Project: Moped v1.0

[amenity]

Moped 1.0 is the inaugural release of Moped, our shared platform for Austin Transportation and partners to manage the City of Austin's complete portfolio of mobility infrastructure projects.

Background

The City of Austin has a diverse portfolio of mobility infrastructure projects. These are currently tracked in various platforms — from simple spreadsheets administered by a single workgroup to bespoke enterprise software that tracks capital-funded projects. Without a centralized system of record, cross-workgroup coordination is challenging, analysis and reporting capabilities are limited, and resources are not used with maximum efficiency.

Scope

This inaugural Moped release will provide a shared platform for Austin Transportation and partners to manage the City of Austin's complete portfolio of mobility infrastructure projects.

Moped 1.0 will include all the features and infrastructure needed to support an organization-wide transition to a single application to manage their projects. As a result, core project data and we will publish a rich, high-quality dataset to leverage in public-facing viewers, BI platforms, and more.

The following capabilities, outside our current scope of work, will be considered for future Moped releases or constitute independent products in the Moped ecosystem:

• Integrate mobility-related project data from partner organizations like CapMetro, TXDOT, and others who own and manage mobility-related projects in Austin.
• Establishing an authoritative geography for department-wide use.
• Creating a GIS tool with capabilities beyond the basic feature editing/creation that ArcGIS does now. (Users must currently define features by drawing them freehand, but a future tool would allow users to select individual points, lines, and features from the authoritative geography and tie them to a project.)
• Building a public-facing mobility project explorer.

Outcomes and Deliverables

Desired outcomes	What success looks like	Deliverables
The City of Austin tracks its complete mobility project portfolio and mobility activities of partner entities on a shared platform.	• Interdepartmental use of the same tool • Ability to tell the full story of mobility activities in Central Texas • Platform tailored to mobility planning, project/program development, and asset tracking	• Enterprise relational georeferenced database • Published live mobility projects lists and maps
Systems are integrated so that data flows between them rather than being replicated.	• Data entered once • Automation keeps data sets up to date in multiple systems (e.g. upon project completion or pulling real-time financials) • Consistent information across channels and systems — from public reports to eCapris	• Standardized naming conventions and data type • Integration with eCapris (capital projects), budget, asset inventories, and partner entity project databases
Data is available to inform decision-making for mobility planning, project management, and business process improvement.	• Accurate live data is available and well-structured for business intelligence, analysis (mobility, equity, etc.), reporting, and mapping • Flexible data framework as needs evolve	• User roles, permissions, and structures that support appropriate levels of access and consumption for reliable security, stability, maintenance, QAQC, and data retention.
Platform to facilitate effective and efficient project and program management	• Workflows and structures to support coordination across teams for projects • Flexible cost estimation tools in a centralized platform for consistency and quality • Tracking of funding sources not yet in our financial system (developer contribution or by partners)	• Tracking and workflows to support reviews, agreements, work orders, data collection requests, date tracking, update alerts

Roadmap

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This Github issue represents a project of Austin Transportation's Data & Technology Services team. Project status is documented regularly in the comments below.

[amenity]

Status update: We completed discovery research focused on Active Transportation's Interim Project Database and high-level technical strategies. Our project kickoff with MPD stakeholders helped us develop our understanding of user needs and organizational vision. We will soon bring in an external consultant to continue requirements gathering and design the MPD data architecture.

To stay involved and receive regular updates on MPD, please fill out this one-minute stakeholder survey.

[amenity]

Status update Procurement has been completed and JD, @zappfyllc, is scheduled to begin our engagement on 10/7/19. He'll be working remotely, half-time, and will begin with a research phase. This includes:

• Data architecture research and design
  • Research data currently being tracked by ATD workgroups (typically in spreadsheets 😉) outside of the Access DB
  • Research data structure and storage in eCapris
  • Deliverable: Recommended MPD data architecture design
• Knack UX/UI requirements elicitation
  • Research tracking, analysis, and reporting activities by ATD workgroups
  • Deliverable: Documentation of MPD user stories

[amenity]

Status update We are currently interviewing users from various workgroups to learn about their project tracking workflows and data. So far we have worked with:

• Arterial Management
• Transportation Engineering
• Office of the Director and Systems Development — focused on funding
• Vision Zero
• Signs, Markings, and Banners
• Public Works - general

Up next we've got:

• Systems Development
• Transit Enhancement
• Public Works - Urban Trails

We'll also be learning more about eCapris, Capital Projects Explorer, and the Capital Improvement Projects GIS feature class. During our first Sprint Review in mid-November, we'll present our research findings and discuss next steps with stakeholders.

[amenity]

Status update We presented findings from our user interviews with stakeholders during our first Sprint Review:

• Slide deck
• Video recording

After wrapping up interviews, we'll be synthesizing those to connect with the success criteria identified during our discovery period and building requirements into the feature roadmap. With this in hand we'll be able to plan and resource our upcoming implementation phase.

[zappfyllc]

ATD MPD Learnings documentation (success criteria vs. takeaways from user interviews): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jtd81HmzCUAAigBK8ZaIAfkuzrgaHObJ/view?usp=sharing

[amenity]

Status update User interviews will be completed after upcoming meetings with Urban Trails and Active Transportation. The rest of this month will be focused on researching relevant applications and datasets — namely eCapris and CIP, and designing the entity relationship diagram.

[amenity]

Status update So far this year we have:

• Updated our MPD Data Entity Analysis after reviewing ATD's workgroup-specific Knack applications.
• Learned about the Capital Improvements Projects feature class and the process ATD uses to manage the data we maintain there.
• Discussed the MPD technical stack and data sources with the Data & Technology Services Dev Team. 
• Updated our MPD System Context diagram for data flows between the Mobility Project Database and related applications and datasets.
• Drafted an analysis of the Interim Project Database to supplement the MPD Data Entity Analysis so that we can design a comprehensive MPD Entity Relationship Diagram.

Up next, we will:

• Complete the initial MPD Entity Relationship Diagram that will serve as a guide for the database architecture. 
• Resume work on the MPD Features Map. 
• Continue discussions with the DTS Dev Team on implementation.
• Perform exploratory research on various aspects of implementation such as migrating data out of Access and user interface frameworks for the Mobility Project Editor.

[amenity]

Status update @zappfyllc produced an initial draft of an Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD) to define the objects and relationships captured in the Mobility Project Database. We will be refining the model based on discussions with Nathan W., ATSD, who built and manages the Interim Project Database.

The ERD was also the basis of initial coordination with our Dev team. We will move forward with a graph-based architecture and utilize GraphQL to access test data as we begin building out the Mobility Project Editor user interface.

We plan to finalize the ERD over the next sprint and begin planning for implementation in the following sprint.

[amenity]

Sprint Review 4/18:

• Slide deck
• Video recording (46 minutes)

[amenity]

Status Update

• Having aligned on a graph-based architecture with the DTS Dev Team, JD has worked closely with Nathan Wilkes to refine the Moped data model.

• Sergio has proposed an approach to the Moped technical architecture. 

• We are evaluating frontend frameworks for the Moped staff interface including Core UI (our choice for the Vision Zero Editor), Metronic, and Material UI. 

• Amenity and JD will be returning to work on the. MPD feature requirements, and compiling an inventory of UI components to focus the frontend framework evaluation.

Look at implementing lightweight project tracking in AMD Data Tracker that will facilitate an initial integration between that application and Moped

[amenity]

5/28 Sprint Review deck

[amenity]

Status Update Over the past month, we've held a series of work sessions to refine the Feature Map and other functional requirements. Together with the ERD, this tees us up to hit the ground running on implementation once the DTS Dev Team joins us in mid-July. Jace has joined the core team as a Product Manager. A projected timeline is available here.

[amenity]

Status Update Instead of building project tracking functionality into AMD Data Tracker and the Signs and Markings Knack Apps, we decided to build the first version of Moped specifically around this functionality. In the case of AMD, this will mean waiting a bit longer than anticipated for a solution, however we feel that this is the most efficient way to deliver the functionality to additional users. And instead of doing usability testing, onboarding, and refinement in the Knack app only to then transition to Moped. The past few weeks, Moped work has focused on:

• Building out the data model in Hasura
• Aligning on the anticipated scope for a Moped Minimum Viable Product

[amenity]

Statue Update Having wrapped their major work on the Vision Zero Crash Data System, the DTS Dev Team has been able to spend more time on Moped implementation. Beginning this sprint, it will become the major focus of their work. They began by setting up the technical infrastructure to deploy code and the database system to store and query Moped data.    

• Setting up DNS/domain name

• Constructing devops pipeline for continuous integration

• Database implementation and data model refinement

• Working with form engine (React Hook form) and UI framework (Material UI) to build the front end of Alpha features

• Authentication (Cognito)

• Wireframes for Alpha features

• Project geometry workflow and data model

• Information architecture and user flow

[amenity]

A few updates:

• We are building out our Alpha project definition and project staffing features.
• We are also defining some basic Moped user interface styles such as colors and font size.
• We continue to discuss project mapping. There are numerous approaches we could take to collecting this critical project location data, each with implications for analysis, data quality standards, and usability.
• We had very productive discussion with Nathan and Dylan about where their work with the Interim Mobilty Project Database Viewer and implications for Moped data migration.

[amenity]

With our Moped's technical infrastructure and database in place, the team set to implementing a robust authentication system and configured Alpha roles and core user management functionality. 

We built out the first two steps of the project creation workflow; project definition, and team assignment using Material UI. We revisited our choice to use the MatX framework to expedite building the fundamental application interface components such as navigation and account administration. Instead, we are moving forward with a library that is smaller and less opinionated, Devias. 

We will hold two work sessions with (future) Moped users --- one on project mapping and one on user roles --- in the coming weeks to guide our approach to these critical aspects of the application. 

Along with roles and mapping we are looking at tracking project phases and milestones and anticipate that we will be ready to start testing by the end of this month.

[amenity]

Status update 

• The robust technical infrastructure we invested in early on is paying off already; able to develop, test, and iterate quickly

• SSO implementation is complete so that users can log in with City of Austin credentials

• User roles and account management is complete

• Project Definition and Project Staffing is complete

• So far we have conducted two work sessions with users --- Project Roles, Phases and Milestones

• Tomorrow we will work with users on project mapping; Geo and Dev teams have been doing preliminary prototyping and research so that we understand the technical constraints  

• Anticipate demoing for users at the end of the month and bringing users in for testing at the beginning of January

[amenity]

Status Update Project Comments and Project Phases and nearing completion and we’re now focused on mapping project locations, tracking all edits to a project, and eCapris integration.

[amenity]

Status update Our v0.2 release marks the opening of Moped to users. We will begin structured usability testing this sprint. Next we will open the app to a pilot group for self-guided testing and collect feedback.

Feature roadmap:

[amenity]

Having completed a substantial number of our Moped 1.0 features, we are currently working on Project Components. This functionality will allow users to map and track work on specific assets such as traffic signals and will set the groundwork for our Data Tracker integration.  

We've begun usability testing (thanks Renée!) and getting excellent user feedback. Rather than hold up broader access to the app while performing these in-depth sessions, we will be opening the app to any interested stakeholders tomorrow. 

JD left the project the week, so we are adjusting the project timeline to reflect that new resource limitation. See roadmap for upcoming work.

[amenity]

[amenity]

Roadmap

[amenity]

[amenity]

Our latest release, Moped 0.8.0 Grey Fox Trail focuses on global design improvements and substantial refinements to the mapping interface based on findings from our usability testing.

Current areas of focus:

• Project Funding — a simple, flexible way to handle project funding outside of eCAPRIS
• The implementation of basic project tracking functionality in Data Tracker, teeing up the Knack app for integration with Moped
• Subprojects

[amenity]

Moped 1.0 scope has been significantly tightened and is now limited to the must-have features Arterial Management requires for signal project management. This will expedite delivery of our first release, and by rolling out the application to a subset of users we can provide focused onboarding and support.

While addressing any bugs and usability issues that surfaced during our 1.0 rollout, we'll continue to build out the Moped 2.0 feature set, working closely. with stakeholders to ensure it is capable of handling all functionality.

Our latest release, Moped 0.10.0 Inca Dove Drive, adds several new features and enhancements:

• The ability to select a signal asset when editing project components | demo
• Project "Status update" | demo
• A complete update of Phases and Milestone terminology based on user feedback.

We have also released a Mobility Project Viewer proof of concept in ArcGIS online and started to build out the pipeline to keep the project data it displays fresh.

[amenity]

The team did outstanding work to get the Moped 1.0 release out on schedule, despite the winter storm, and our AMD stakeholders were with us the whole way, providing invaluable feedback.

As of this release, Arterial Management is using Moped to manage signal projects. We imported over 150 existing projects from Data Tracker and are working with AMD to onboard their team to the platform and refine functionality as needed.

In March, we’ll turn our attention to Moped 2.0 features. These include an ArcGIS Online viewer for Moped projects, enhancements to project mapping, and eCAPRIS integration. We will continue to do biweekly sprint reviews with the Moped User Group to align on requirements, assess progress, and prioritize efforts.

Once the group has determined that Moped 2.0 meets everyone’s must-have needs, we will migrate projects from the Interim Mobility Project (Access) Database and onboard users from Active Transportation, Project Delivery, and Transportation Engineering.

[amenity]

Arterial Management has been using Moped for project management since February. Two more divisions, Project Delivery and Transportation Engineering, are in the process of onboarding staff and adding projects to the system. Meanwhile, we are extending the Moped data model, refining the user interface, and building a consolidated map view of projects. We plan to transition Active Transportation to Moped and migrate their extensive existing project data to the platform this fall.

[amenity]

We are going to start doing biweekly releases to ensure users get features faster. The next release, v1.7, includes

• Ability to select funding sources from eCapris
• Ability to edit phases from dashboard view
• Add roundabout map component type

We’re planning to release every other week on Thursday afternoons. This may result in brief intermittent downtime.

Our biweekly meetings with PDD and TED are productive. It appears that we’ll need to do some refactoring of our phases and milestones. We’re also speaking with PDD and ATSD this week to ensure we’re aligned on the intended outcomes and timeline for PDD & TED onboarding.

[johnclary]

We committed to releasing new Moped features every two weeks, and we've stuck to that. Moped v1.8 shipped on 9/14. Our next release is schedule for 9/28.

Most recently, we've added the ability to use "tags" to group related projects together. This feature was expedited to support the Mobility Annual Plan (MAP) report. We've also implemented a number of enhancements to our project timeline tracking to support the needs of Traffic Engineering and Project Delivery. The Project Delivery Division is on track to begin using Moped in production upon the release of v1.9 on 9/28, at which time we will shift our focus to onboarding the Active Transportation and Street Design Division.

[johnclary]

We have now onboard the Project Deliver and Transportation Engineering workgroups into Moped. With that, we're closing out the v1.0 project as we set our sights on Moped v2.0.