2007 Update
Please note that the text in red and surrounded by double asterisks(**) is under review and will be updated over the course of 2007 and early 2008.
Future of LTAP/TTAP
**The 2004 LTAP/TTAP Strategic Plan represents the first step in redefining and reshaping the business lifecycle of the Local/Tribal Technical Assistance Program (LTAP/TTAP). It articulates a powerful vision for a program future that is focused in the short term and sustainable over the long-term. The ideas found in this Plan frame the core issues that drive the broad community of program stakeholders, and this alignment will bring manifest benefits and dividends to the management and outlook of the program.**
**The LTAP/TTAP plays a critical role in advancing the national surface transportation system and is becoming a partner of choice for the transportation community. Individual Centers are already providing services that are having a positive impact on the national system. From a program perspective, however, many national stakeholder goals are shared with the LTAP/TTAP program but not aligned with its activities. This Plan includes information and insight from other transportation organizations as well as our view of the program future.**
Focus, Alignment and Accountability
**This update seeks to bring focus to the future of the LTAP/TTAP. It is vital that we consider how the LTAP/TTAP works and how we measure our successes to increase our value to the many program stakeholders – including FHWA, state departments of transportation, national associations and other local governments – that are interested in leveraging our abilities to better meet their goals. As a result, this Plan anticipates that the LTAP/TTAP can be the critical nexus between these various partners. To fulfill that role, the program must align its core competencies with those of the wider community to multiply the positive possibilities for both. To drive the emphasis closer to the operational level of the Centers while maintaining the national program perspective, this Plan defines four key areas that indicate both program functions and critical drivers for every LTAP/TTAP Center.**
**The LTAP/TTAP requires concentration and focus to determine goals, objectives and appropriate metrics. However, there is a great deal of flexibility in this Plan; each LTAP/TTAP Center will determine its own strategies that when taken collectively with the activities of other stakeholders will move the program forward and make a difference. In short, this 2004 Plan is complementary to the efforts of specific Centers, not supplementary. Nothing in this Plan precludes individual LTAP/TTAP Centers from doing the things their customers have come to expect.**
**This plan has adjusted the program to be more proactive; to achieve this, the LTAP/TTAP determined those training areas that it can "push" to meet the national as well as local goals of the transportation community. This alignment is flexible enough to meet the needs of both the overall program and local stakeholders. If the LTAP/TTAP is to continue to expand its ability to meet the national goals and challenges at the program level and remain relevant, it must insure that it is expending valuable resources on issues that "move the dials" for customers. Testing the vision of who the LTAP/TTAP are and what the LTAP/TTAP does is the vital step towards insuring that our impact is demonstrable and measurable. **
**The concept of accountability pervades the future strategic direction for the LTAP/TTAP. The entire process has been reengineered and realigned to recognize the value to all stakeholders in the system. This includes the Federal government, state and local governments, tribal governments, as well as others in the surface transportation community. It is vital that strategic planning activities constantly reassess who our customers are within any given function to insure value is being added and resources are appropriately managed. As stated above, potential changes to our strategic outlook are not intended to advocate a one-size-fits-all approach to the totality of the LTAP/TTAP; we seek to define, however, the overarching goals that LTAP/TTAP stakeholders do share and use the resulting concept to share information about best practices to improve the LTAP/TTAP programs. This Plan will bring more focus, alignment and accountability to the program.**
Building on Our Successes
**The preceding program strategic plan was developed in 1997. That effort was a valuable first opportunity for the LTAP/TTAP to work together as a team to consider a collective strategic outlook. This updated 2004 Plan is intended to build upon the core of the 1997 effort by clarifying program direction. It provides focus to the many Center activities, allowing individual Centers to more readily find their role and align the interests of the national program as a whole. The LTAP/TTAP Program is committed to thinking both critically about our niche and strategically about how to make improvements to crucial areas, and this Plan takes the next steps to further that effort.**
**Constructive feedback is vital to ensuring that the LTAP/TTAP moves strategically in a direction that will augment and improve the program and "move the ball downfield" in surface transportation. Strategic planning processes are always works-in-progress; as we continually assess and reassess how we do what we do, we will continually tweak our planning efforts to insure that the LTAP/TTAP is as effective as it can be. The continued participation of our stakeholders will be the critical driver to insuring that this "living document" flourishes.**
Understanding LTAP/TTAP
**Our program is driven by relationships. The essential driving force of the LTAP/TTAP is collaboration with our local, tribal, state and Federal partners. In some ways, the program functions as a pure partnership, looking to share the best solutions and transfer knowledge. In others, the LTAP/TTAP could be seen as a community leader through the advocacy for and implementation of the education and training process.**
**The LTAP/TTAP Centers are able to capitalize on their informal relationships with people at the local, regional and national levels. These relationships make it possible to efficiently transfer innovative technologies and best practices throughout the transportation community. This critical information-sharing function includes the key stakeholders among the various local, tribal, state and Federal transportation entities; the LTAP/TTAP can enable and empower them to provide critical services to the surface transportation system effectively and efficiently.**
**The strengths of the LTAP/TTAP ultimately draw from its ability and position as an agent for change among its community partners, and the vision and mission of the LTAP/TTAP program reflects the central overriding importance of collaboration and information sharing.**
Putting the Pieces Together
**The LTAP/TTAP is committed to channeling our efforts into a process that will allow us to maximize our ability to move the program in an intended direction. Determining a vision and mission for the national program is the essential step towards identifying those things we do to effect change and impact our partners and customers. Without them, we would be attempting to clarify the future of the program without a fundamental knowledge of our role and function; this would in turn increase the probability that changes would be ineffective or irrelevant. This understanding prompted consideration of focus areas and performance measures that can lead to further change within the program framework.**
**The driving concept of this Strategic Plan is to develop a general framework that guides and informs all of us about the LTAP/TTAP, not a specific "to-do list" that defines what the organization does or how it works. These programmatic issues should be addressed at the Center level; again, this effort is complementary to the separate plans of individual centers, not supplementary. We are defining the rationale for the LTAP/TTAP as a national program, not as 58 individual entities.**
LTAP/TTAP Vision and Mission Statements
Vision—We will improve the quality and safety of the surface transportation system through interactive relationships and information exchange. We will be driven by these relationships and known for our ability to enrich the knowledge base of our stakeholders.
Mission—To foster a safe, efficient, and environmentally sound surface transportation system by improving skills and increasing knowledge of the transportation workforce and decision makers.
LTAP/TTAP Focus Areas
This national Plan defines four key areas that indicate the current program functions and critical drivers of every LTAP/TTAP Center. The four focus areas are further divided into two general groups; the first three being focused primarily on external outcomes and processes, and the last a function of both the internal and external LTAP/TTAP organization. The three solely external drivers do not appear in any order of importance to either the LTAP/TTAP program or its strategic vision and mission; nor are they an attempt to sever the existing flexibility of the centers by instituting a new hierarchy.
| Focus Area | Focus in LTAP/TTAP |
|---|
| Safety | External |
| Workforce Development | External |
| Infrastructure Management | External |
| Organizational Excellence | Internal/External |
All focus areas are vital to our success and will assist the national program and the individual Centers in their collective attempts to "tell the LTAP/TTAP story." Furthermore, they will be discussed, observed and tested to determine if they capture the essence of what the program seeks to deliver.
Safety is a primary concern of every part of the surface transportation system, with focus from local, tribal, state and Federal government partners as well as the private and commercial sector.
The LTAP/TTAP Centers are located in academic institutions as well as State DOTs, linking us to both the pipeline into the transportation workforce as well as the white- and blue-collar workforce already in that pipeline. As educators and information sharers, the program is an important cog in the Workforce Development cycle; as the transportation sector struggles to attract, retain and retrain present and future workers, this promises to remain a relevant focus area for the foreseeable future.
Infrastructure Management gets at the heart of the local and tribal agency situation – developing strategies that maximize the performance of their infrastructure while minimizing any negative effects on financial and human resources.
Finally, Value Delivery is central to our program. The ability to efficiently transfer technology and information through courses and relationships to our partners and customers – whether they are local or tribal governments, state DOTs, or private concerns – is the primary measure of success and can lead to numerous general and distinct performance measures.
The focus areas are designed to be inclusive rather than exclusive. Across the program, individual LTAP/TTAP Centers are involved in efforts to improve surface transportation in their respective states and localities. Though any single thing an LTAP/TTAP Center does these may fall into any, some or all of the categories, at least one of these can help explain and define every LTAP/TTAP function. Still, the focus areas above are not a rigid set of silos into which every LTAP/TTAP task must be shunted; instead, these categories provide internal information about what and how value is provided to program customers. They also enlighten others of the value and importance of the LTAP/TTAP role in the surface transportation community.
Performance Measures
The work of this Strategic Plan is intended to create a relationship between the LTAP/TTAP strategy, LTAP/TTAP efforts, and LTAP/TTAP performance measures that enhances accountability throughout the program. Through continuous testing of processes and services – as well as specific mission-oriented goals – we expect to gain a fuller understanding of the impact of program actions and how to improve upon them.
In addition to making LTAP/TTAP accountable, the key drivers for determining performance measures are those core competencies that most critically impact the ability of the national program to be effective. The Plan takes an incremental, phased approach to the depth and breadth of proposed measures, the methods of measurement, and the resources the LTAP/TTAP can bring to bear to make it happen; as a living document, it is expected that the data captured will change as the Plan progresses.
The performance measures are defined in each of the four focus categories, and are reported to FHWA in the Program Assessment Report [PAR]. This report represents the overall output of Center efforts across their training, technology transfer and information exchange roles. The Plan also relies on an additional, qualitative assessment from LTAP/TTAP staff. In the daily work required to make the program a success, LTAP/TTAP professionals come into continuous informative contact with various groups and resources. The Center Assessment Report [CAR] captures valuable evidence of the health of the program to both assess the impact of the LTAP/TTAP as well as gather success stories to share throughout our community. The CAR also provides an opportunity for Center leadership to place the raw data of the PAR into context.
The performance elements in each focus area are listed below:
Safety—We will improve awareness and increase the implementation of best practices in safety through the following:
- Training: All LTAP/TTAP Centers will report the following metrics on training presented on safety-focused topics:
- The total number of highway safety and worker safety training sessions held
- The areas of emphasis for the work of the Center for Safety
- For one or more of the above, the outcomes that the agency identified as their primary benefit
- The total number of contact hours in highway safety and worker safety training sessions
- The total number of Local, Tribal, State, Federal and other participants in highway safety and worker safety training sessions
- The methods, results and samples of any Kirkpatrick level evaluations your Center is using in this focus area
- Newsletters and Other Regularly Published Resources: All LTAP/TTAP Centers include newsletters (either mail or electronic), articles, fact sheets, technical notes, etc. on safety-focus topics and will report by subject:
- Total newsletter circulation, including data on the circulation to Local, Tribal, State, Federal and other agencies
- The total number of newsletter articles on highway safety and worker safety
- The total number of published resources on highway safety and worker safety
- Additional Materials: All LTAP/TTAP Centers distribute videos/DVDs, software and other materials on safety-focused topics and will report by subject:
- The total number of resources distributed on highway safety and worker safety
Infrastructure Management—We will hasten the implementation of best practices in planning, design, construction, maintenance, management and operations of the surface transportation system through the following:
- Training: All LTAP/TTAP Centers present training on infrastructure-focused topics and will report by subject:
- The total number of infrastructure management training sessions held
- The total number of contact hours in infrastructure management training sessions
- The total number of Local, Tribal, State, Federal and other participants in infrastructure management training sessions
- The methods, results and samples of any Kirkpatrick level evaluations your Center is using in this focus area
- Newsletter and Other Regularly Published Resources: All LTAP/TTAP Centers include newsletters (either mail or electronic), articles, fact sheets, technical notes, etc. on infrastructure management topics and will report by subject:
- Total newsletter circulation, including data on the circulation to Local, Tribal, State, Federal and other agencies
- The total number of newsletter articles on infrastructure management
- The total number of published resources on infrastructure management
- Additional Materials: All LTAP/TTAP Centers distribute videos/DVDs, software and other materials on infrastructure management and will report by subject:
- The total number of resources distributed on infrastructure management
Workforce Development—We help our stakeholders attract, retain and retrain a knowledgeable and skilled transportation workforce through the following:
Continuous Improvement —We endeavor to deliver efficient services to our stakeholders through the effective management of our organizational resources, and we will effect continuous improvement by doing the following:
- Internal
- Each Center will report their total number of FTEs
- Each Center will seek to implement process or system improvements that impact Center operations
- Each Center will seek to improve the quality of course content and course delivery
- Each Center will also work to increase the percentage of local government agencies it services (can be measured by increased participation in training, publications, videos, hits on the LTAP web page, etc.) including number of repeat customers (agencies) in training only
- A qualitative assessment of the impact of these internal management efforts on the program that addresses the "state of the program", its overall efficiency, and the impact of these internal management efforts on the level of collaboration with LTAP/TTAP stakeholders
- External
- An estimate of total number of hours spent during the year by Center staff providing technical assistance in Safety and Infrastructure Management
- An assessment of the impact of the assistance on stakeholders, including information on the nature of the assistance given and results for customers (cost savings, reduction in fatal crashes, etc.)
- A qualitative assessment of the impact of internal management improvement efforts
- An assessment of the level of collaboration with national stakeholders in information distribution, joint training, articles in newsletters from organizations, number of LTAP/TTAP staff serving on external organization committees/boards, joint special programs, and articles written by LTAP/TTAP staff in other publications
Next Steps
The above performance measures indicate how the future of the program will be determined by the twin concepts of accountability and measurement. The entire LTAP/TTAP national process has been reengineered and realigned to recognize the value to all stakeholders in the system. Implicit in this approach is the requirement to constantly reassess who our customers are within any given function to insure value is being added and resources are appropriately managed.
The LTAP/TTAP is committed to reevaluating the elements of this Plan as our program processes mature. Importantly, improvements may come from both addition and subtraction; as LTAP/TTAP moves forward, it is equally likely that new performance measures may be devised as well as present ones discarded. There will be no "wrong answers" to the questions posed of LTAP/TTAP; the information we receive in all cases will inform and stimulate our understanding of what we do and ultimately lead to more focused investigation that gets at the heart of the value we create for our stakeholders.
**The above measures are part of the first phase of the performance review intended to carry LTAP/TTAP through at least the first full year of implementation. In later phases, this plan will seek to deepen understanding of how LTAP/TTAP customers perceive our value and effectiveness through a customer satisfaction survey that will address our performance. The second phase will include the creation and implementation of this survey. As we augment our knowledge of what is working, we will continue to reevaluate our strategic program outlook and use that information to test and retest the elements of this Strategic Plan. Obtaining data on how our partners and customers perceive the value we deliver is instrumental to future efforts to maintain and augment the LTAP/TTAP successes. In later phases we will also continue to reassess the performance of this Plan and introduce more focused evaluations in some areas.**
**Additionally, consistent with an incremental approach to change, the scope of this Plan includes the introduction of certain next-level assessment tools in coming years. In the next stage of aligning the program to the national plan [expected to be in place by the 2005 annual meeting] emphasis will be placed on collecting Kirkpatrick Level II evaluations of the services we provide via pre/post survey tools. Furthermore, the Strategic Planning Committee will be devising a customer-based report to assist Centers in obtaining and sharing core critical data regarding how our stakeholders rate the efficacy and utility of our program. Beyond 2005, we will examine whether deeper Kirkpatrick evaluations will be useful to LTAP/TTAP and how to implement such tools where necessary. This will include Level III Kirkpatrick evaluations, such as implementation of Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) and pavement management systems.**
Changes to our strategic outlook – whether now or in the future – are not intended to advocate a one-size-fits-all approach to the totality of the LTAP/TTAP; we have defined, however, the overarching goals that the LTAP/TTAP partners and customers share, and we will continue to share information about best practices to improve the LTAP/TTAP program. In completing this Plan, we affirm that Centers retain the flexibility to meet customer-defined needs while also creating and filling other perceived information and knowledge gaps derived from their unique position at the center of the local transportation information network.
