24 EXOR
COMPATIBILITY BETWEEN
DISPARATE DATA SOURCES
RUBY BRADLEY,
KANSAS DEPARTMENT
OF TRANSPORTATION
TECHNOLOGY HAS EVOLVED
AND SO HAVE KDOT'S
OPERATIONAL REQUIREMENTS.
USING EXOR SOFTWARE
HAS ENABLED US TO SHARE
BUSINESS INFORMATION
ACROSS THE WHOLE
ORGANIZATION AND INTEGRATE
OUR HIGHWAY, BRIDGE, AND
RAIL CROSSING DATA IN A WAY
THAT WASN'T POSSIBLE BEFORE.
WE HAD CREATED SILOS OF
ASSET DATA FOR SEPARATE
BUSINESS PURPOSES. OVER
TIME IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE
TO LOCATE THOSE ASSETS
ACCURATELY DUE TO HIGHWAY
NETWORK CHANGES. WITH
EXOR WE NOW HAVE A CENTRAL
AGENCY REPOSITORY THAT
MAINTAINS FEDERAL REPORTING
DATA AND HELPS MANAGE
LOCATION INFORMATION FOR
OTHER KDOT SYSTEMS. IT ALSO
INTERFACES WITH OTHER DATA
REPOSITORIES ALLOWING US
TO ELIMINATE REDUNDANCIES
AND PROVIDE ADDITIONAL
VALUE TO THOSE SYSTEMS
BY PROVIDING UP TO DATE
INFORMATION WITH NO
ADDITIONAL MAINTENANCE.
ONE OF THE FIRST INTEGRATION
PROJECTS WE COMPLETED
WAS TO SYNCRONIZE DATA
HELD IN A THIRD PARTY
SOFTWARE PLATFORM FOR
BRIDGE MANAGEMENT, HELD
WITHIN THE PLANNING GROUP
TO CREATE THE NATIONAL
BRIDGE INVENTORY SUBMITTAL
FOR THE FEDERAL HIGHWAY
ADMINISTRATION. WE ALSO
NEEDED THE SAME DATA
TO BE VIEWED IN THE EXOR
ENVIRONMENT.
NOW, NOT ONLY DO THESE
DEPARTMENTS SHARE DATA,
BUT THE DATA IS SHARED
WITH OTHERS THROUGH
INTEGRATION WITH OUR EXOR
SYSTEM. WE'RE CONFIDENT
THAT INFORMATION RETRIEVED
FROM THOSE SOURCES
IS ACCURATE AND QUALITY
IS MAINTAINED NOT ONLY
BY THE GROUPS WORKING
SEAMLESSLY TOGETHER BUT
DUE TO THE VISIBILITY OF THE
DATA ACROSS THE AGENCY.
EXOR IS NOW THE CENTRAL
HUB OF OUR ASSET
MANAGEMENT STRATEGY,
PROVIDING ACCURATE ASSET
DATA TO ANYONE WHO NEEDS
IT AND MAINTAINING THE
OFFICIAL STATE SYSTEM
NETWORK. WE NOW MAINTAIN
OUR NETWORK AND ASSET
DATA USING A SPATIAL VIEW
OR MAP. THIS HAS LEAD TO
EFFICIENCIES IN DATA QUALITY,
PRODUCTION OF DATA TO
SUPPORT SPECIAL STUDIES
AND A PLATFORM TO SUPPORT
OUR BUSINESS DECISIONS.
WE'VE BEEN ABLE TO CREATE
A NEW DECISION SUPPORT
SYSTEM THAT PROVIDES
MENU AND SECURITY FOR A
PROGRAM WHICH HELPS US
PRIORITIZE PROJECTS. WE'RE
ABLE TO ELECTRONICALLY
RANK OUR HIGHWAYS
SEGMENTS BASED ON ASSET
INFORMATION HELD IN EXOR.
THE PROGRAM SELECTION
IS ALSO IMPROVED BY
THE INFORMATION BEING
SPATIALLY ENABLED.
DECISIONS CAN BE MADE
AND JUSTIFIED EASILY WHICH
LEADS TO ALLOCATION OF
OUR FUNDING BUDGETS IN
THE MOST COST-EFFECTIVE
WAY. WE INCREASED THE
RETURN ON OUR INVESTMENT
IN EXOR SOFTWARE BY
USING THE APPLICATION
TECHNOLOGY RATHER THAN
BUILDING ANOTHER STAND
ALONE SYSTEM.
EXOR HAS UNLOCKED THE
DATA IN OUR LEGACY SYSTEMS
AND MADE IT BOTH ACCESSIBLE
AND UPDATABLE THROUGH
ONE, SPATIALLY-ENABLED
VIEWPOINT. THEIR FLEXIBLE
SOFTWARE HAS ALLOWED
US TO EVOLVE WITH KDOT'S
CHANGING NEEDS.
EXOR 25
C
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The brave new world of engineering is exciting but
it is entirely dependent on the flexibility of the asset
management system that underpins it. Try to shoe-
horn new thinking and new ways of working into a
regime that is awkward, set in stone or disorganized
and you will quickly become frustrated by what you
can't do. The fact is, in order for engineers to make
management decisions they need to be able to see
data displayed with real-world, in-the-trench accuracy.
There's no point buying into the argument about the
pragmatic and sensible use of budget if you have
to strip out your hardware and software to take
advantage of it. And the benefits of a radical, brilliant
new system decline sharply if the software that runs
on it is choosy about the applications it works with.
Risk is inherent when you choose to make change;
each of your departments will want to preserve their
current working practices and functional systems.
Other systems simply can't cope; our clever Multiple
Linear Referencing solutions translate between
applications for you, so you can continue to work the
way you always have. In our world it's simply called
dynamic data transformation.
Right from the start at Exor we have built our
software wearing a hard hat. It is entirely because
we are engineers at heart and employ so many
ex-engineers that we have developed ways of
bringing together data in a way that makes sense
to an engineer.
This mindset was the trigger for our developing
our information dashboard, with its customizable
mini viewpoints, or pods, which allow you to focus
your attention on one sector of the data at a time.
So you can see at a glance what is happening.
It is also the reason Multiple Linear Referencing
exists. And it's precisely because we understand
that engineering has to work within budget
constraints that we have designed a system that
lets the finance department see what it needs
to know. Real numbers in real-time, simply and
without explanation. So everybody gets it.
All this impressive and useful functionality is available
without the need to throw away your existing
investment in systems or having to remove existing
applications that your users are happy with. By using
open standards technology and providing modular
solutions you can take a phased and low risk
approach to achieving an Infrastructure and Asset
Management system that meets your needs.
You can use your existing business applications
although we'll happily supply them. You can use
GIS if you prefer or use our mapping technology.
And you don't need to rip out PCs or change your
IT infrastructure.
You don't even need to buy our software. You can
lease it. Or even use it over the web as a service.
And, because everything we do runs on Oracle's
open standard technology, the most reliable
and robust there is, you have no need to worry
that adopting this new way of working will leave
you vulnerable.
Our system allows
you to continue doing
nothing differently.