaptation skills for life’s transitions. Skills can be learned to help you adapt to fluctuations in your job, your home and your changing circumstances. The implementation of AASHTOWare Project at ODOT is just one area where change can make substantial impacts to your world.
The April Change and Transition Management Workshop offered ways to make the transition to AP work for you, your coworkers and your customers. You can’t stop change, but you can help influence it. The 4-part workshop series helps you to acquire new skills that you can apply now and with future change events.
If you missed any of these helpful sessions, or if you want a refresher on increasing your adaptive skills, view them on ODOT’s YouTube channel. Use the links below.
Session 1 – The Change
Session 2 – Change and the Emotional Impact
Session 3 – Transitioning
Session 4 – Accepting the Change
Is ODOT implementing any of the other AASHTOWare modules?
ODOT has implemented the AASHTOWare Project Estimation™ module and the AASHTOWare Project Pre-Construction™ module. These two modules will feed data into the AASHTOWare Project Construction & Materials™ module and the AASHTOWare Project Civil Rights and Labor™ module that APOST is implementing.
How are we going to get all the data populated and all the agency views created in AP?
The project team has activated contingencies in our contract with Infotech to have them create the agency views within AP. Our job is to give them the information to build them. Eric Burns and David Dobson are leading the Global Acceptance Actions and Sample Process Flow Subcommittees. Their priority is to identify and define the number of material acceptance and agency views needed. The materials group has a massive amount of information combined into a spreadsheet for data population. The Technical – Environment & Data Subcommittee (Production Readiness Subcommittee) will take their information, along with Construction and CRL, to prioritize and build a schedule around the completion of this work. If you are able to help with data population, please let us know at odoteconstruction@odot.state.or.us.
I wonder if other states have had this same question about how AP works. I would like to know how other states tackled this issue.
AASHTOWare Project has a great way for you to ask and answer these types of questions through the AP PUG. PUG stands for Public Users Group with people from other DOT’s using AASHTOWare Project, sharing information. Log in to AASHTOWare with your credentials to see all of your choices. Go to https://www.aashtowareproject.org/pug. Email the PUG with questions or comments at PUG@aashtowareproject.org.
PUG Objectives
- To provide a forum for a unified voice to direct the course of AASHTOWare Projects, hereinafter called the products, or any products, which may supersede these products.
- To provide cooperative technical support of the products.
- Provide input to the Product Management Task Force on product effectiveness, product deficiencies, and needed product enhancements.
- Define product training and support needs.
- Prioritize maintenance, enhancements, and support needs.
- Submit recommendations to the Product Management Task Force.
Questions? Comments? Interested in becoming a team member?
Learn how we’re evolving to build a modern transportation system
based on sufficient funding and equity.
https://www.oregon.gov/odot/Pages/SAP.aspx
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