Use the Project Planning & Selection Tool

Key Terms

Project Planner – (short for Project Planning and Selection Tool) the tool within Roadsoft for planning roadway projects associated with a Strategy or a Filter.

Project Plan – the result of selecting segments of a specific subtype to receive a particular treatment in a given year.

Candidate or Candidate Segment – a road segment identified by Roadsoft that falls within the trigger range of the treatment in a project plan.

Project Plan Group or Project Group – one or more project plans saved under a single name by the Planner.

Roadsoft Project – the result of creating a project in the Project Builder from a project plan.

The Project Planning & Selection Tool (PPST), also called Project Planner, assists agencies in planning their pavement management projects. It does this by identifying the road segments that are ideal candidates for treatments during the specified years. Candidate identification occurs when the road condition is low enough that the treatment would provide significant improvement, but not so deteriorated that the treatment will be ineffective. The Project Planner calculates these road conditions using the segment’s history of Pavement Surface Evaluation Ratings (PASER).

The basis for a project group starts with either a saved strategy or a saved filter. Project groups have definable settings that include the evaluation date, percent of inflation, and the number of years the project group covers. A project group’s settings come from the saved strategy or the entered values at the time of filter creation/selection in the PPST. The project group settings are global, meaning that all project plans created within the project group utilize the defined date, inflation percent and the number of years. The PPST also provides direct access to the Project Builder, making project creation a seamless workflow between planning and scheduling.

For instructions on making or editing a filter, see Use the Filter Builder.

For instructions on making or editing strategy, see Create or Open a Strategy.

For instructions on using the Project Builder, see Use the Project Builder.

Add a Project Group & Project Plan(s)

Select the Pavement Management option from the Main Menu Options.

Select the Project Planning and Selection Tool option.

Select the New button.

Choose whether to create the new project plan group from a saved strategy or by using a filter.

Start a project plan group from a strategy:

Select the Using Strategy option.
Search for a saved strategy.

For instructions on making new strategies, see Create or Open a Strategy.

Select the Search By drop-down list to select a category.

Strategy Name – Select the Strategy Name category to search by the name of the strategy.
Date Run – Select the Date Run category to search by the latest access date the strategy.
Filter Name – Select the Filter Name category to search by the name of the filter the strategy uses.

Enter an appropriate value for the selected Search By category in the search field to enter a name or date.

Enter dates in the order month, day, year, with the numbers separated by backslashes.

Select the View Strategy button to view the selected strategy.

Strategies are editable from the Strategy Module window. For instructions on editing strategies, see Create or Open a Strategy.

Select the X button to close the Strategy Module window.

Select the desired strategy from the search results.
Select the OK button to use the selected strategy, or select the Cancel button to exit without selecting a strategy.

Start a project plan group from a filter:

Select the Using Filter option.
Select the New Filter or the Open Filter option.

Whether selecting to use a new filter or opening a saved filter, creating and saving a filter must first occur. For instructions on making new filters, see Use the Filter Builder.

From Open Filter:

Select the Group drop-down list to select a filter group when applicable.

Enter a saved filter name in the Search for Filter Name… field.

Select the desired saved filter.

Select the Ok button to use the selected filter, or select the Cancel button to exit without selecting a filter.

From New Filter:

Create and save a new filter.

For instructions on making new filters, see Use the Filter Builder.

Select the Ok button to use the newly saved filter, or select the Cancel button to exit without selecting a filter.

Select the Evaluation Date drop-down menu to select the evaluation date (the date project work begins and when Roadsoft ends its deterioration calculations).

Make sure the evaluation date is correct. The date is unchangeable after project group creation.

Select the % Inflation field to enter the expected amount of cost inflation per year.

Select the Number of years field to enter the number of years the project group will cover.

Select the Check Box buttons next to pavement types to include or exclude them.

Select the OK button to use the selected filter and settings, or select the Cancel button to exit without creating a project group.

Select the Pavement Type drop-down list from the Project Planner window to select the desired pavement type to work with.

Select the Lane Miles or Budget ($) button $\\ren\roadsoft\Source\Icons\UPDATEDfatcow-hosting-icons-3.9.2\FatCow_Icons32x32\cog.png$ to switch the project displays between their total lane miles or cost in dollars.

The button switches between being labeled Lane Mile and Budget ($) depending on what information is currently displaying.

Select a treatment by clicking once on the desired treatment tile within the desired year.

To find the same treatment for different years, scroll through the treatment list.

There are two ways to make candidate selections; select candidates from the Planner Map tab or from the Segment Candidates tab. Create project plans by starting with the first available treatment year (on the far left of the treatment list), and work through future years (to the right).

Making candidate selections affects the availability of future candidates. This is desirable when selecting treatment candidates for the current year (e.g. 2018) prior to selecting for future years. However, starting with a year in the future (e.g. 2020) and working backwards (e.g. 2018) may produce undesired results. Roadsoft only checks the current year candidates for a treatment and then propagates the changed condition of selections into the future years from the current year. It does not project backwards. This means that making candidate selections on a treatment in a future year first (e.g. 2020) will still show those same segments as treatment candidates in the previous years (e.g. 2018 & 2019).

Begin road candidate selections for the current project plan.

The first project plan automatically selects by default. Plan selection colors are set to defaults; see Edit Project Planner Selection Colors for help changing colors from the default options. The Planner Map and Segment Candidates tabs can be undocked and docked from the window. For instructions on docking windows, see Dock & Undock Windows.

Select candidates from the Planner Map tab:

1. 1. 1. 1. Select any desired candidate segments on the map for the currently selected project plan by clicking once on the segments.

Selected segments will highlight with the color defined for the project plan. The Planner Map tab works similarly to the main Roadsoft map with some minor differences. For information about navigating the Project Planner map, see Use the Project Planner Map.

Select candidates from the Segment Candidates tab:

Select any desired candidate road segments from the Segment Candidates by clicking once on the segment data row.
When using the Segment Candidates tab, select multiple segments by holding the Ctrl key and selecting segments, or deselect segments by holding the Ctrl key and selecting highlighted segments. Select all the segments between two segments by holding the Shift key and selecting two nonconsecutive segments. Selected segments will highlight with the color defined for the project plan.
Right-click the Segment Candidates tab.

Select the Add Highlighted to Current Project option to add selected segments to the current project plan.

Select the Add Highlighted as New Project option to make the selected segments a new separate project plan.

Select the Save button from the Project Planner window to save the project group and associated project plan(s).

Roadsoft requires the saving or discarding of any unsaved changes before starting a new Project Planner session.

Enter a unique and easily identifiable name in the Project Group Name field.

The Save Project Group window only appears when saving the project group for the first time. To change the project group’s name and/or memo after that, see the Edit Project Group section below.

Enter any relevant information about the project group in the Project Group Memo field.

Select the Save button to save the project group and included project plan(s), or select the Cancel button to exit without saving.

Create Roadsoft Project from a Project Plan

The PPST provides a way for agencies to find the best segment candidates for a treatment in a given year. There are essentially a limitless number of project plans an agency can create for a given project group to fit just about any subtype, treatment, and year scenario. Obviously, not all project plans will become scheduled projects, but the connection between the PPST and Project Builder makes creating Roadsoft projects from project plans a seamless process.

From within a project group:

Select the Create Project button from the desired project plan.

There must be at least one road segment in a project plan to create a scheduled project from it.

Enter the required and desired project information in the Add Project form.

Location, Project Number/ID, and Surface Subtype fields are required.

For a list of data fields and their descriptions, see the Use the Project Builder for a full description of the form and fields.

Select the Save button from the Edit Project window to save the data, or select the Cancel button to exit without creating a Roadsoft project.

Edit Project Plan Settings

Select the Pavement Management option from the Main Menu Options.

Select the Project Planning and Selection Tool option.

Select the desired project group from the available list in the Project Planner List window.

Use the search features to locate and select the desired project group.

Select the Search By drop-down list to select a category.

- Project Group Name – Select the Project Group Name category to search by project group name.
- Strategy Name – Select the Strategy Name category to search by strategy or filter name.
- Last Modified – Select the Last Modified category to search by the last modification date of the project group.
- Enter dates in the order month, day, year, with the numbers separated by backslashes.
- Memo – Select the Memo category to search by information in the memo.

Enter an appropriate value in the Search By field for the selected category.

Select the desired project group from the search results list.

Select Open from the Project Planner List options.

Select the Pavement Type drop-down list from the Project Planner window to select the desired pavement type.

Select the Lane Miles or Budget ($) button to switch whether projects display lane miles or their cost in dollars.

The button switches between being labeled Lane Mile and Budget ($) depending on what information is currently being displayed onscreen.

Edit the project group settings.

Settings are editable from the Project Planner window only for filter-based project groups. To edit settings in a strategy-based planner, edit the strategy itself. For instructions on editing strategies, see Create or Open a Strategy.

Select the Edit button.

Select the Edit Settings option.

Select either the New Filter or the Open Filter option.

Whether selecting to use a new filter or opening a saved filter, creating and saving a filter must first occur. For instructions on making new filters, see Use the Filter Builder.

From the Open Filter button:

Select the Group drop-down list to select a filter group when applicable.

Enter a saved filter name in the Search for Filter Name… field.

Select the desired saved filter.

Select the Ok button to use the selected filter, or select the Cancel button to exit without selecting a filter.

From the New Filter button:

Create and save a new filter.

For instructions on making new filters, see Use the Filter Builder.

Select the Ok button to use the newly saved filter, or select the Cancel button to exit without selecting a filter.

Select the Evaluation Date drop-down menu to select the evaluation date (the date project work begins and when Roadsoft ends its deterioration calculations).

Make sure the evaluation date is correct. The date is unchangeable after project group creation.

Select the % Inflation field to enter the expected amount of cost inflation per year.

Select the Number of years field to enter the number of years the planner will cover.

Select the Check Box buttons next to pavement types to include or exclude them.

Select the OK button to use the selected filter and settings, or select the Cancel button to exit without creating a plan.

Select the OK button to use the selected filter, or select the Cancel button to exit without applying a new filter.

Select the % Inflation field to enter the expected amount of cost inflation per year.

The Evaluation Date field is not editable.

Select the Number of years field to enter the number of years the planner will cover.

Select the Check Box buttons next to pavement types to include or exclude them.

Select the OK button to use the selected filter and settings, or select the Cancel button to discard any changes.

Edit a Project Group Name/Memo

Existing project group names and the originally save memo are editable. This saving process overwrites the previously saved name/memo.

From within a project group:

Select the Edit button.

Select the Edit Name/Memo option.

Enter desired changes to the existing plan name in the Project Group Name field.

Enter any new information about the project plan in the Project Group Memo field.

Select the Save button to save the changes, or select the Cancel button to exit without saving changes.

Save as a New Project Group

Existing project group names and the originally save memo are editable. This saving process creates a new project group using the new name/memo.

From within a project group:

Select the Edit button.

Select the Save as New Project Group option.

Enter a unique and easily identifiable name in the Project Group Name field.

Enter any relevant information about the project plan in the Project Group Memo field.

Select the Save button to save the new project plan, or select the Cancel button to exit without saving the new project group.

Delete a Project Group

Project groups are permanently removable from the Project Planner List.

Select the Pavement Management option from the Main Menu Options.

Select the Project Planning and Selection Tool option.

Select the desired project group from the available list in the Project Planner List window.

Use the search features to locate and select the desired project group.

Select the Search By drop-down list to select a category.
Project Group Name – Select the Project Group Name category to search by project group name.
Strategy Name – Select the Strategy Name category to search by strategy or filter name.
Last Modified – Select the Last Modified category to search by the last modification date of the project group.
Enter dates in the order month, day, year, with the numbers separated by backslashes.
Memo – Select the Memo category to search by information in the memo.
Enter an appropriate value in the Search By field for the selected category.
Select the desired project group from the search results list.

Select the Delete option.

Select the Yes button to continue deleting the selected project group, or select the No button to stop the delete action.

Delete a Project Plan

Deleting individual project plans from a project group is possible within the PPST. Deleting the last project plan for a treatment is not possible; however, it can be blank (no selected candidates).

From within a project group:

Right-click on the desired project plan.

Select the Delete Item option.

Select the Yes button to continue deleting the selected project plan, or select the No button to stop the delete action.

Edit Candidate Selections on a Project Plan

Changing (also known as re-segmenting) candidate selections in a saved project plan occurs in the Project Planner. After creating a Roadsoft project in the Project Builder from a project plan, it is advisable to re-segment candidate selections from within the Project Planner, not the Project Builder. The Project Planner sends changes to the Project Builder. The Project Builder does not send changes to the Project Planner.

Edit project plans by starting with the first available treatment year (on the far left of the treatment list), and work through future years (to the right).

With the desired project plan selected:

From the Planner Map tab – without Project Builder projects.

Add or remove candidates from the selected project plan.

The Project Planner map works similarly to the main Roadsoft map. For information about navigating the map, see Use the Map Interface.

Holding the Alt key down, select the candidate(s) on the map to remove them from the project plan.

Select previously unselected candidates from the map by clicking once on them.

Select the Save option.

From the Planner Map tab – with Project Builder projects.

Add or remove candidates from the selected project plan.

The Project Planner map works similarly to the main Roadsoft map. For information about navigating the map, see Use the Map Interface.

Holding the Alt key down, select the candidate(s) on the map to remove them from the project plan.

Select previously unselected candidates from the map by clicking once on them.

Select the Yes button to proceed with the selection changes to the project plan within the Project Planner or select the No button to exit without making the changes.

Select the Edit Proj button to begin applying the changes to the linked project in Project Builder.

Select the Yes button to apply the selection changes to the project within the Project Builder or select the No button to exit without making the changes.

Make any desired changes to the project details.

To save the project, the Location, Project Number/ID and Surface Subtype fields must have entries.

Location – Select the field to enter the location of the project.

Project number/ID – Select the field to enter an agency identification for the project.

Surface Subtype – Select the drop-down list to select the surface subtype of the completed project.

Roadsoft automatically enters the current surface subtype of the project into this field, but it is still editable.

Treatment – Select the drop-down list to enter the treatment type.

Reset Rating – Select the drop-down list to select the PASER rating the road will have once the project is completed.

Life Expectancy – Select the field to enter the estimated amount of years the project will last.

Estimated Costs – Select the field to enter the estimated total cost of the project.

Alternatively, select the Calculate Estimated Costs… link to have Roadsoft apply a calculated cost based on the selected treatment and road segments.

This cost will not update if the segments in the project are changed. To update the cost, return to the Add Project window and select the Calculate Estimated Costs… link again.

Total Costs – Select the field to enter the actual total cost of the completed project.

Start Date – Select the drop-down menu to select the date the project begins.

Status – Select the drop-down list to select the status of the project towards completion.

Completion/Open to Traffic Date – Select the drop-down menu to select the completion date of the project or the date the road will be open to traffic.

Reactionary Project – Select the drop-down list to indicate whether this project is reacting to an unplanned event.

Warranty Project – Select the drop-down list to indicate whether this project has a warranty.

Description – Select the field to enter a general description of the project

Source of Funds – Select the field to enter the source of project funds.

Memo – Select the field to enter any additional information that does not fit another field.

Select the Save button from the Edit Project window to save any changes, or select the Cancel button to discard them.

Select the Save option in the Project Planner.

From the Segment Candidates tab – without Project Builder projects.

The Segment Candidate tab can be pinned and unpinned to either hide or remain onscreen when not selected. For instructions on pining windows, see Pin & Unpin Windows.

Select road segments from the tab.

Select multiple segments by holding the CTRL key and selecting segments, or deselect segments by holding the Alt key and selecting highlighted segments. Select all the segments between two segments by holding the SHIFT key and selecting two nonconsecutive segments.

Right-click anywhere in the Segment Candidates tab.

Select the desired add or remove option:

Select the Add Highlighted to Current Project option to add selected segments to the project.

Select the Remove Highlighted from Current Project option to remove selected segments from the project.

Select the Save option in the Project Planner.

From the Segment Candidates tab – with Project Builder projects.

The Segment Candidate tab can be pinned and unpinned to either hide or remain onscreen when not selected. For instructions on pining windows, see Pin & Unpin Windows.

Select road segments from the tab.

Right-click anywhere in the Segment Candidates tab.

Select the desired add or remove option:

Select the Add Highlighted to Current Project option to add selected segments to the project.

Select the Remove Highlighted from Current Project option to remove selected segments from the project.

Select the Yes button to proceed with the selection changes to the project plan within the Project Planner or select the No button to exit without making the changes.

Select the Edit Proj button to begin applying the changes to the linked project in Project Builder.

Select the Yes button to apply the selection changes to the project within the Project Builder or select the No button to exit without making the changes.