Sysdyne, HaulHub increase agencies’ material record accuracy

Sources: HaulHub Technologies, Boston; Sysdyne Technologies, Stamford, Conn.; CP staff

Sysdyne Techologies and HaulHub Technologies continue platform integration efforts benefitting transportation agency users. Their newest deliverable, Owners Link, is a technical two-way integration between construction material point of sale systems and state transportation agency project portals. Owners Link helps ensure a trustworthy source of data records that facilitate payments.

Since the first e-Ticketing pilots, HaulHub Technologies notes, public transportation agencies have continued to rely on the paper ticket to derive payment quantities. Developing two-way integrations and process standards like Owners Link will provide much needed layers of trustworthiness and assurance that agency staff need to meet Federal Highway Administration parameters—paving the way for millions of e-Tickets to be used as a true replacement for paper versions. Owners Link will be made available to all point-of-sale providers, making it the essential component for the agency that plans to use e-Ticketing for payments.

“Owners Link creates value for the material supplier, project owner, and contractor. Yet another reason why cloud-native solutions for the construction supply chain should be considered,” says Sysdyne Technologies’ Ed Rusch. “The added capability will allow the heavy material supplier to select a project from a certified list in lieu of hand typing project data into a free form text box. Material tickets with accurate project descriptions, contract numbers and codes could dramatically improve the downstream reconciliation and billing experiences for all the project stakeholders.”

Owners Link helps route material tickets to the right agency projects by eliminating the chance of data input error at the scale and enhancing standardization efforts, which ensures e-Tickets arrive on the project in a timely manner. The Sysdyne-HaulHub technology integration will facilitate the first of its kind two-way transfer of data, whereby an owner’s project list can be shared with the material supplier through the point-of-sale interface and the ticket can be returned to the owner within moments of being created, eliminating any chance for the ticket to be altered.

“The paper ticket’s advantage was that once printed, the ticket could not be altered,” observes HaulHub Vice President Corey Paradis. “Owners Link provides enhancements to existing point of sale systems that give agencies confidence the data is trustworthy and can be used for project payments.” Through the Federal-Aid Highway program, he adds, state agencies and federal officials rely on millions of material tickets annually to determine pay quantities for billions of dollars in project invoices. It is essential for the continued advancement of the digital project delivery initiative that data is trusted, verifiable, and auditable.

“The private sector is ready to go and coming together to find solutions that will support and accelerate digital project delivery transformation efforts led by state DOTs and FHWA,” notes HaulHub strategic advisor and former FHWA Administrator Gregory Nadeau. “Owners Link is a great example of how we can do better; it will provide access to a critical data link for infrastructure owners and serve as a catalyst to further collaboration between industry and public sector infrastructure agencies.”

The FHWA Computerization of Construction Record Memorandum defines the electronic record-keeping parameters required for projects to satisfy federal statutes and regulations. It states that “records must be made at or near the time of the event”, “by or from a person with direct knowledge of the event”, “ensure that only authorized personnel have access to input electronic records”, and “prevent unauthorized alteration or erasure of electronic records.”