Switch to AASHTOWare Project-Construct program
promises to streamline processes for users

ITD’s Design/Construct groups frequently turn to software in the administration of projects. However, more and more users found “pinch points” or “bottlenecks” that reduced the viability of various systems. So the department put together a working group back in April to tackle that issue and find solutions.

As a result, after the department transitioned away from SiteManager, the Performance User Group (PUG) team has led the charge to a new software called AASHTOWare Project that offers a more user-friendly experience.

“SiteManager was an outdated software written in 1985,” explained Ken Sereduk, the current chairman. “It was rewritten using today’s modern programming languages to bring it to a fully featured web application design. This ensured better security, better usability and better flexibility, allowing the system to better accommodate today’s mobile workforce.”

"Our team was born out of a need for a cross-business collaboration to address future configuration questions and to discuss changes to the system that may affect another business areas processes."

Sereduk added that bringing construction data into the AASHTOWare Project system promotes a single unified database structure, which improves and streamlines business processes and continues to help ITD move toward a paperless system.

The group has since changed their name to Grumble, which is a group of Pugs, and led by Mark Snyder and Suzie Weddle, they met with users across the state to investigate the issues and use that feedback to develop the solution.

Some of the bugs are still being worked out, such as how each module interacts with the other modules. It is entirely possible, also, that not every bug has yet been uncovered – they may only surface once the new system is being used.

Despite these caveats, Snyder is confident in the direction the team has proposed.

“This team has come together to remedy these issues with the entire value stream in mind. We will prioritize the improvements that give us the best return possible. I have no doubt the solution will be the best thing for the department and the services we need to provide to our customers – both internally to employees, and externally to the public.”

Employees with questions about the new software can reach out to any one of the team members at Headquarters or in the districts.

Team members include: Ken Sereduk, Dave Kuisti, Mark Snyder, Suzie Weddle, Crystal Grasmick, John Bilderback, Dana Dietz, Ester Ceja, Jason Henscheid, Karen Hanna, Ted Mason and Jaime Westmoreland from HQ, and Chance Cole from D1, Robert Gordon from D2, Randal Brunello from D4, and Greg Roberts from D5.

The project was started in January of 2018 and was completed in April of 2019, at which time 390 active contracts were migrated from the SiteManager application to the new web application AASHTOWare Project over a single weekend.

 

Published 09-18-20