November 2020: AASHTOWare Bridge Management Product Update
The AASHTOWare Bridge Task Force product update is provided to keep all AASHTOWare Bridge Management (BrM) Software users apprised of recent activity related to the development of the software. The Task Force is committed to providing quarterly updates to help improve communication between the Task Force and those interested in the product.
BrM Version 6.4 Project Update
BrM Version 6.4 is currently in full beta testing and is progressing nicely. The Testing TAG is meeting weekly and thoroughly testing the multimedia enhancements as well as other fixes and minor enhancements within their networks. It is the Task Force’s goal to release version 6.4 by late 2020 or early 2021. In addition to the various enhancements that were demonstrated during the User Group Meeting, the Task Force recently authorized mapping enhancements to be added into version 6.4. While this was not originally planned for this release, the Task Force recognized that improved mapping would result in an enhanced user experience and Mayvue had the additional capacity to include these features in short order. As a result, two significant mapping improvements will be included in version 6.4 along with some other minor mapping features:
- When a bridge is selected (blue pin), the map will now have the option to show surrounding bridges (yellow pins) to allow quick selection of close/nearby bridges by the user. This feature can be toggled on and off by using the surrounding bridges toggle at the top of the page.
- Users will be able to draw a polygon on a map and the application will automatically select those bridges and provide details in a table below the map. This allows the user to capture information about multiple surrounding bridges very quickly and without having to build another filter to view their information.
The Task Force will continue to keep the user community aware of the status of the 6.4 release. If you have any questions, please feel free to send them to brm@mayvue.com.
Internet Explorer (IE) 11 End of Life Support – Early Notification
Microsoft recently announced that it will be ending support for IE11 in August 2021 across all Microsoft applications and services. In response, the Task Force has determined that it will no longer support IE11 beyond the version 6.5 release which is not yet planned but is likely to occur sometime in the calendar year 2021. As a result, future versions of BrM would require the use of other major browsers such as Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Microsoft Edge as IE11 will no longer be supported.
Life Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA) Update
Mayvue is approaching the 75% development completion mark for LCCA enhancements in December 2020. Upon approval of the version 6.4 release (discussed above), Mayvue will complete a demonstration walk-through of the LCCA enhancements to both the Testing TAG and Optimizer TAG. This will occur after the 6.4 release is approved to allow the TAG to fully focus their testing efforts on the LCCA enhancements.
Between the 75% and 100% LCCA enhancement development completion milestones, Mayvue will focus on refining the Optimizer and addressing feedback from the Testing and Optimizer TAGs. The Task Force is evaluating options for the release of the LCCA enhancements which include potentially including it in the 6.5 release planned for 2021. The Task Force will continue to update the user community on the delivery of the LCCA enhancements as development and testing progress.
Update: Proposed Changes to the National Bridge Inspection Standards (NBIS) as well as the new Specifications for the National Bridge Inventory (SNBI)
The Task Force continues to monitor the proposed changes to the NBIS and SNBI. A date has not yet been established for the official release of these proposed changes; however, the Task Force remains vigilant to ensure we’re ready to respond without delay. We have previously communicated that a project solicitation will be issued to secure sufficient funding to ensure BrM’s compliance with the new regulations. Please note, the Task Force has prioritized maintaining BrM’s compliance with national standards as its highest objective for the future. We will continue to monitor the timing of the release and continue to make you aware as we learn new information.
Agencies interested in supporting the upcoming solicitation, or agencies who may have questions about the process, should reach out to Judy Tarwater to discuss further. We ask that all agencies strongly consider supporting this important undertaking through participation in the upcoming project solicitation.
User Priority: Sub-divide Funding by Project Category Update
In the last quarterly update (August 2020), the Task Force advised that Mayvue was authorized to draft a functional design specification (FDS) for the second-highest user priority enhancement (from the 2019 BrMUG meeting voting): Subdivide Funding by Project Category. This enhancement provides an agency with the ability to dedicate a certain portion of their funding to Preservation or Replacement project categories and those funds would be optimized in series. This workflow can currently be accomplished manually in BrM; however, the manual process requires several rounds of manual optimization. The Subdivide Funding by Project Category enhancement will fully automate the current manual, iterative process, resulting in significant time savings.
The Task Force is pleased to announce that the Subdivide Funding by Project Category FDS was reviewed and approved in October 2020 and the functionality will be included in the BrM 6.5 project work plan which should be finalized in January 2021.
The Task Force would like to thank the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) for donating service units to fund the development of this enhancement for inclusion in the core BrM product, benefiting all member agencies. The Task Force will provide a complete summary of the BrM version 6.5 work plan enhancements in the next quarterly update in the February 2021 timeframe.
2020 BrMUG Follow up
The Task Force would again like to thank all who participated and presented during the virtual 2020 BrMUG in September 2020. While we missed seeing everyone in person, the virtual meeting was a success and allowed for more technical presentations than in previous years, including an entire day of training focused on the Optimizer given by Zac Boyle of Mayvue.
The Task Force would like to remind everyone that video recordings of the BrMUG and speaker PowerPoint presentations are available on the AASHTOWare Bridge website here. If you would like a recording of the Optimizer Training session, please reach out to Mayvue separately for a link to this training. Due to proprietary reasons, we have not made this training publicly available.
Sincerely,
The AASHTOWare Bridge Task Force