THE BUSINESS CHALLENGE

TxDOT’s Right-of-Way (ROW) Division acquires land to build and improve highways. The ROW division is also responsible for regulating outdoor advertising and junkyards while the 25 ROW districts are responsible for permits and sign inventory. The ROW Division wanted to consolidate the databases from its 25 separate districts around the state of Texas into an integrated, statewide solution for the tracking of licenses and permits for outdoor advertising.

THE RFD DIFFERENCE

To answer this call, RFD developed the Highway Beautification Application (HBA) which runs exclusively in an online, real-time environment. This system:

• Standardizes business processes to ensure consistent tracking and enforcement of the Highway Beautification Program across all districts.
• Improves coordination of activities between the district and division offices, thereby facilitating a more efficient workflow.
• Centralizes tracking of information related to individuals and companies, minimizing duplication of this information.
• Allows for centralized updating of shared information from any district office and the division office.
• Standardizes capture of various data items, such as license status, permit type, permit status, sign configuration, and many others.

The Highway Beautification Application was developed in PowerBuilder using PFC with an RFD custom-built framework to access a Sybase database.

NOW AND THE FUTURE

The RFD team worked closely with the ROW staff and also with the Information Services Division (ISD) staff to facilitate a smooth transition from outsourced development to internal maintenance of the application. A comprehensive design and careful implementation ensures that the application continues to function according to the client's specifications and needs.