Frequently Asked Questions

BrM allows a user to collect data in the field, assuming you have internet connection.

However, there is an alliance product in the AASHTOWare Catalog for Inspection Anywhere that licensees can use to collect their data in the field without internet.

The BrM software is very intuitive and easy to navigate for all user types. It has been tested and used in a production setting by dozens of State DOTs over the course of 30 years. The software’s navigational setup allows for easy movement throughout the software with simple mouse clicks.

A column on the left side of the screen lists all modules available to the user. The available modules are limited based on the user’s established permissions. Once selected, the module will expand to display all available tasks to the user. Only one module can be expanded at one time, which simplifies the navigational process.

Additionally, a bar appears across the top of each page to identify the module and task selected, so the user can quickly confirm that they have navigated to the intended page.

A View List serves as the default BrM homepage. The View List is a complete list of all assets in the system that can be filtered and customized in various ways and allows for the selection of assets prior to performing other actions in the system. Most functions within the BrM software require an asset to be selected.

All operations can be completed with just a few clicks of the mouse. Again, the software was designed to support asset owners and inspectors in their daily routines and tasks; therefore, significant thought went into ensuring efficiency in the UI and navigation to save time. A user can perform almost any function by selecting a module, choosing a task, and typing on the loaded page or by selecting an option from a drop-down menu.

Dropdowns are included throughout the software to ensure consistent options are available and are easy to select.

Due to the vast size of some agency systems, filters are necessary to sort and locate assets based on specified criteria. The BrM software offers two filter options to locate specific information very quickly: 1) Filter Dropdowns and 2) Quick Filters.

• Filter Dropdown: lists the relevant filters that have been created and edited. By default, BrM comes with a set of various filters loaded; however, customized filters can be created. When a filter is selected from the dropdown, the bridge grid will automatically update to the filtered assets.

• Quick Filters: enable a user to filter the grid based on a condition. The grid automatically updates with the filtered assets.

Even tasks related to program management can be quickly achieved with just a few clicks. For example, adding a new performance measure can be accomplished by navigating to the task under the Programs Module, selecting “Add new record” and choosing the utility and associated values.

BrM functionality includes bridge/asset inventory, inspection, and management modules. This functionality ranges from basic end-user needs (e.g. scheduling upcoming inspections) to the most challenging tasks for asset managers (e.g. utilizing agency-defined preservation and improvement policies to systematically determine the allocation of resources for the preservation and improvement of assets within a network).

The BrM software was collaboratively funded, designed, and developed to support all agencies and their wide-ranging needs; therefore, the ability to configure the software is paramount. In addition, one of the overarching BrM directives is to quickly adapt to meet new requirements and standards as they are released, so BrM users can quickly comply.

BrM’s primary directive is to ensure Federal requirements are met. BrM is used by the overwhelming majority of state and federal agencies to generate and submit their annual submissions to FHWA in accordance with National Bridge Inspection Standards (NBIS) and now, Specifications for the National Bridge Inventory (SNBI) requirements. BrM also meets the National Tunnel Inspection Standards (NTIS) (and now Specifications for the National Tunnel Inventory - SNTI), performance measure requirements, and Transportation Asset Management Plan (TAMP) requirements. BrM contains standard reports based on the FHWA 23 Metric Review, allowing states to proactively identify bridges that might be flagged during that review.

BrM versions 6 and lower supported the NBI submittal process. Starting with version 7.0 BrM supports the SNBI submittal process.

AASHTO and the AASHTOWare Bridge Task Force understand the critical role that reports, and other visual outputs play when presenting to senior leaders and other decision-makers. As a result, we have made the reporting function within BrM dynamic and easily configurable to allow agencies to design and generate reports to their exact specifications.

BrM uses Crystal Reports as its reporting engine. All instances of BrM installs a Crystal Reports run-time license that allows for the generation of reports within the software. Also, all Super Site licensees are provided one Crystal Reports 2013 Developer license to allow the creation of any desired custom report. It is noted that a majority of BrM agencies create custom reports to support their exact needs/requirements. As part of the license support, an agency could request support from Mayvue to assist in the understanding of how to create reports. Report output can be provided in various formats including PDF, Text, Excel, RTF, Word, and HTML.

Agencies are able to quickly design, create, and implement custom reports to meet any requirement or need within BrM with little to no assistance. This is a significant benefit over other available software solutions, which require contractor assistance and continued maintenance. The software comes with standard reports out of the box. The following are a few examples of reports created and available within the BrM software:

It is worth noting that some agencies prefer to write their reports using SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) or similar tools. SSRS is also compatible with BrM. There is an interest from current BrM users to build an in-BrM reports builder to leverage more of BrM’s higher-quality graphs within the report for cross-sections and other applications.

The report creation abilities are not restricted; therefore, agencies can design and include any information that the agency deems useful. There is a wide range of custom reports that BrM users have generated and use on a daily basis. Some of the more unique reports include: Utah’s posting request form letter, which is generated directly from BrM; Idaho’s maintenance priority report, which groups work requests by maintenance shed and priority; and Michigan’s MPO projected performance 6-year lookahead, which shows MPO’s what they can expect based on the current STIP and BrM deterioration projections.

Yes, the BrM software stores current and historical load rating information. The load rating module allows users to store load ratings for a structure throughout its lifecycle. Load ratings are tracked for multiple vehicles, including agency-specific vehicles, certain ratings are considered to be the current field condition for that vehicle, and some of those ratings are selected for reporting to Federal Highways.

The load rating module has two parts: the current and reported ratings and the load rating reports.

The current rating displays the rating marked as “current” for each vehicle. Often, the most current rating will be the latest one, though this is not always the case: when ratings are done in design preparation for later construction work, there may be later ratings, which are not the current rating. Or in the case of damage, which is repaired, the repair may revert the structure to an earlier rating.

The load rating reports section displays all of the load rating summaries for the structure. The different rating events can be selected to view the details of a specific rating event.

The history of a specific vehicle can be easily viewed as well by clicking on it to view its rating history.

Along with recording load ratings, BrM allows users to define the vehicles that are load rated. Any admin users can create, delete or set the active level of all vehicles the users have access to.

The asset analytics and forecasting functionality of the BrM software was developed using State DOT defined requirements with the FHWA asset management requirements as the non-negotiable foundation. The functionality was fully tested and is currently used by various agencies across the country. The BrM software is dynamic such that output is specific to each State, allowing them to define what work types they use, their deterioration rates, and their policies. BrM is the only tool needed for this purpose. All analyses and outputs are generated within the software, which alleviates the burden of using additional tools and separate analyses to make decisions. The below responses demonstrate how the analytical portions of the software are strong and will improve confidence in your decision-making process and the spending of limited funds.

There are two types of forecast analysis that the software provides. The first is maximizing utility. Maximizing utility will rank projects in the change of utility over cost. This provides a clear and concise benefit to cost ratio for users to evaluate. Utility is rooted in the concept of multi-objective analysis. The multi-objective analysis allows an agency to compare and weigh an infinite number of both numeric and non-numeric variables and to allow appropriate decision-making to be made based on these variables.

The Utility Value is configurable and is used to encapsulate the various factors that the agency values in selecting projects. Typical configurations of this score include Condition, Lifecycle, Capacity, and Risk.

The Condition aspect typically includes the gathered inspection data and condition ratings. This is the component that reflects the current condition and how it will deteriorate into the future.

The Lifecycle component of Utility accounts for changes to the cost-to-maintain an asset for a set time into the future. For example, a chip seal for pavements or a healer-sealer treatment for bridges does not typically improve the condition of the asset. However, it does provide value, and that value is in the change to the lifecycle cost to maintain the asset. Including the lifecycle benefit in the Utility function allows the agency to consider whether money should be spent on preservation work or replacement and rehabilitative work. These tradeoff analyses are very common and can be challenging for agencies.

The Capacity aspect varies greatly from agency to agency. The most common factors can include the annual average daily traffic (AADT) per number of lanes (agencies use the ratio because work doesn’t typically change the AADT but can add lane capacity, which helps the ratio and thus provides benefit). Some agencies have chosen to apply scores to truck routes’ impediments from load rating and clearance limits, the availability of wide shoulders for emergencies to get out of traffic, or the capacity of evacuation routes. But other agencies find that capital improvement projects are selected via a different process and they chose to exclude capacity factors from their Utility scores.

The Risk factors of Utility can be configured to the types of risk that matter most to your agency. Alaska has configured its system to account for seismic risks and any impacts to fish migrations. Louisiana has configured its system to prioritize work to reduce exposure to wave actions. Hawaii uses BrM’s utility score to evaluate shoreline erosion, and Kentucky is considering including risk categories for the main types of accidents (sideswipes, running off the road left or right, and side impacts) to account for the accident risk reductions seen from various improvements. The settings for work that mitigates these types of risk then improve the risk aspects of the Utility formula.

Thus, the software can compare the benefit-to-cost tradeoffs from preservation work, capacity work, risk mitigation, and the various costs, and the agency sets the relative importance of the various factors. Sometimes pots of money have an intended purpose, like preservation funds vs. safety spot money or capital improvement funds. For these situations, the Utility weight can be temporarily re-weighted to target the particular objectives of the fund.

The method of Maximizing Utility seeks out the greatest benefit across the criteria defined by the agency to determine the ideal places to spend the given budget.

It is often the case that some budgetary decisions have already been made. The Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) may already be decided for the next two or three years, with some decisions already made for the fourth year out. To accurately model based on this given, users can freeze the projects that have already been selected and then seek to find the best approach to spend any remaining budget.

The same program can also be run multiple times with different budgets to compare the resulting performance measures. Decision-makers really like this functionality within the BrM software, because it clearly shows the outcomes of their decisions.

The second forecast type offered by the software is generating an outcome to achieve a defined performance measure on a network level at the minimum cost. For example, the software can tell the user how much money will be required to ensure that less than 2% of the agency’s pavement and bridges are in poor condition. Each scenario also comes with a list of projects that the agency would need to follow to achieve the targeted outcome. This is a significant advantage as it provides a clear roadmap for the agency and allows for a detailed analysis of the results. Comparing this output against the state’s current funding level is an essential part of any ‘Gap Analysis’.

Optimization within the BrM software is typically performed to maximize the Utility score. Agencies can also apply a criticality weight to their assets. Criticality accounts for why an agency values one asset over another and are not typically factors that change when performing work. AADT and detour lengths are the most commonly used, but using functional class is also a common way to apply emphasis to the items that are “too big to fail”.

The BrM Optimizer process runs in the background on the server to not impede BrM users from using the software. When a user starts an optimization, BrM copies everything into memory, and then goes through selecting projects, modeling deterioration, and selecting more projects. When the process is complete, the results are stored in the database and available for review.

The BrM optimizer is intelligent and will work around already planned or committed work. AASHTO and the member agencies who developed the requirements for this functionality understood that money is planned and committed years in advance in some cases and required that the software handled those situations. The BrM Optimizer can work with fully-human-selected programs, fully-software-selected programs, or a hybrid of the two.

Finally, there are future planned changes for the software to not only analyze the individual projects but also analyze the combined projects as well, to provide an even more detailed approach for optimization calculations and forecast results. This is a future state projection of the optimization functionality within BrM but shows the direction the software is heading in the very near term.

Yes, BrM comes pre-loaded with the NBE and NTIS elements, which are established by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). BrM users interact with the elements through the element condition grid. This allows inspectors to add, modify, or delete elements as needed. The system defines parent/child relationships (which can be modified) between the elements and defects/protective systems. BrM offers the user the ability to easily import or export NBE files through a gateway portal.

The software also allows users to add their own custom elements, referred to as Agency Defined Elements (ADEs), to the software. While the Federal Government only requires the information from NBEs, non-NBE information such as custom element information can be “rolled-up” into the NBEs if needed.

BrM is capable of performing both NBI and NBE deterioration. Agencies can use either one and configure to have the utmost confidence in the results and to their level of granularity.

If an agency determines to use element deterioration, the agency can define its own elements and set the deterioration rate for those elements. In order to get good, fair, and poor conditions, agencies can convert from the elements to an NBI value. By default, BrM provides the FHWA Profile that uses the FHWA’s recommended condition state upper limit. While this profile cannot be modified, BrM allows users to create and define their own NBI conversion profiles to use in place of the FHWA profile if they so choose.

If an agency determines to use NBI deterioration, the agency can define a monotonically decreasing deterioration rate. For example, an agency can define how long a deck will have an NBI rating of 6. This is easier to set up but may lack the granularity of element-level deterioration that some agencies desire.