Description • Exor Highways is an infrastructure asset management system managing 1,000,000 miles of road with an asset value exceeding $750billion across the world. The system manages multiple types of networks and a wide variety of assets. There are specialist sub-systems specifically for safety management, street noticing / permitting, enquiry management, traffic management, bridge management, executive dashboard (information Manager) capability and document management. Field data capture software provides on-site inspection and inventory survey capability.
• The system can function as a ‘hub’ enabling Exor and non-Exor data to be integrated thus facilitating better decision making by bringing together departmental silo data. Integration into corporate financial and CRM systems is also available.
• The software provides embedded spatial integration and is web-enabled. Contact Person Russell Loarridge
Company Name Exor Corporation Limited, Corporate Headquarters, Address Clifton Heights, Clifton, Bristol, BS8 1EJ, UK Phone +44-(0)117-900-6200
Fax +44-(0)117-900-6222
Email Address [email protected]
Web http://www.exorcorp.com/
Overview
Public or Private Private
Items Question to be answered Score Note
COTS Does the system vendor allow other parties to purchase and implement the system for a client?
- Yes
System Requirements Does the system operate in Windows? Is the system web-enabled?
3 Yes. The system supports various releases of Windows. It also supports an N tier architecture and is fully deployable over the web without requiring additional third party software.
Implementation
Costs System purchase price? - Depends on customer
requirements as the licensing is flexible. For example, perpetual, annual or term licenses are available. Licensing may also be user or CPU based.
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Annual support costs?
Training costs?
Consultancy costs for data conversion? Consultancy costs for system changes?
Annual support and maintenance costs are dependent upon the license terms.
A full range of professional services are available to provide project management,
implementation, installation, data migration, data configuration and training. Consultancy maybe be charged daily, purchased in advance at discounted rates or available on a fixed price basis. A commercial view is taken on changes to the system. These changes may optionally involve a charge which is negotiated with a customer to safeguard their investment in a COTS solution and to provide the requisite level of functionality sought by the customer.
Timeframe How long does it takes for the implementation?
- Dependent upon a number of factors as implementation
timeframes range from 1 month to 18 months. Critical factors are:- • Project scope
• Whether legacy data needs to be migrated
• Is other data available or does it need to be collected
• Whether the customer has defined business flows and data formats pre-defined • Numbers of departments
impacted / number of users • Requirements for specific in
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corporate finance) Support Does the vendor offer on-going system
support, including upgrades?
Does the vendor provide initial training?
Does the vendor provide on-going training?
Does the vendor provide a helpdesk?
Does support include user groups?
3 Yes – the annual support and maintenance agreement provides access to system maintenance and upgrade releases.
Yes – training is available for all levels of user and for the business areas they are involved in. Yes – on going training is available.
Yes – helpdesk support is provided by telephone, the internet and email via support desks in the UK, North America and Australia. Yes – user groups and user conferences.
Upgrade How often is a system upgraded? How is the upgrade happened?
- Upgrades occur at least every 6 months in order to maintain quality and / or provide system
enhancements. Upgrades are delivered to customers on-site or are downloadable from Exor’s secure support area on the website.
Upgrades are triggered by
maintenance requirements as well as functional and technology enhancements.
Exor undertakes software upgrades for those customers whose applications are hosted by ourselves.
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system?
Does the vendor supply the system internationally?
including customers who have been using the software since the late 1980’s.
System Objective
Type of Decision Support
Does the system support decision making in planning, work programming, and monitoring?
3 Yes, the supports planning, work programming and monitoring. Road Network
Numbering Rules and Conventions
Does the system have network numbering schemes particular to the client?
3 Yes. Exor Highways can model user definable network numbering schemes. The system includes multiple linear referencing capability to enable a network to have multiple representations and the system will automatically translate across them. Data
Transformations
Does the system transform section data to the automatically generated sections using different criteria?
3 Yes. Users can define criteria for generating sections and the system will create the appropriate sections.
Purging of Data Does the system purge historical inventory and condition data to an archive database? Does the system retrieve the purged data from the database?
3 Yes. Alternatively current and historical data can be maintained in a single database. Data volumes are easily managed within the underlying Oracle database which reduces system administration time (no need to retrieve purged data) and facilitates prompt and easy reporting for users. Multi-Media
Storage and Display
Does the system allow users to store and display multi-media objects (e.g.,
photographs, video clips, etc.) as attributes of inventory items?
3 Yes. The system caters for other types of multi-media as well to enable engineering drawings to be stored. It provides the ability to generate standard template documents as well (e.g. letters). Integration with
GIS
Is the system integrated with GIS to display inventory and condition data against maps of the road network?
3 Yes. Exor Highways includes embedded GIS functionality which is available over the web as well as the more traditional client-server environment.
Functionality
Inventory
User-Defined Items and
Does the system have a graphical user interface (GUI) that allows users to define the
3 Yes. The system has a user configurable GUI such that users
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Attributes types of inventory/condition data to be stored and what attributes are to be stored against each type of inventory?
can define inventory / condition data and the attributes to be maintained. These user definable features then appear within the GUI. This is a key feature of our COTS solution since it ensures ease of international
implementation across customers with different data storage requirements.
Input
Requirements
Default numbers provided? 3 Yes Staging Area for
Data Loading
Does the system allow users to load data into a temporary staging area for verification of data?
0 No. Data is loaded directly into the system if it passes the validation rules. Data loads which fail the validation process during loading are automatically placed in a temporary staging area for update and correction. They are then re- submitted for loading.
Network Editing Does the system permit splitting and joining of road sections? Does the system allow users to modify road section lengths while
preserving integrity of all data stored against the affected sections?
3 Yes. Exor Highways provides full network editing capability. This includes splitting, merging and replacing and the opposite of each function. Road lengths can be adjusted if necessary as well. During these operations data integrity is preserved. Network Auditing Does the system audit any changes to the
road network definition? Can users review these changes?
3 Yes. All network changes are recorded and audited. Users are able to review these changes. The system provides the online
capability to roll the system back or forwards in time so that users can easily see, for instance, the network as it was a year ago. Storing
Audit Trail Does the system audit all data changes, including time of change, username, and value of previous data item?
3 Yes. The system includes the ability to audit and report on data changes with a timestamp;
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username and the value of the item previously.
Data Level Security
Does the system have a security setup (i.e., update privileges) depending on user levels with respect to the type of data?
3 Yes. Exor Highways has a sophisticated security set up that not only provides access security (read, read / write) but also provides security based on administration levels (e.g. managers v staff), sign off levels for works orders, area based security,
Application Programming Interface
Does the system allow other applications to retrieve its data via a programming interface? (not take place through direct database access)
3 Yes. Standard and customer specific interfaces can be provided. The system is based on an open architecture to facilitate such interfaces.
Type of Analysis Tools
What kinds of analysis tool does the system have? (Life-Cycle Cost Analysis, Benefit-Cost Analysis, Heuristic Decision Rules, etc.)
- The system supports life-cycle cost analysis, benefit cost analysis and heuristic decision rules both through internal functionality and interfaces to third party products. Type of Impact
Analyzed
What kinds of impact does the system analyze? (Agency Costs, User Costs, Emission Costs, Life Cycle Costs, Deterioration, etc.)
- The system can analyze agency costs, user costs, life cycle costs and deterioration.
Analysis Level What level does the system analyze? (Network, program, project)
3 Network, program, and project levels.
Trend Analysis Does the system produce reports/graphs showing trends in average condition (or any attribute of any database item) over time, for part of a section, a whole section, part of a route, or whole route?
3 Yes. The system includes standard reports/ graphs and the ability to create user definable reports and graphs. These can report on any data in the system to provide trend data across parts of a section, whole sections, and part of a route or whole route.
Analysis
Automatic Sectioning
Does the system collate and summarize data for analysis purposes based on user-defined criteria?
3 Yes. There are multiple ways of collating and analyzing data. Dynamic segmentation is
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sections on the fly for reporting purposes. Exor has a powerful merge query tool to enable multiple datasets to be combined for reporting purposes (e.g. condition data, traffic volumes, and asset and / or network characteristics). Schematic Line
Diagrams
Does the system produce schematic line diagrams showing selected sections and inventory items with selected attributes?
3 Yes. The system includes the ability to produce schematic line diagrams based on user definable criteria.
Road Network Referencing
Does the system support different network referencing schemes (e.g., linear distance from the start of the road section, linear distance from the start of a road, distance from known location referencing points)?
3 Yes. Exor Highways supports all these referencing methodologies through its multiple linear
referencing capability as well as geo-coded referencing.
Reporting Can users generate a report based on users’ definition using GUI without reprogramming of the system?
3 Yes. The system supports any third party reporting writing tool which can work with an Oracle database. Information Manager is an Exor product providing
Executive Dashboard type capability over the web and can also be tailored by users for reporting purposes.
Report
Template Survey Forms
Does the system produce template forms for use by the client for performance survey?
3 Yes. Exor Highways includes the ability to generate template forms for use in surveys.
Function Level Security
Does the system have a security setup depending on user levels with respect to different application modules?
3 Yes. Security is configurable so that it can be set appropriately for user levels within application modules. This determines read, read/write access, what modules are accessible, financial sign off levels etc.
System
Terminology and Local Language
Is the system configurable to client conventions in the local language (e.g., screen labels, menu items, and reports)?
3 Yes. Exor Highways has user definable field and menu labels to enable translation. This includes support for double byte characters.
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HIMS
Description • A powerful and flexible database management and analytical tool designed to meet the needs of road agencies and consultants.
• Capable of storing and analyzing data on any type of asset, including pavements, bridges, culverts, fords, seawalls, buildings and traffic data.
Contact Person Raj Mallela Company Name HIMS Ltd
Address PO Box 27-449, Mt. Roskill, Auckland 1007, New Zealand
Phone +64 9 820 8945
Fax +64 9 820 8946
Email Address [email protected]
Web http://www.hdm-ims.com/index.htm
Overview
Public or Private Private
Items Question to be answered Score Note
COTS Does the system vendor allow other parties to purchase and implement the system for a client?
- Yes
System Requirements Does the system operate in Windows? Is the system web-enabled?
2 Yes Partially Costs System purchase price?
Annual support costs? Training costs?
Consultancy costs for data conversion? Consultancy costs for system changes?
- USD6,500 (based on the modules and complexity of the system to be implemented.)
Timeframe How long does it takes for the implementation?
- Initial database set up is within 1 week. Setting up the whole system including analytical tool will depend on the size of the network and complexity.
Support Does the vendor offer on-going system support, including upgrades?
Does the vendor provide initial training? Does the vendor provide on-going training? Does the vendor provide a helpdesk? Does support include user groups?
2 Yes
Yes (if required) Yes (if required) Yes (if required) Planned in near future Implementation
Upgrade How often is a system upgraded? How is the upgrade happened?
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Experience How many and how long do clients use the system?
Does the vendor supply the system internationally?
3 More than 100 licenses (including client licenses) are in use. Length of use in average about 4-6 years after initial implementation. Yes, it has been supplied to various road agencies in Asia, Pacific, and Africa.
System Objective
Type of Decision Support
Does the system support decision making in planning, work programming, and monitoring?
3 System has analyzing, scheduling and reporting tools for planning, work programming and monitoring (including its own predictive modeling tool and economic analysis model).
Road Network Numbering Rules and Conventions
Does the system have network numbering schemes particular to the client?
3 Yes
Data
Transformations
Does the system transform section data to the automatically generated sections using different criteria?
3 Yes. Based on the user defined criteria, HIMS can automatically create “sections” of road data. Purging of Data Does the system purge historical inventory
and condition data to an archive database?
Does the system retrieve the purged data from the database?
3 Yes. HIMS can be customized to purge historical inventory and condition data to an archive database.
HIMS can only retrieve if location referencing is not changed. Multi-Media
Storage and Display
Does the system allow users to store and display multi-media objects (e.g.,
photographs, video clips, etc.) as attributes of inventory items?
3 Yes. HIMS integrates video and other data and has functionality to display concurrently both data and multi-media information.
Integration with GIS
Is the system integrated with GIS to display inventory and condition data against maps of the road network?
3 Yes. System is fully integrated with GIS module.
User-Defined Items and Attributes
Does the system have a graphical user interface (GUI) that allows users to define the types of inventory/condition data to be stored and what attributes are to be stored against each type of inventory?
3 Yes. HIMS has user friendly interface for user for defining attributes for any inventory or assessment type.
Functionality
Inventory
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Requirements assigned while defining each
attribute. Staging Area for
Data Loading
Does the system allow users to load data into a temporary staging area for verification of data?
3 Yes, part of customization. Once verification system can then lock the records to keep data secured. Network Editing Does the system permit splitting and joining of
road sections? Does the system allow users to modify road section lengths while
preserving integrity of all data stored against the affected sections?
3 Yes. HIMS location referencing system module can handle it.
Network Auditing Does the system audit any changes to the road network definition? Can users review these changes?
3 Can be customized to audit network changes.
Audit Trail Does the system audit all data changes, including time of change, username, and value of previous data item?
3 Time stamp and Changed-by for data changes available by default. More comprehensive audit trails are implemented using backend database such SQL.
Data Level Security
Does the system have a security setup (i.e., update privileges) depending on user levels with respect to the type of data?
3 Yes. Data level security is provided by the access level assigned to the user.
Storing
Application Programming Interface
Does the system allow other applications to retrieve its data via a programming interface? (not take place through direct database access)
3 Yes. HIMS allows manipulation of the data to prepare input files for analysis with other asset
management applications. APIs can also be used for exchanging data.
Type of Analysis Tools
What kinds of analysis tool does the system have? (Life-Cycle Cost Analysis, Benefit-Cost Analysis, Heuristic Decision Rules, etc.)
- Data analysis using decision trees and scheduling for work
programme development and reporting are available in the main module. Separate add-on analysis module is available for life-cycle cost analysis, benefit cost analysis, asset valuation, and cross asset optimization etc.
Analysis
Type of Impact Analyzed
What kinds of impact does the system analyze? (Agency Costs, User Costs, Emission Costs, Life Cycle Costs,
- Object function can be customized to analyze based on any
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Deterioration, etc.) type/index for impact analysis. Agency Costs, User Costs, Life Cycle Costs, Deterioration, etc are available in the life cycle cost analysis module.
Analysis Level What level does the system analyze? (Network, program, project)
3 All three level of analysis can be undertaken.
Trend Analysis Does the system produce reports/graphs showing trends in average condition (or any attribute of any database item) over time, for part of a section, a whole section, part of a route, or whole route?
3 Yes, Flexible reporting tool
available to build the reports/graph templates to produce report based on network summary or condition trend based on any attribute available in database (for both individual asset/section or group of similar assets/sections)
Automatic Sectioning
Does the system collate and summarize data for analysis purposes based on user-defined criteria?
3 Yes. It has powerful data
transformation tools to summarize and collate data (even those which are kept based on different location referencing intervals)
Schematic Line Diagrams
Does the system produce schematic line diagrams showing selected sections and inventory items with selected attributes?
3 Yes, it has schematic line