MDOT Director Gloria Jeff (left, standing) and MDIT Director Teri Takai (right, standing) proudly flank employees who created and maintain FieldManager, an innovative suite of software used for managing and tracking road and bridge construction projects. FieldManager is one of the top nominees world-wide in its category in the 2003 Computerworld Honors 21st Century Achievement Award.

In the photo (from left to right): MDOT Director Jeff; Daniel Rutenberg, technical project manager; Lee Fedewa, FieldManager support; Doug Couto, MDIT agency services information officer; Joe Bruewer, FieldNet technical manager; Leon Hank, MDOT chief administrative officer; MDIT Director Takai; (seated) Ruth Proctor, FieldManager support technician; Kevin Fox, system administrator/project manager; Cliff Farr, FieldManager business team manager; Marty Foster, FieldManager technical specialist.

The Michigan departments of Transportation and Information Technology today jointly announced that an MDOT-created program named FieldManager was named as one of seven finalists in the Transportation category of this year’s Computerworld Honors 21st Century Achievement Award. It is now among the top nominees world-wide in its category.

FieldManager is an innovative suite of software used for managing and tracking road and bridge construction projects. It was developed and is co-owned by MDOT and Info Tech Inc., a Gainesville, Fla. software company. It virtually eliminated a time-consuming and error-prone paper process for managing construction projects.

“This is a big win for the State of Michigan and recognizes the hard work of our team and the collaboration that makes it such a success,” said Gloria J. Jeff, MDOT director. “We are extraordinarily proud of FieldManager and the people who make it work. It is an industry first and well on its way to becoming the industry standard.”

“FieldManager is a great story to tell because it’s such a great example of the power of partnerships, both between state agencies and between the public and private sector,” said Teri Takai, MDIT director. “By putting our heads together and working as a team, we were able to develop a highly innovative suite of software used to manage and track road and bridge construction. I think the true success of the project is defined by the fact that other states are now using the software.”

The software program has been adopted by five other state DOTs. In Michigan, the more than 1,200 users include all MDOT offices, 128 local agencies and 100 private firms.

It is estimated that FieldManager saves Michigan taxpayers approximately $21.8 million annually in construction costs.

For 15 years, the Computerworld Honors Program has been cataloguing examples of how information technology is being used to benefit society. Today, over 4,000 case studies later, this collection is archived for countries around the world and used by academics and enterprises of all sizes to find ideas to help them address problems.

The case study about FieldManager is now an official part of the Computerworld 2003 Honors Collection.

The final award ceremony and announcement of the winner in the Transportation category will take place on June 2 in Washington, D.C.