Process Change / Michigan DOT
When introducing a Maintenance Rating System, Michigan DOT (MDOT) started the change management process early in the project. Agency leadership was consistent and passionate throughout the project. The process was developed with involvement from individuals within each Region, including people in leadership as well as those on maintenance delivery teams. These discussions identified opportunities for consistency and enabled development of a system that represented actual performance and decision making.
The Maintenance Rating System was piloted within one Region that was most proactively seeking the information that the system provided. This enabled any kinks to be ironed out in the system and also developed individuals within MDOT who could train their peers in the system, results, analysis and opportunities for decision making. It also provided data that enabled the Regions to learn from the results, make a change in investment and improve the maintenance level of service delivered. The rating system was named the “Michigan Maintenance Rating System (MiMRS).”
During implementation MDOT identified a specific role for coordinating and driving the system, and identified individuals within each Region that had shown interest in the system and competency in analytical assessment to be part of a user group to share knowledge and disseminate information. MDOT also shared the results and news stories internally to enable peer comparison and drive consistency. Leadership identified specific funding for projects developed based on the maintenance rating system results.
This process change was part of a broader MDOT approach to Performance Based Maintenance that included implementing a new inventory and maintenance management system. Performance Based Maintenance will enable MDOT to better understand their assets, the cost of maintenance and the cost to make improvements to asset functionality. The goal of Performance Based Maintenance at MDOT is to achieve a needs-based budgeting approach to non-winter maintenance and enable better decisions by supervisors and management.
Read more in the chapter: 3.3.2 Understanding the Organization