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Needs Assessment Study
Operational Systems
Assessment
Needs Assessment Study
EPV
offers several helpful services
to assist the transit agency in
assessing its organization and
developing the detail
requirements for an ITS system.
An agency in the process of
developing their ITS system to
better serve their community or
region often may require
assistance from an outside
resource. It is their mission to
provide and maintain an
efficient ITS system, yet they
may not have the system
engineering expertise required
to determine their needs and
manage the system
implementation. One of the
various services, provided by
EPV for transit agencies, is a
complete Needs Assessment Study. We
often start by identifying
operational needs and reviewing
organization goals and
objectives. Our study includes
identifying the agency’s transit
management system requirements
as well as needs for reporting
and billing. During this study,
we also review all “on-board
vehicle” hardware/software
component needs and required
interfaces between the dispatch
center, the vehicle and the passenger. EPV
follows a disciplined set of
activities during the
assessment process where we begin to
prioritize hardware and software
requirements and research any
new technology being introduced
into the industry.
As we move through the
assessment process, we continue
to conduct on-site meetings and telephone
interviews for gathering data
and information related to
current transportation
operations and services.
We spend time to understand the
agency’s in-place transportation
processes and policies. From
information gathered, we analyze
and document all findings and
determine the agency’s proposed ITS
solutions.
At the conclusion of the Needs
Assessment, the agency can expect
to have a thorough understanding
of their current transportation
system operations and proposed
solutions as documented in a
Concept of Operation.
System Perspective -
Concept of Operations (ConOps)
 The Concept of Operations (ConOps)
provides the transit agency a
high-level description of their
current transportation
operations, and processes and a
proposed ITS architecture. Any
goals, established during the
Needs Assessment or identified
during regional planning are
considered during the
development of the agency’s
proposed ITS Architecture.
This schematic diagram
represents a sample agency ITS
system described
in the Concept of Operations
document and provides the
framework for developing an
integrated transportation
system. The typical list of
components would include Transit
Management software using
Geographic Information System
(GIS) and MDD/AVL Unit Onboard
Vehicle, Electronic Fare Boxes,
etc.
System Requirement
Specification (SRS)
The Concept of Operations provides the foundation for the
ITS System Requirement
Specifications (SRS).
The objective of this
process is to have clear and
documented ITS System
Requirements. These requirements
will be critical for all project
phases, including Procurement and Project
Implementation. The SRS will
include the following sections:
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Interfaces required – System, User, Hardware, Software, Communications |
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System functions |
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Operating environment requirements |
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Security requirements |
Operational Systems
Assessment (OSA)
Implementing an ITS system
establishes quick benefits to
the efficient operation of an
agency’s scheduling and
dispatching process. The system
offers so much content that
there is seldom enough time,
during implementation, for an
agency to absorb its total
advantages.
As time passes, human nature
allows us to slip into
processes that do not always
maximize the systems
capabilities. Periodic
assessment of the agency’s
processes and effective
utilization of their system can
pay big dividends.
One of the various services,
provided by EPV, is an Operational
System Assessment. We evaluate
the use of the agency’s system
and compare its effectiveness to
their original organizational
goals and policies. We
then identify
where the agency excels and
where we feel improvement can be
made. The agency may also relay
issues that require ours or the
system vendor's attention and
could very easily be resolved. Similar to the Needs Assessment
process, EPV follows a systematic set of
activities during the
OSA process including creating
and distributing a survey to the
user of the system. The
survey is designed to provide
insight into how the system is
being utilized as well as the
user’s opinion and overall
satisfaction.
As we move through the
OSA process, we continue to
observe how the users interact
with the system as well as what
functionality/modules are used. We assess how the system is
currently configured and review
the current transportation
operational processes.
At the conclusion of this set of
services the agency can expect
to have a thorough, documented
understanding of their current
system operation. They will also
receive a set of recommendations
provided in our ”Operational
System Report”.
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