Caltrans uses several systems to store and process the information needed to monitor and manage projects.
California Transportation Improvement Program System (CTIPS)
CTIPS shows the project description and authorized funding for STIP and SHOPP projects, and the fiscal year of delivery for each STIP and SHOPP project. This information is essential to the project team because it identifies the scope, budget, and schedule that they are expected to meet.
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Project Resource and Schedule Management (PRSM)
PRSM is the first part of a three-part plan to modernize the financial management software of Caltrans. The three parts are:
1 PRSM, which will enable Caltrans to effectively manage State employee time in its Capital Outlay Support (COS) program. This
$1.2 billion-per-year program funds environmental studies, design services, construction engineering and right-of-way acquisition services for State Highway projects. Caltrans employs more than 10,000 people in COS. State employee time charges make up most of the costs in this program. PRSM will be Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) software.
2 A Construction Management System to replace the existing outdated system.
3 An Integrated Financial Management System to replace the existing Transportation Accounting and Management System (TRAMS).
Most of Caltrans' financial management software was written in the 1960s through 1980s. The focus at that time was on recovering Federal Funds and on correct payment of contractors. Since then, transportation financing has become far more complex. Many new Federal, State and Local funding programs have been added, each with its own rules. There has also been an increased attention to the management of Caltrans' State employee and consultant resources. Caltrans has developed band-aid processes to address the new demands with the old software, but these are less than satisfactory.
PRSM will integrate scheduling and timekeeping. It will:
Allow portions of each project to be assigned to individual employees ("Task Managers").
Allow Task Managers to update current schedules, labor hour estimates and assignments on their work using a web browser, while preventing them from making any other changes.
Allow all employees to see current cost and schedule information using a web browser.
Integrate with Staff Central to ensure that employees know what labor charges they are authorized to make on projects.
Assist supervisors and managers to prioritize the work of their units.
Assist supervisors and managers to estimate their future workload and plan for that workload.
Compare project costs with the project budgets.
Forecast the final cost of each project phase.
T o o l s I n f o r m a t i o n S y s t e m s
Transportation Accounting and Management System (TRAMS)
The Caltrans mainframe accounting database TRAMS provides financial information, including expenditure information, by project. Staff members use preprogrammed or ad hoc reports to access the data.
Staff Central Staff Central is the original name that was given to the Caltrans initiative to develop a new time reporting system to replace TRS and PERMIS. The new system will also have online modules for reporting and monitoring Workers' Compensation cases and monitoring of License and Certification requirements. The TOPSS development team has customized commercial software from a company called PeopleSoft. The three modules (time reporting, licenses & certifications, and workers' compensation) can be accessed from a new Caltrans Intranet portal called Staff Central.
Project
Management Data Warehouse
(PMDW)
PMDW is a database containing general project information, project schedule, capital costs, and operating expense data extracted and integrated from existing databases. Staff and managers use desktop computer query tools to access the data.
PMDW is a database that correlates information in XPM with information in Staff Central. PMDW data is accessible to project delivery staff and managers for query purposes using desktop computer query tools. PMDW will be replaced by PRSM.
Systems Being Replaced
Caltrans intends to replace the following systems:
Project Management Control System (PMCS)
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eXpert Project Manager (XPM)
XPM is the current project scheduling and resourcing software. It will be replaced by PRSM.
G
G LOSSARY
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Definitions
Activity A component of work performed during the course of a project5.
Baseline Workplan The original workplan approved by the stakeholders. For programmed state highway projects, the cost estimates in the baseline workplan are within 10 percent of the amounts shown in the programming document and the delivery year matches the programming document.
Capital Project A temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique physical improvement to the transportation system in California. The word “project” refers to the work that is performed. Projects produce products.
Communications
Management Plan A plan detailing to whom information will flow, what methods will be used to distribute various types of information, a description of the types of information to be distributed, a schedule for information production and distribution, how information will be updated, and how it can be accessed between scheduled communications.
Critical Path Generally, but not always, the sequence of activities that determines the duration of the project6.
Critical Path Method (CPM)
A scheduling method that uses diagrams to graphically display the logical sequence of workplan activities. Caltrans uses this method to determine the length (time) of a project and to identify the activities that are critical to the completion of the project on time.
Current Workplan The baseline workplan plus changes approved by the project manager and project team. The current workplan guides the day-to-day operations of project execution and project control. It reflects the current reality and can be compared to the baseline workplan to assess progress and performance.
Customer See “external project customers” and “internal project customers.”
Deliverable Any unique and verifiable product, result, or capability to perform a service that must be produced to complete a process, phase, or project.
Expenditure
Authorization (EA)
The key to the Caltrans accounting system. It identifies an expenditure of funds. Every expenditure of Caltrans funds must be charged to an EA.
External Project
Customers Transportation system users who pay for projects through fuel taxes, vehicle fees, tolls, bonds, sales taxes, fares, and other charges.
Federal Project An authorization to incur federally reimbursable costs for a specific scope of work within specific geographic limits.
5 PMBOK® Guide – 2004 Third Edition, Glossary, page 350
6 PMBOK® Guide – 2004 Third Edition, Glossary, page 357
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Functional Coordinators
Individuals who coordinate the work of several functional units. Functional coordinators are appointed by a Deputy District Director, Deputy Division Chief in the Division of Engineering Services, or Office Chief in the Southern Right of Way Service Center.
Functional Managers The immediate supervisors of the staff who work on the project.
Functional Unit A group of people supervised by a functional manager.
Internal Project Customers
Individuals who will use the deliverables or information produced at various stages of the project. They are internal to the project, not necessarily internal to Caltrans. (See also “external project customers” and “project team.”) Milestone A significant point or event in the project. It has zero duration.
Product-oriented Processes
Processes concerned with specifying and creating the project product.
Product Scope The features and functions to be included in a product. (See also “project scope.”)
Program A group of related projects managed in a coordinated way to obtain benefits not available from managing them individually. Laws and regulations establish programs for government projects and define each program’s purpose, funding sources, and funding process.
Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT)
An event-oriented network analysis technique used to estimate program duration when there is uncertainty in the individual activity duration estimates. PERT applies the CPM using durations that are computed by weighted averages of optimistic, pessimistic, and most likely duration estimates. PERT computes the standard deviation of the completion date from those of the path’s activity durations.
Programmed Project A proposed transportation improvement in a geographic location that is listed in a programming document or in a report to the CTC. The
improvement and location are specified in the programming document or report to the CTC.
Programming A document that lists the projects that are authorized in a program.
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Project Charter The charter process defines the key elements of the project. These include the purpose and need, component deliverables, and known constraints, assumptions, and risks. The charter documents the agreement between the sponsor and project manager, who represents the project team.
Project Components The highest-order deliverables on a project. On government projects, these are normally deliverables required by laws or regulations. On California State Highway projects, the components are defined in Government Code sections 14529 (b) and 14556.13(b).
Project Cost The sum of all the cost components, including capital (right of way and construction) and support costs. These are determined by estimating the present value of each and escalating out to the point in time that the actual expenditures are estimated to occur.
Project Development Team
An interdisciplinary team composed of key members of the project team and external stakeholders that acts as a steering committee in directing the course of studies required to evaluate the various project alternatives during the early components of the project lifecycle.
Project Initiation Document (PID)
Concept approval document for candidate projects that contains a defined project scope, a reliable capital and support cost estimate for each alternative solution, and a project schedule (workplan) for the alternative recommended for programming the project.
Project Lifecycle A generally sequential arrangement of the components of a project. Each of the lifecycle components involves the five project management process groups – initiating, planning, executing, controlling, and closing. When all components are complete, the project is complete.
Project Management The application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities in order to meet sponsors’ and external customers’ needs and expectations from a project.
Project Management Body of Knowledge®
(PMBOK) Guide
A standards document published by the Project Management Institute.
Project Management Plan
Defines how the project is to be executed, monitored, and controlled.
Included are the Project Charter, the project workplan, the Project Communication Plan, Procurement Management Plan, Quality Management Plan, the Risk Management Plan, and the Financial Management Plan.
Project Manager The individual responsible for managing a project.
Project Scope The work that must be done in order to deliver a product with the specified features and functions.
Project Sponsors Individuals or groups that represent external project customers by
advocating a project or group of projects. Project sponsors may be internal or external to Caltrans.
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Project Team Every person who works on a project, including state employees,
consultants, and contractors. Each team member is an internal customer for some deliverables and a supplier of other deliverables.
Quality Improvement Project
A temporary endeavor undertaken to improve the way in which capital projects meet customer needs. Quality improvement projects include those designed to produce process improvements, training, and tools.
Quality Assurance The application of planned systematic quality activities to ensure that the project will employ all processes needed to meet requirements.8
Caltrans definition: The activities performed at the district management (functional management) level, during the project delivery process that provides confidence that the project team is fulfilling established project requirements and expectations.
Quality Control Performing quality control involves monitoring specific project results to determine whether they comply with relevant quality standards and identifying ways to eliminate causes of unsatisfactory results.9
Caltrans definition: The operational processes, practices and activities performed at the project team level during the project delivery process to ensure that the product meets the project’s purpose and need and fulfills established quality requirements.
Regional Transportation Planning Agency
A transportation planning agency designated in Government Code 29532. In this handbook, the term “Regional Transportation Planning Agency” is used loosely to include the councils of governments and local transportation commissions described in Government Code 29532 (b) and (c) as well as the regional transportation planning agencies described in Government Code 29532 (a) and (d).
Right of Way Only Project
An entry in a programming document that has funds programmed only for right of way.
Risk Advertisement Project advertised for construction prior to having all of the necessary constraints cleared to ready-to-list (RTL) the project for construction.
Risk Vote Risk Vote is a California Transportation Commission (CTC) action requested
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Scope Document Project Initiation Document (PID) or Project Report (PR).
Sponsor The person or group that provides financial resources, in cash or in kind, for the project.11
Stakeholder Individuals or organizations who are actively involved in the project or whose interests may be positively or negatively affected as a result of project execution or successful project completion.
Task A term for work whose meaning and placement within a structured plan for project work varies by the application area, industry, and brand of project management software.12
Task Managers Individuals who are delegated the responsibilities of both the project manager and the functional manager for the production of particular elements in the project WBS.
UnPAR or Drop Project UnPAR is to un-program (free the funds of) a project. This happens in the following scenarios:
Projects that are no longer required or needed
Funding is needed for higher priority projects
The project is delayed further than the Programming Document (SHOPP / STIP)
Value Analysis Team Project Team members and project stakeholders that participate in the Value Analysis process.
Value Analysis or Engineering
The systematic application of recognized techniques by a multi-disciplined team that identifies the function of a product or service; establishes a worth for that function; generates alternatives through the use of creative thinking;
and reliably provides the needed functions at the lowest overall cost.
Work Breakdown
Structure A deliverable-oriented grouping of project elements that organizes and defines the total scope of the project. Any work not included in the WBS is outside the scope of the project.
Work Package A deliverable or project work component defined by the lowest level of the project’s work breakdown structure.
Workplan A resourced schedule. The workplan identifies the project-specific WBS elements and defines the cost, timeline, resources, deliverable, and requirements for each.
10 PMBOK® Guide – 2004 Third Edition, Glossary, page 375
11 PMBOK® Guide – 2004 Third Edition, Glossary, page 376
12 PMBOK® Guide – 2004 Third Edition, Glossary, page 377
Acronyms
AASHTO American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials CEQA California Environmental Quality Act
CMAQ Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality
CPM Critical Path Method
CTC California Transportation Commission
CTIPS California Transportation Improvement Program System
DDC Deputy Division Chiefs
DDDPPM (SFP) Deputy District Director for Program and Project Management (Also Single Focal Point)
DED Draft Environmental Document
EA Expenditure Authorization
EIR Environmental Impact Report
EIS Environmental Impact Statement
FDDD Functional Deputy District Directors FHWA Federal Highway Administration
IIP Interregional Improvement Program
NEPA National Environmental Policy Act
OBS Organizational Breakdown Structure
PA&ED Project Approval and Environmental Document
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PMI Project Management Institute
PMP Project Management Professional
PMSU Project Management Support Unit
PRSM Project Resource and Schedule Management PS&E Plans, Specifications & Estimate
QA Quality Assurance
QC Quality Control
RBS Resource Breakdown Structure
RIP Regional Improvement Program
RTPA Regional Transportation Planning Agency SHOPP State Highway Operation & Protection Program SPMIT Statewide Project Management Improvement Team.
STIP State Transportation Improvement Program
TEA Transportation Enhancement Activities
TCRP Traffic Congestion Relief Program
TRAMS Transportation Accounting and Management System
TRS Time Reporting System
TSM Traffic Systems Management
WBS Work Breakdown Structure
XPM eXpert Project Management
Note: For more detailed list of acronyms, visit: http://pd.dot.ca.gov/pubs/ProjectDeliveryAcronyms.pdf
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References:
1) Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) Guide, Third Edition.
2) Project Management Site Map: http://pd.dot.ca.gov/pm/pmweb/site_map.asp 3) PM Overview Slide Show: http://pd.dot.ca.gov/pm/pmweb/overview.asp 4) Work plan Standards:
http://pd.dot.ca.gov/pm/ProjectOffice/WorkplanStandards/StandardsHome.asp 5) Work plan development best practices:
http://onramp.dot.ca.gov/hq/cpsd/workplan_development_best_practices/Workplan_
development_best_practices.pdf
I
I NDEX
B
Basic Concepts... 9
C
California Transportation Improvement Program System ...See CTIPS Caltrans Project Management Certificate Program ... 54Closing Processes... 32
Consultant Services Unit ...51
Controlling Processes ...32
Cost Management ...35
critical path...35
CTIPS ...63
D
Deputy Division Chiefs ...51E
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76 Caltrans Project Management Handbook
H
Human Resource Management ... 36
I
Information Systems ... 63CTIPS ... 63
PRSM... 64
Replaced Systems ... 65
TRAMS ... 65
Initiating Processes... 28
Integration Management ... 34
K
Knowledge and skills for effective state highway project management... 15Knowledge Areas ... 33
Communications... 37 Lifecycle Overview ... 18
O
OBS... 60One-Hat Project Managers ... 52
Organizational Breakdown Structure ...See OBS Overlapping Responsibilities ... 46
Oversight Agencies... 41
P
People... 39Responsibilities ...45
Roles...40
Permits and Environmental Studies Component...20
Product-oriented executing processes ...29
Program Management ...11
Programs...11
Project...10
Charter ...59
Construction...23
Initiation Document... See PID Lifecycle ...17
Resource and Schedule Management... See PRSM Specifications and Estimate ...See PS&E Team ...41
Project Development Team ...43
Project Management ...11
Mission...11
Plan ...58
Support Unit ...51
Project Management Body of Knowledge... See PMBOK Project Management Professional ...54
Project Manager Skills Series...55
Project Managers One-Hat ...52
Two-Hat ...53
PRSM...64
PS&E ...21
I n d e x
Q
Quality Management ... 36
Quality Management Plan ... 36
R
RBS... 60Regulatory Agencies ... 41
Resource Breakdown Structure... See RBS Responsibilities ... 45
Matrix ... 46
Right of Way... 22
Risk Management... 37
Roles ... 40
S
Scope Management ... 34Sponsoring local entities ... 41
Sponsors ... 40
Stakeholders ... 40
Needs ... 40
Sub-Programs ... 13
T
Task Management ... 14Time Management ... 35
Tools... 57
Project Charter... 59
Project Management Plan... 58
W
WBS ...60Work Breakdown Structure...See WBS Workplan...60