Transportation Management Center Concepts of Operations

Example OrganizationDOT District EngineerDOT District Operations Mgr.TMC ManagerOperations SupervisorLead OperatorSenior OperatorOperatorTraineeAccessibilityIn any situation where supervisory intervention is required, easy access to thedecision maker is essential. Most TMCs place the shift supervisor’s office in oradjacent to the control room, but typically in a separate office (providing soundisolation and privacy for handling personnel issues). Supervisors in essentially allTMCs surveyed carried pagers and/or cellular telephones whenever offsite orelsewhere in the building complex.Some systems rely on a lead, experienced operator outside of prime shifts, withsupervisory access from home. In these cases, often the supervisor has thecapability to dial into the computer system (normally without video access dueto communication bandwidth requirements) so that he/she can view thesituation comprehensively before providing direction.Other supervisory officials, such as the maintenance supervisor, may be similarlyaccessible. This is particularly important in work situations where requiredservices are performed by personnel working under a collective bargainingagreement, whose efforts must be initiated by a member of TMC management.4-32Inquiries or Interest from AboveParticularly in difficult situations, the TMC is likely to receive inquiries fromhigher levels of agency management, or from other governmental officials. Theconcept of operations should provide direction as to how these inquiries are tobe handled, as the impressions made upon such senior decision-makers canhave a major impact upon their impressions of the effectiveness and importanceof the TMC. In such situations, the balance between responsiveness andauthority is delicate, as is the perspective from which the information ispresented (details critical to the operator may be of little interest to seniormanagement).