Project Details

Valuable lessons learned and best practices gleaned from construction projects often do not transfer to future generations of personnel due to the lack of a formalized process. This ongoing issue gives rise to the need to impart fresh training to new North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) employees once the aging workforce retires or in the event of turnover. In addition, a platform for personnel to record pertinent project information about projects’ successes and failures is needed. Such information can help solve problems and avoid repeated mistakes. The aim of this research project is to create a new program for lessons learned/best practices called Communicate Lessons, Exchange Advice, Record (CLEAR). The North Carolina State University (NCSU) research team used a Design for Six Sigma approach to identify, define, develop, optimize, and verify lessons learned/best practices to create the CLEAR database. The database fields were selected based on end-user input as well as a review of existing data, such as claims and supplemental agreements, within NCDOT data repositories. The NC Department of Information Technology created this internal-only web-based database on its Connect NCDOT SharePoint portal with MS Access as the backend. The NCSU research team created training materials, including videos and standard operating procedures, to disseminate information about this new program. In addition, the research team developed a data dashboard and artificial intelligence (AI)-based model to improve CLEAR’s workability. The data dashboard, developed in Tableau, will help to monitor the CLEAR program’s impact on the NCDOT. The AI-based model will automatically suggest pertinent lessons learned and best practices to project personnel based on the project documents provided as input. The CLEAR program will help the NCDOT to institutionalize knowledge and is expected to improve project cost variability and scheduling.

​

CLEAR: "What You Need to Know" (Fullerton C.E., 2020)

​