Two problems, three business areas, one solution for Iowa DOT

With the purchase of a single business application, the Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) plans to cut costs and improve production in three business areas: employee safety, relationships with Iowa municipalities, and the construction and maintenance of state roads and highways.

Using Universal Systems' e.Power Change Management Edition software, the Iowa DOT will electronically publish material safety data sheets -- federally required important hazardous material policy information -- on its intranet, reducing distribution costs. The DOT will also publish and store engineering plans to the Web, helping it meet requirements for federal funding of projects.

The DOT will also use e.Power to electronically exchange primary road agreements with other government agencies. By using E-mail instead of snail mail to transfer, approve and revise documents defining road construction projects, the DOT will reduce contract iteration times to as little as two days.

The DOT will conduct several pilot projects to test e.Power's ability to refine internal business processes, before rolling out the system to the three business areas, with the possibility for expansion to several others.

By making information immediately available to DOT employees, "we intend to redirect our storage and archival costs, and improve the efficiency of our operations," according to Sara Flanagan, project manager for Iowa DOT's Electronic Records Management System. Within six months the DOT expects to see reduced lengthy processing times, productivity gains and full standards compliance