Purpose
The ROWM Program is overseen by a Program Management Office that provides program leadership, controls, shared resources, consistent change management practices, and comprehensive benefit measurements.

Objectives:

• Increase the likelihood of successful project outcomes
• Provide leadership and direction for all projects so that overall ROWM goals are met
• Provide shared resources for continuity of controls and integrated solutions
• Provide support for pro-active scope, schedule and budget adherence

• Implemented credit card processing: Allows customers to pay for over-the-counter permits at the same location where the permit is issued (Jul 2003)
• Implemented a new fee ordinance with uniform fee application: Makes the fee structure simpler to enforce and explain (Jan 2004)
• Implemented a new collaborative customer-coaching model to reduce mobility impacts and associated customer costs: Actively engages customers in the process of reducing permit costs by minimizing the use of and impact to the City's rights-of-way (Jan 2004)
• Published newly formatted Client Assistance Memos and newly organized content for the Street Use web site (Jan 2006)
• Launched the newly aligned DPD/SDOT processes (Sep 2006)

Purpose:
To redesign the Street Use permitting business processes to increase efficiency, cost effectiveness, and quality of information and implement these redesigned Street Use business processes in the Hansen permitting application.

Objectives:

• Improve the quality, efficiency and cost-effectiveness of Street Use permitting services by revising business processes and policies and implementing supporting systems
• Enable integrated management of the rights-of-way by putting a foundation in place for future
• Right-of-Way Management projects with standardized business processes and systems
• Assist with balancing competing needs in the rights-of-way by providing the ability to quickly access information about permitting activities

• Consolidated 11 disparate permitting processes into 5 efficient, integrated permitting processes: Increases effectiveness of work management, improves customer service, simplifies planned system implementations, simplifies training, improves interdepartmental integration, and increases ability to adapt to changing business needs (Jan 2004)
• Implemented a new workload management tracking and leveling tool for Private Contracts: Tracks the number and complexity of street improvement permits and allows managers to balance workloads (Jan 2004)
• Implemented new bundled permits for contractors: Allows developers to create all needed permits at once thereby eliminating repeat trips to the permit counter during the course of the job (Mar 2004)
• Implemented new operational performance measurement tracking: Allows permitting activity and related revenues to be analyzed on a weekly basis (Jun 2004)
• Created new street and alley grade sheet tools: Allows developers to submit required information to Street Use without requiring a custom survey (Aug 2004)
• In collaboration with Seattle Public Utilities, created a new survey requirements process: A checklist of survey requirements that simplifies the screening of street improvements plans and leads to reduced survey costs for developers (Sep 2004)
• Documented the requirements for the new permitting system (Nov 2004)
• Completed testing of the new permitting system (Dec 2005)
• Launched the new permitting system (Jan 2006)
• Completed training for the new permitting system (April 2006)
• Completed all operational reports (Sep 2006)
• Launched the billing interface for the new permitting system (Sep 2006)

• This project is complete

• Provide a comprehensive resource for all procedures, standards and guidelines affecting physical changes in the public rights-of-way
• Clearly articulate design standards and guidelines and, where necessary, describe the process to achieve flexibility when practical
• Be consistent with city-wide regulatory documents such as the Seattle Municipal Code and City Standard Plans and Specifications, federal, state and regional regulatory requirements, and related city-wide plans
• Reflect the City's commitment to sustainability including ensuring consistency with the City's Comprehensive Plan, Environmental Management Program and Municipal Code
• Develop the Manual in an adaptable format that is user friendly, well illustrated, easy to update and reflects current information

• Developed 12 issue papers for the Right-of-Way Improvements Manual addressing complex inter-departmental topics that impact the contents of the ROW improvement manual (May 2004)
• Developed a website prototype to validate website navigation and design standards (Nov 2004)
• Launched a preliminary version of the ROW Improvement s Manual website on the City InWeb and to the External Stakeholders team (Feb 2005)
• Launched the final version of the ROW Improvements Manual website (Sep 2005)
• Signed the joint DPD/SDOT Director’s Rule adopting Chapters 3 and 4 of the new manual (Dec 2005)

• The project is complete, on schedule and under budget, as of December 2005.

• Improve the accuracy and timeliness of project information by delivering coordination data to agencies 50% sooner by publishing annual coordination plans
• Improve the efficiency and accuracy of data collection by collecting project information at source agencies, thus reducing the data collection period by 50%
• Improve the efficiency of the utility coordination process by redesigning the process to reduce overall process duration by 50%
• Improve efficiency of data collection by reducing review cycles from three to one
• Simplify the analysis of coordination opportunities by decreasing street identification time by 80% by automating the manual street lookup and decreasing time to identify coordination opportunities by 80%
• Complete a study of the downtown area to gain insights into how permit conditions can help manage mobility in the ROW

Planning Coordination & Analysis Tool (PACT) mapped view of planned utility and street projects for the City of Seattle

• Created a new utility coordination data collection tool: Eliminates redundant data entry by automating the data entry and validation of project information required to support utility coordination (Jan 2004)
• Redesigned a 10-month utility coordination process into a less than 5-month process: Reduces the duration of the collection and review cycle for utility coordination data and produces more timely and dependable information (Apr 2004)
• Created a pavement moratorium GIS map: Reduces non-compliant pavement cuts by providing up-to-date maps that display pavement moratorium information for use in planning projects to comply with the Three-Year Pavement Opening Moratorium (Sep 2004)
• Created project and opportunity maps: Reduces utility coordination administration costs by 50% by automating coordination identification (e.g., identify projects with plans to open the same street section). This, in turn, reduces the effort required to identify coordination groups (i.e., projects that are candidates for coordination) (Sep 2004)
• Created a project and coordination group map: Provides simplified and more timely coordination information by automating the display of groups of projects that are candidates for coordination (Oct 2004)
• Completed a Downtown Study to collect observations and requirements regarding permit conditioning, mobility management, and major project needs (Dec 2004)

• Identify which projects will be coordinated across the three departments in 2005
• Identify recommendations and next steps for creating a long-term CIP coordination process

• Collected and evaluated coordination opportunities for SE Seattle for the 2007-2010 timeframe (Apr 2005)
• Evaluated coordination opportunities for Seattle in the 2005-2007 timeframe (Jul 2005)
• Conducted a meeting, called the Right-of-Way Coordination Opportunity (RCO) workshop, to focus on identifying coordination opportunities for a specific geographic area (Nov 2005)
• Applied the lessons learn ed from this workshop to plans for ongoing 2006 meetings. City departments, public and private utilities, and others working in the rights-of-way will participate in monthly meetings to share plans for upcoming major work

• Increase customer convenience by enabling online permitting access
• Enable remote permitting options to eliminate customer travel to Seattle Municipal Tower
• Enable remote permitting for city departments
• Increase customer satisfaction by decreasing permit issuance time, increasing convenience and reducing cost
• Provide more convenient payment mechanisms for customers

• Kicked off the project (Oct 2005)
• Completed the Project Charter, detailing the project scope and overall budget (Nov 2005)
• Completed requirements for new Online Permitting system (Jan 2006)
• Completed Hansen and DynamicPORTAL design specification for the OLP system (Feb 2006)
• Completed web site content development for the OLP system (May 2006)
• Completed the new business procedures (July 2006)
• Completed testing of the OLP system (July 2006)
• Completed staff and customer training on the OLP system (Aug 2006)
• Implemented the OLP system (Aug 2006)

What's Coming?

• The project is complete, on schedule and under budget, as of August 2006.

• Provide mapped views of permitted rights-of-way work
• Support analysis related to work in the rights-of-way (e.g., haul routes, detour routes)
• Lay the foundation for the Right-of-Way Coordination Redesign project

• Initiated a preliminary assessment of available tools (Nov 2005)
• Kicked off the project (March 2006)
• Completed the Project Charter, detailing the project scope and overall budget (April 2006)
• Completed requirements (June 2006)
• Completed the GIS Design Specifications (Aug 2006)
• Completed development (Nov 2006) and testing (Jan 2007).
• Launched the new site (Feb 2007).

• This project is complete, ahead of schedule and under budget.

• Completed first set of Hansen related enhancements (Sep 2006), ahead of schedule
• Completed second set of Hansen related enhancements (Dec 2006)
• Completed third set of ROWM enhancements (Apr 2007)
• Completed fourth and fifth set of ROWM enhancements (May 2007)
• Completed sixth set of ROWM enhancements (July 2007)
• Completed seventh set of ROWM enhancements (Aug 2007)
• Completed eighth set of ROWM enhancements (Sep 2007)
• Completed ninth set of ROWM enhancements (Oct 2007)
• Completed tenth, eleventh, and twelfth set of ROWM enhancements (December 2007)

• The project is complete, on schedule and within budget, as of December 2007.
  
  

• Enable coordinated advanced planning of future rights-of-way work (including capital construction and possibly maintenance and service work)
• Proactively condition permits based on permitted work and future rights-of-way plans
• Simplify the timely access to mapped views of utility rights-of-way work
• Create a process for coordinating placement of utilities to reduce future space contention
• Expand the visibility of utility coordination crew work that requires utility pre-notification or coordination of resurfacing
• Enable proactive coordination of current work in the rights-of-way
• Create a comprehensive analysis of coordination opportunities for new construction, maintenance and service connections
• Make information about street and utility work available and interpretable by all who need to coordinate work in the rights-of-way

• Initiated project (Feb 2007).
• Complete Project Charter (Mar 2007)
• Complete requirements (Apr 2007)
• Completed the execution phase detailed plan (Jun 2007)
• Promoted Release 1 to production (Jul 2007)
• Completed design for Release 2 (Aug 2007)
• Promoted Release 2 to production (Oct 2007)
• Promoted Release 3 to production (Dec 2007)
• Launched ROW Maps in the City of Seattle Public Access Network (PAN) (Dec 2007)

What's Coming?

• The project is complete, on schedule and under budget, as of December 2007.

• Increase accuracy and timeliness of inspection results for customers
• Increase accuracy of site-specific information for inspectors, developers and utilities
• Reduce inspector travel time by reducing the need to return to the office
• Increase customer service by providing the convenience of on-site permit-related capabilities

• Initiated project (Apr 2007)
• Completed requirements (Jun 2007)
• Completed the execution phase detailed plan (Jun 2007)
• Completed data output and information flow specifications (Aug 2007)
• Completed new business procedures and development of training plan (Sept 2007)
• Completed installation of vehicle mounts. Deployed tablet PCs (Oct 2007)
• Implemented new business procedures and tools (Nov 2007)
  

What's Coming?

• The project is complete, on schedule and under budget, as of December 2007.

• Provide citizens and permit holders with web access to rights-of-way work information
• Provide answers to citizen inquiries about work in the rights-of-way (e.g.: access a GIS view that includes permitted work and emergencies; ROW-INFO or 684-ROAD)
• Provide information to facilitate notification of citizens about disruptions (e.g., information for reader signs, communications through C3, public radio, Seattle Department of Transportation web site)
• Respond to rights-of-way disruptions (e.g.: call on-site contact to open roadway; facilitate dispatch of a team to route traffic and relieve congestion)
• Work proactively with contractors to prepare for potential and resolve existing rights-of-way mobility issues
• Use information about rights-of-way work for decision making and problem tracking
• Provide a clear understanding of Street Use services to the public