BE Magazine - Volume 4, Issue 3 - (Page 42)

CIVIL is a 10 percent reduction in highway allocations. The job of managing so many billboards in such a wide geographic area was made compliance with outdoor advertising guidelines, which can require one or more site visits and visual inspection to document that the advertised business is legitimate. Site visit notes were recorded on several paper forms, then transcribed into the system. Permits had to be renewed annually, relocated signs had to be repermitted, and lost permit tags had to be replaced. In the event of a corporate buyout, hundreds of permits had to be transferred one at a time. “Bentley came on site and sat down with us to look at how we did business to make sure that the workﬂow in the system matched what we did in the ﬁeld, as well as here in the ofﬁce,” Melvin explained. “The software developer asked questions that helped us identify a better way of doing things.” Coordinators had tremendous input to the process, since they did the time- and laborintensive physical site reviews. They also suggested new features that would be beneﬁcial, such as providing XY coordinates for largely manual workﬂow of the permitting process. The outdoor advertising ofﬁce staff, including three administrators in Columbia and one coordinator in each of When President Lyndon B. Johnson proposed the act in January 1965, he said he wanted to “make sure that the America we see from these major highways is a beautiful America.” all the more difﬁcult by SCDOT’s multisystem permitting process and the duplication of effort that it caused. Transitioning from the legacy systems to a new system only exacerbated the problem. “The department was working on developing an improved system in 2001,” said Keith Melvin, director of outdoor advertising for SCDOT. “But before going from the old system to the new one, the ofﬁce found itself putting data into both. Neither one did what we wanted it to do.” At the time, Bentley Professional Services was developing the Geo Transport ARPS system for the SCDOT Oversize/Overweight Permit ofﬁce to manage permits for vehicles and loads that exceed legal size and/or weight limits. It was a natural extension of this $1.1 million project to add capabilities for managing outdoor advertising permits, which would qualify for federal transportation enhancement funds. SCDOT retained Bentley to deliver the Outdoor Advertising System (ODAS) in early 2002. The goal was to bring the three permitting databases into one database that would allow for easy access to data, timely retrieval of information, and a Webbased interface with customers. “With Bentley, we could come up with one program that had the functionality of the existing programs, plus additional features,” Melvin said. Deﬁning workﬂows the seven district ofﬁces, managed applications for all the active permits, as well as 3,200 inactive permits and more than 1,400 vegetation maintenance permits (required to remove vegetation from signage sites to improve visibility). It was the coordinators’ job to balance the customers’ need to advertise against the OUTDOOR ADVERTISING INNOVATION The National Alliance of Highway Beautiﬁcation Agencies (NAHBA) recognized the South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT) Outdoor Advertising Ofﬁce for its leadership in solving the challenges associated with implementing the Highway Beautiﬁcation Act. In 2006, SCDOT received NAHBA awards for “Innovations in Outdoor Advertising” and “Streamlining and Integration in Outdoor Advertising.” SCDOT is one of 33 members of NAHBA that share an interest in the regulation of outdoor advertising across America. The features that put the SCDOT on the leading edge of permitting include: s Web-based access – The client-server application centralizes the data store. s Online permit application – Customers can submit and track applications through the SCDOT Web site. s Real-time digital images – Headquarters staff can review signs and resolve issues without making a ﬁeld trip. s Bulk permit transfer – Company buy-outs can trigger a batch transfer of permits. s E-commerce – By 2008, customers will be able to pay permitting fees online using a credit card. The ﬁrst challenge for Bentley’s business process analysts was to document the need to meet regulations and preserve the beauty of state highways. Each application, submitted on paper, was reviewed for mapping sign locations. Bentley ultimately identiﬁed ﬁve major processes that drive workﬂow: new permit applications, revised 42 BE MAGAZINE | Volume 4, Issue 3

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of BE Magazine - Volume 4, Issue 3

Contents Rising to the Challenge News BE Newsletter Highlights More ITS Sightings Racing Concrete Canoes Lights, Camera, Action! Making the Cut People’s Choice Awards 2007 Executive Keynotes Building Clear Vision of a Dream Concrete Results Reaching New Heights Building News From Bentley Golden KIWI Awards 2007 Civil A Coordination of National Highway Proportions Training Troops Beautifying Highways, One Sign at a Time Civil News From Bentley Geospatial Facility Facelift Planning for Uncertainty Geospatial News From Bentley MicroStation at the Heart of LiDAR Surveying Solutions Plant Making the Grade Data Deja Vu Data Clouds Provide Clear Visual of Underground Saving Precious-Metal Mining Time Plant News From Bentley Advertisers Index Special/Academic The Art of Visualization Training Is Key To Delivering State-of-the-Art Solutions Bridging the Information/Infrastructure Gap

BE Magazine - Volume 4, Issue 3

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