The New Zealand dTIMS CT Project

Details

Created on Wednesday, 23 March 2011 04:24

dTIMS CT Project: In 1998 the RIMS Group, representing all NZ Road Controlling Authorities, decided to adopt the software platform dTIMS from Deighton Associates for the predictive modelling of pavement deterioration. This was a major step forward from the existing approaches embodied in RAMM.

The system has been developed to assist in the asset planning processes used by New Zealand RCAs.

How do I get to use it?

To use the framework that IDS has developed you need to be licensed with IDS.Current license holders consist of Local Authorities, NZTA, Consultants, and Contractors. Your NZ dTIMS license allows you to analyse any publicly owned assets in NZ. Consultants and contractors also automatically becomes part of the technical consortium that is responsible for all the technical development. For any licensing issues, or interest in becoming a NZ license holder please contact Theuns Henning (Business Manager IDS).Theuns can also give you the required information if you would like to use dTIMS for privately owned assets or international work.

The objectives are to assist with:

• Optimal life-cycle management Determination of optimum level of service, as well as the cost to maintain a pre-defined level of service
• The development of maintenance strategies to achieve the above
• The evaluation of alternatives strategies, based upon variations to funding levels and/or pre-determined maintenance strategies.

The project has developed since 1998, with set-up, models, supporting software, and documentation progressively developed, based on technical reviews and user feedback. The migration from dTIMS 6.1 to dTIMS CT in 2004 and to dTIMS v8 in 2008/09, provided opportunities to reduce the number of supporting software applications as well as to provide decision processes that are more aligned to the criteria that NZ RCAs are required to follow.

Throughout the project a helpdesk has been in place to ensure suitable support and system feedback is provided for, and since 2000 regional user groups have been operating. The user groups provide a forum for users to share their experiences, as well as provide input into the direction the system enhancements.

dTIMS v8 Setup

Deighton Associates Limited (DAL) released version 8 of the dTIMS software application during the 2008 at the User Conference in Canada. This version is commonly known as dTIMS v8. The upgrade of the New Zealand dTIMS System (NZdTIMS) to dTIMS v8 was performed in 2008/09. This project was completed by a consortium of consultants operating under the umbrella of the dTIMS Technical Advisory Group (dTAG). The dTAG Group has nominated a development team to conduct the dTIMS development for New Zealand.

The dTIMS CT software is provided by Deighton and the NZ dTIMS template has been developed by the NZ dTAG group, based on the previous NZ dTIMS templates and research project outcomes. The NZdTIMS CT set-up is continuously being updated, with bug fixes being remedied as well as annual set-up reviews and enhancements. Registered users should check the secure download section for updates of the model set-up and the dTIMS v8 software.