AASHTOWare Project Insufficient Materials Summit Overview

February 26, 2020

In December 2019, AASHTOWare Project Task force conducted the Insufficient Material Product Improvement Summit in Gainesville Florida. This was one of two summits identified through a resolution put forth at the 2018 PUG by the Construction and Materials TAGs. Members of those TAGs were aware of complex issues and gaps with the existing software and recognized that conference calls were not enough to come up with solutions to these gaps. It was felt that a face-to-face meeting would facilitate the discussion and brainstorming needed to identify solutions.

The summit started with each person sharing their goals and expectations for the onsite. It was recognized that there were common themes among them, with a clear one being to identify actionable solutions. During the first two days, a range of topics was discussed in small groups and then reviewed with the entire group. The third day was spent focusing on the identified needs and turning them into user stories. At the end of the three-day summit, the group identified 22 needs and refined 16 user stories. And the end of the summit, no one indicated that their goals were not achieved.

The next step is for the PTF to review the TMRs that resulted from the summit and identify which can be funded in the short term and which will go onto the ballot for future enhancements.

There were 19 representatives from 13 states and 6 representatives from AASHTO and the PTF. This level of participation illustrates the dedication of the user community to the AASHTOWare Project suite and the collaborative process this software benefits from.

From the PTF, thank you to all of the participants for taking time out of your busy schedules to help improve this important software.

By
Lisa Durbin, Engineering Operations Manager, Montana DOT