UPDATE PROJECT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM SAVES TIME AND MONEY IN MORRISON COUNTY, MINNESOTA

In December of 2003, the Morrison County Department of Public Works applied to the Minnesota Local Road Research Board for an Operational Research for Local Transportation Groups grant to study the automation of the project construction process using OneOFFICE software.

PROBLEM
Much of the project construction process deals with duplications of information both in the office and in the field. While it had been managed successfully by Morrison County, duplicating this information allows room for additional errors and a loss of time, both of which add extra, unforeseen costs to projects. Once Morrison County had all the paper-based information of a project, they then had the arduous task of managing, organizing, and archiving this paper intensive process.

SOLUTION PROPOSED
In 2002, RTVision worked directly with Morrison County Engineers and Accounting using OneOFFICE software to automate and track every stage of funding during a project's life-cycle.

The OneOFFICE Suite was developed to reduce duplication of efforts, allow more flexibility and mobility, provide integration into Accounting, reduce administration time on projects and eliminate paper based issues such as organization, management and other paper related costs.

SOFTWARE DESCRIPTION
OneOFFICE is a web based software package that operates on a personal computer, server or tablet PC. The core of the software is a central database that contains all the information linked to a project that can easily be retrieved in the office or in the field. It automates the project management process and allows the project Engineering Technician to control all aspects of the project, including the completion of inspection forms, weekly diaries or other related documents from the field with the use of a tablet PC.

SOFTWARE EVALUATION
The 2003 version of OneOFFICE was evaluated by the department in 2004. RTVision's original version focused on eliminating the redundancies in project documentation and funding areas of project management.

The department staff tracked time spent using both the previous method of project management and process using RTVision's OneOFFICE software during the reconstruction of 4 miles of CSAH 24. The project took 20 weeks to build, had 3 CO/SA and nearly 100 contracted items.

For a two week period of time, Engineering staff tracked their time performing the tasks listed in the following schedule for both methods of project management. The time required of each method was then extrapolated over the entire duration of the project.

Additionally, at the end of the 2004 construction season, substantial enhancements were made to the software, which included the e/Gram module. e/Gram automatically posts the following project information on the county's website, such as: Plan Holder Lists, ad for bids and abstract of bids. This case study does not include time and money saving data for this module since it was released after the evaluation was complete.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
The data reflects that the use of OneOFFICE software saves substantial time by eliminating redundant data re-entry. For this specific project, an estimated 38 hours of staff time was eliminated in field inspection and 11 hours in funding management, saving a total of 49 hours per project. Based on tracking the time spent on each project management method, it is estimated that in the area of field inspection there was 38 hours of staff time eliminated using OneOFFICE. In the area of funding management, it was assessed that 11 hours of staff time was eliminated using OneOFFICE.

In those two areas evaluated, we found that the Engineering Technicians' time spent documenting the project using both methods was very comparable. However, as the Engineering Technicians became familiar with the software and utilized the handwriting recognition feature, they commented that they believed the software was actually saving them time in performing their duties as well. The time savings was also substantial for support staff during a project. For example, administration staff went from allocating 30 minutes each week to Weekly Diary preparations to completely eliminating this task for them. In the same manner, the Accountants' time spent setting up a project and preparing an estimate for payments was essentially eliminated.

In summary, the department's Engineering Technicians had a very favorable view of the software. Their comments consist of positive statements such as "It provides quick access to all the data and reduces duplication", and "It is very easy to use and is working well". The Engineering Technicians have recognized OneOFFICE as a more efficient way of doing business. The Morrison County case study data demonstrates there is substantial time savings, as well as, an elimination of redundancy using RTVision's OneOFFICE software. The numerous benefits have been validated by the Engineering Technicians that use it.