ACB Guidebook • Chapter 5
5. Situation-Based Guidance
This chapter provides quick guides for potential situations faced by the DOT in coming years that help to conceptualize and plan around change forces that will affect the agency’s operation and needed capabilities.
Situation-Based Guidance Introduction

The situation-based perspective provides a structured approach to thinking through specific situations with the aim of understanding and enhancing capabilities needed to address change forces.

Why does understanding situations provide a critical perspective to understanding capability-building?

Situations represent a set of potential scenarios affecting state DOT leadership and practitioners. These situations are meant to be specific enough to provide practical, implementable guidance, but flexible enough to accommodate a broad set of circumstances.

How are capabilities incorporated?

One benefit of examining the impact of capabilities through the lens of situations is in providing a structured approach to thinking through multiple facets of a scenario. Each of the two-page situation-based guidance stories includes a common set of elements:
• Context for the how the situation may arise,
• Description of the change forces precipitating the situation,
• Essential capabilities required to respond to the situation,
• Strategies for adapting to the change force described in the situation,
• Resources that can be used to implement the strategies
The guidebook reflects a sample of current situations of interest to state transportation agencies. It will be expanded over time in the online guidance platform as new challenges, needs, strategies and resources emerge.

What situations are included in the guidance?

The following situation-based guidance stories represent a curated set of critical topics facing State DOTs at the time of publication. Click a box below for a brief introduction to a situation, and follow the links provided for more information.

Context
Revenues are declining, and the State DOT is challenged to keep up with program delivery in the face of stagnant and reduced budgets. Federal transportation fund sources are no longer sufficient to sustain the Highway Trust Fund and state funds are competing with other Legislative priorities. The organization needs to adapt in the face of uncertain future funds.
To read more about this situation, and the Change Forces and Capabilities associated with it, click here.
Context
The state DOT is faced with more frequent flooding events. Environmental emergencies like flooding pose a threat to the public, DOT staff and transportation infrastructure and may result in detours, congestion and closures. They have economic impacts and are difficult to address programmatically because they occur without much warning, although some locations are starting to experience recurring flooding events. In addition, they require coordination among multiple organizations and agencies.
To read more about this situation, and the Change Forces and Capabilities associated with it, click here.
Context
Stakeholder needs for seamless transportation solutions, and expanding DOT objectives that incorporate societal goals for regional goals and transportation- and non-transportation goals require new partnerships. The organization needs to adapt to develop a common understanding of priorities, to strengthen collaboration, improve data and information and enhance communication and reporting mechanisms. We have additional needs to collaborate with our local partners in ways we have not done in the past.
To read more about this situation, and the Change Forces and Capabilities associated with it, click here.
Context
The agency is faced with several emerging opportunities and challenges related to our evolving workforce. Baby boomers are retiring. Current staff have a gap between their current skills and those that will be needed for the future. We are competing with the private sector for workers with specialized and emerging skillsets. Workers that are filling positions vacated by tenured employees may have the technical skills required, but lack the institutional knowledge and documentation to seamlessly transition into the agency and perform their job responsibilities.
To read more about this situation, and the Change Forces and Capabilities associated with it, click here.
Context
The agency has a longstanding practice of collecting and using data to report on our results. We have been using some of the data we collect to analyze our performance, especially for pavements and bridges. We need additional data to meet legislative requirements and ensure we are making wise investment decisions. Our current system limitations do not always provide adequate data validity and reliability, which makes it difficult to perform meaningful analysis and reporting. We want to determine what new data sources might be available to meet our needs in a cost-effective and efficient way. We also want to make sure that we minimize risk to the agency of using any external data sources. We want to leverage additional data science techniques enhance our ability to make investment decisions. Our long-term goal is to use leading performance measures and predictive analytics to become more adaptive in our programming and funding strategies to maximize our return on investment. We also want to put data in the hands of our staff, so they can have access across our IT systems to data they need to perform analyses and make operational decisions.
To read more about this situation, and the Change Forces and Capabilities associated with it, click here.
Context
The agency has taken a “wait and see” attitude with respect to connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs), but has been actively monitoring activities at peer agencies to pilot connected vehicle technologies and formulate proactive strategies for accommodating autonomous vehicles. We need to create a plan for what our agency should be doing to implement and support these transformational technologies. We need to better understand the implications for planning, design, maintenance and operations. We also need to understand risks to be mitigated – related to cybersecurity, revenue streams, and data privacy.
To read more about this situation, and the Change Forces and Capabilities associated with it, click here.
Context
The state DOT is faced with an impending overhaul of its primary computer systems. There are several critical reasons for this change, including: requirements from customers for better security and improved customer service; the need to retire legacy systems that are an increasing level of risk to the state DOT every year; and the need for an integrated system for reporting, planning and programming.
To read more about this situation, and the Change Forces and Capabilities associated with it, click here.
X