Inter-departmental coordination for timely traffic forecasts in preparing project financial feasibility studies

• Main Author: Montanez, Joemon O.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2020
• Subjects: Traffic estimation
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_masteral/6037; https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/context/etd_masteral/article/13132/viewcontent/Montanez_Joemon_11790512_Inter_departmental_Coordination_for_Timely_Traffic_Forecasts_in_Preparing__Project_Financial_Feasibility_Studies_1_Redacted.pdf
• Institution: De La Salle University

This action research addressed the issue of lack of coordination between two departments belonging to different but allied companies, pertaining to delays in the delivery of traffic forecasts required for financial feasibility studies of tollway projects. The insider action researcher belongs to the Project Delivery and Compliance Reporting Department of ABC Company, a subsidiary of the mother XYZ Company. Our department, the Project Delivery and Compliance Reporting Department prepares the financial feasibility study for tollway projects for the mother ABC Company. However, the traffic forecasts that we require for our financial feasibility study come from the mother XYZ company, specifically, the Transport Planning and Analysis department. That department/company usually incurred delays in submitting the traffic forecasts to our department. Through this action research, our team achieved our objectives of developing collaboration, instilling change, managing and understanding the process and expectations involving our two separate but allied companies. Guided by Thomson and Perry’s model of collaboration process (2006), our inter-departmental/inter-company collaboration resulted in agreement on timeline of delivery of the traffic forecasts, identifying traffic forecast requirements, and helping secure the documents for traffic forecasts. Our team also established a checklist to monitor the status of delivery and completion of the requirements of the traffic forecasts. This helped the Transport Planning and Analysis Department of the mother company fast track their traffic forecasts process. The results of the action research showed that understanding the process of managing expectations of two departments coming from separate but allied entities will help our overall organization achieve our goals and objectives. The checklist was good for monitoring the traffic forecast requirements and status of completion but did not guarantee the timely delivery of the traffic forecasts. Both our departments agreed to continually revisit processes in order to achieve our respective commitments.