6.0 Conclusion and Next Steps
The baseline analysis was a first step in documenting the process used by the demonstration sites in developing a final design for the TMCC. The information collected from the detailed interviews with the project managers, the transportation and human service representatives, the technical leads and the users revealed promising approaches to a complex program as well as the challenges and issues that the sites are attempting to address.
The baseline analysis period has corresponded to the early stakeholder involvement and project planning phases for the sites. All the sites are currently engaged in an information gathering and planning stage and have focused significant efforts in obtaining regional participation and setting up frameworks to involve a diverse group of stakeholders in the design of the TMCC. The sites also recognize the opportunity for this project to make them more customer-centric rather than agency-centric.
As the sites proceed to a concept of operations for the TMCC, they face a challenge in coalescing the high-level vision, the needs, and the particular requirements of the various agencies in the region to a regionally acceptable model.
Coordination has many facets and the sites need to focus on all of the different dimensions of coordination (institutional, functional, geographical, and operational) as well as the role of technology in addressing the challenges in each dimension. Currently, at a regional-level, institutional coordination is further along then the other dimensions. For the other dimensions, many successful examples were cited by the demonstration sites; however, they are mostly agency-specific and do not have a regional perspective. The evaluation suggests that the demonstration sites need to elucidate what the TMCC means for the other dimensions at a regional level.
The role of technology in coordination is being researched by all the sites. Currently, the sites are gathering information on both the status of existing technologies as well as the needs of the stakeholders. The sites are a little unclear on the use of statewide architectures and the national ITS architecture framework and unsure of how it fits with the TMCC design.
While no site expressed a clear winner or a technological solution, some sites are ahead of the others in terms of technological capability and consequently are using the TMCC project to determine what other advancements can be made. However, caution must be exercised by the sites to ensure they do not define the solution before defining the problem of coordination.
The sites will be contacted again to develop a mid-way and a finish-line analysis report. The mid-way analysis will occur around the time that the sites produce their concept of operations, a deliverable to U.S. DOT. The finish-line analysis will occur once the final design document has been submitted to the U.S. DOT.
Ultimately, a final report on the TMCC design process will be prepared synthesizing the findings from all three stages and identifying lessons learned. The lessons learned will be a compilation of best practices and experiences from which other regions around the country can benefit as they develop their coordinated human service transportation models.