Cogent Technologies, in collaboration with NYS Department of Transportation Hydraulic Engineers, Highway Supervisors, and Maintenance Mangers, created the Drainage Treatment Tool (DTT). The DTT is a web based application that accomplishes the following:

• Captures the best practices and knowledge of drainage maintenance within DOT and translate it into a decision-making guide for selecting appropriate treatments.
• Provides opportunities for learning and applying best practices.
• Creates a portable and flexible tool, allowing experienced users to go directly to information sought rather than drive everyone through a rigid, linear process.

An effective computer based tool will lead to better decision-making in the field when addressing drainage maintenance. Better maintenance in turn should lead to less re-work and facilitate a shift toward performing more proactive vs. reactive maintenance.

Computerizing the tool allows DOT's training department to make best practice knowledge directly available to more staff and locations, whenever it's needed. Additionally, a friendly easy-to-use interface encourages users to consult the tool more often than they might use a traditional, paper manual.

Drainage treatment profiles were created to help identify the various corrective actions available for drainage problems. In addition to text, treatment profiles have the ability to display video, photos, graphics, and link to web resources.

The project was completed using Flash ActionScript 3 which allows for the material to be available over the internet or intranet or on a CDROM. The material used in the analysis tool like treatment types, descriptions, supporting pictures, supporting videos, are all read from xml files which makes the tool easily expanded as other treatment options are developed in the field.