IT Modernization of Right-of-Way Management Technology

Challenge

A large state transportation agency engaged Guidehouse to support the modernization of their right-of-way management processes. The agency required an updated framework to manage the end-to-end identification, acquisition, and management of billions of dollars in real property to reduce the risk of delays and fraud to their multi-year construction project.

As the project evolved, the legacy system's simple database was no longer sufficient to support the organization, resulting in time-consuming and manual processes that could not be tracked, reported on, or managed. These issues ultimately contributed to unanticipated risks and delays to the project.

The client required a solution that would streamline their processes, automate workflows, and provide robust reporting in an extremely complex and large-scale project. They also wanted to leverage low-code solutions to allow for updates to tools as needed to ensure long-term scalability. An additional complexity was the client’s heavy reliance on third-party contractors who would need to fit within the new workflow and use the right-of-way management tool.

To mitigate risks and manage the complexity involved in this project, the agency needed a partner with significant experience delivering scalable, flexible, and low-code public sector solutions. Because of our long track record delivering successful government IT modernization projects, the agency engaged Guidehouse to streamline their land management processes and develop a configurable right-of-way management tool leveraging Salesforce.

Solutions

Creating a Strategy for Successful Right-of-Way Management

Guidehouse worked in close coordination with the client’s business units, executive leadership, contractors, and subject matter experts to identify and document requirements for a solution that would address the challenges the organization was facing.

These challenges included difficulties tracking parcels, disparate and siloed processes and departments, challenging and sometimes undocumented compliance timelines and requirements, manual work involved in getting approvals, the large scope of the work, and tight timelines to ensure that the project did not experience delays.

Using the findings from stakeholder research and collaboration workshops, Guidehouse’s public sector advisory team understood the relevant challenges and architected a low-code solution that met the client’s organizational and compliance requirements.

Leveraging workflow automation, unified communications, and the standardization of processes and data, the recommended solution drew on Guidehouse’s extensive technological expertise with Salesforce and deep understanding of the agency’s processes and regulatory requirements to create a unique purpose-built right-of-way management workflow and app for the agency’s existing Salesforce integration.

Architecting a Configurable Right-of-Way Management Tool for Salesforce

Guidehouse developed a custom cloud-based low-code right-of-way management app using Salesforce Service Cloud and Salesforce Experience Cloud. Salesforce was chosen because of the convenience and cost-savings generated from the client’s existing use of Salesforce in other areas of their operations, and because of the long-term flexibility Salesforce’s highly extensible platform provided.

The Salesforce right-of-way management tool had the following functionalities:

• A custom solution for parcel tracking that served as a repository to track progress on all parcels the client was planning to acquire
• A milestone tracker for assigning and tracking all assignable work to external contractors or internal right-of-way agents
• A full-service contract and task order tracker to store and track the work toward active contract and task orders
• A claims module for tracking all parcel-related payments with automated processing of payment signoffs
• A workflow automation tool, enabled via Conga Composer and Adobe Sign, to generate paperwork and notify relevant staff of paperwork requirements
• An external-facing portal leveraging Salesforce Experience Cloud to facilitate collaboration and data sharing between third-party contractors and internal agents

In the last stages of this IT modernization project, Guidehouse mapped and migrated all data from the client’s legacy parcel management system, connected the system to the existing SharePoint site for easier file sharing, and facilitated change management activities, including knowledge transfer sessions, end-user training, and technical documentation.

Impact

Guidehouse leveraged its public sector and technology experts and considerable experience with government IT modernization to uncover the client’s challenges, identify key organizational needs, and deliver a successful tool that allowed the agency to significantly streamline their parcel acquisition process while reducing costs. The client’s new ability to track parcels through the entire acquisition lifecycle and automate their right-of-way workflow is helping the organization better meet project deadlines.

After delivering the Salesforce right-of-way management tool on time, Guidehouse was engaged for a second phase of the project. Phase two will involve adding financial capabilities to task orders in their Salesforce application to allow the organization to better manage the financial aspects of land appraisal and acquisition.

While the client's modernization project was built using the Salesforce platform and Salesforce Experience Cloud, the off-the-shelf features included in Salesforce’s new Public Sector Solutions platform would reduce the cost and timeline for building a custom right-of-way management tool for future transportation, utility, or infrastructure right-of-way projects.

Guidehouse’s experience with government IT modernization projects, expertise in transportation and regulation, and creative, out of the box solutioning of a customized right-of-way management tool makes Guidehouse the perfect partner for organizations looking for right-of-way IT modernization strategy and solutions development. Our right-of-way solution goes beyond transportation and can encompass development of new footpaths for state parks, broadband projects, windfarms, and similar projects.

Need help with right-of-way management or government IT modernization? Contact us to discuss your project requirements.