Richard Beale participates in a field exercise aspart of the TSCe Data Collector Training-for-Trainers session in Sacramento.

California The

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The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans)employs 23,000 people to design, construct, maintain, and operate its 25,000km state highway system. California’s 34,000,000 citizensdepend on us to provide a safe and efficient transportation infrastructure for their daily commutesto and from work, the delivery of goods, products, produce, and services that form an essentialelement of our economic vitality, and for their recreational and social needs. The department currently has approximately $6.5 billion in projects under construction for these purposes.

Caltrans’ project delivery staff is comprised of 11,000 technical and support personnel workingin the Project Management, Design, Right of Way, Construction, Environmental, andEngineering Services divisions. This includes approximately 850 survey personnel who workwith all of these divisions. Between 1989 and 2002 the project delivery staff grew by some 4,000people. This rapid expansion, coupled with a high retirement and attrition rate, meant that 6,000people were added during this time. In fiscal year 00/01, 56% of the project delivery staff had less than three years experience with the department, and many of the “old hands” were in supervisory or management positions—not working directly on project needs.

This is the background of what was considered a training crisis. How could we rapidly and efficiently provide the knowledge and skills necessary to help our staff improve the quantity andquality of its work product? The Department’s 1998 Strategic Plan included a three year, $45 million Capital Project Skill Development (CPSD) program which has nearly 1,000 coursesapproved for the task. It delivered more than one million hours of training in its first two years.

DOTSurveyors

>> By Chuck Karayan, LS

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The CPSD program is implementedthrough the Project Delivery and TrafficOperations divisions. The Office ofGeometronics was originally budgetednearly $600,000 annually to design, devel-op and deliver its 15 approved surveying-related courses. The financial problemsthat the State of California is facing haveforced significant changes. However, threeyears of CPSD operation has demonstrat-ed the increased productivity that trainingprovides. Supervisors have reported a 35%increase in overall job performance ofthose who have attended a CPSD course.Of even greater significance, the supervi-sors noticed a 42% improvement in thoseareas of employee’s responsibilities relatedto the training that they received.

Recognizing these and other benefits,the department’s executive staff has con-tinued its commitment to our efforts.Despite the fact that less than half of theoriginally allocated resources are currentlyavailable, the Office of Geometronicstraining program has actually increased,partially as the result of insightful deci-sions made at the outset by the SurveysManagement Board (SMB).

Although it varies from day to day, thedepartment fields approximately 110 sur-vey crews. Each is equipped with a totalstation (some robotic) and an automaticor digital level. Nearly 75 percent alsohave GPS capability. The 850 survey per-sonnel are, essentially, assigned in one oftwelve districts stretching from theMexican border to about 600 miles southof Canada. Some of these districts havebeen organized into regions and each hasone or more “local” survey managers.The SMB, comprised of the local andheadquarters managers, meets quarterlyto address statewide functional and orga-

nizational issues. Early in the CPSDeffort, the SMB decided that it wanted atraining program that could survive theinevitable reduction of funding. First, it seta direction of using the significant then-available funding to create courses thatcan be delivered at the district level, there-by eliminating or reducing travel costsand “down time”. Second, the SMBdecided that “in-house” instructors couldbetter provide Caltrans-specific training,and that doing so would further reducethe cost of delivery as compared to ven-dor sponsored classes. The board felt,however, that “in-house” course designwould require too much staff time andcould best be achieved by the use of ven-dors assisted by internal Subject MatterExperts (SMEs). Third, the SMB com-mitted to including a “training” compo-nent in future purchases of survey equip-ment and software, requiring the supplierto assist in the development of classes

implementing the use of its products. Thisforward thinking and long-term goal set-ting has produced a survivable trainingprogram in what has now become an eco-nomically harsh environment.

Each district/region has a designatedcoordinator who is the local “focalpoint” for our surveyor-training pro-gram. One of the first tasks the coordi-nators tackled was developing and dis-tributing a Needs Assessment. The coor-dinators collected the assessments fromeach supervisor and assembled a dis-trict/region assessment that indicatedwhich courses were most needed and byhow many people (both immediatelyand in the following year). These assess-ments were “rolled up” to form astatewide basis for allocating resources.The Needs Assessment has been, andwill continue to be, updated so thateffective use can be made of the avail-able funding.

Left: Caltrans surveyors Frank Quevedo and BobMackenzie conduct and RTK class with TrimbleCertified Trainers in Fresno.

Below: Future instructors from around the state gather in Sacramento for the TSCe Data CollectorTraining-for-Trainers course; Derek Miles of Trimbleconducts the portion shown.

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The functional group of coordinators,who meet frequently via teleconferencing,set about implementing the SMB’s deci-sions. It created tools and measures for theselection of training venues, exploredalternatives to traditional modes of deliv-ering training, and established means andmethods of identifying, selecting and task-ing SMEs and Instructors. In addition, itaddressed the question of internal versusexternal production and presentation ofindividual courses.

The coordinators recognized that thequality of training received from a coursepresentation can be significantly impairedif the venue is less than appropriate.They developed standards regarding anumber of aspects of facility selection toassure its appropriateness. Among themore important criteria adopted wereroom set-up (classroom style with suffi-cient table space for each student), clearline-of-sight for each participant, and ade-quate audio-video equipment. They alsoestablished a support network of individ-uals from the departments’ training andfacilities-management staffs and otherstate agencies, and compiled a list of sitesthat would meet our needs. Long-rangeplanning and room reservation enablesthe use of these state-owned facilities, andrepresents another means of reducingcosts without sacrificing the quality oftraining.

The Surveys Management Board’sdecision to use “in-house” instructorsfor vendor-designed classes presented awide range of issues to be addressed.

For some classes, specifically GPS, wechose to send one person from each dis-trict to the manufacturer’s “instructortraining class”. The department now hastwelve Trimble Certified Instructorswho conduct all kinematic and post-processed GPS training. For most othercourses our SMEs have assisted vendorsin designing materials that specificallyaddress departmental policies and proce-dures. After the course materials havebeen developed, the vendors, along withCaltrans personnel, conduct training-for-trainers (T4T) sessions. A few of thecourses, specifically the SurveysAcademy, State Plane Coordinates, andBoundary Control, are taught by depart-mental surveyors with both technicalknowledge and classroom skills.

Since one of the “minimum qualifica-tions” for entry into the department’ssurvey-ladder is (L)SIT certification,and since we have over 300 licensed sur-veyors on staff (most field crews arelead by a licensee), finding potential in-house instructors has not been a prob-lem. The mere possession of technicalknowledge, however, does not guaranteesuccess in the classroom. Very early inthe process we had a vendor design a“surveyor specific” one-day training-for-trainers course. All subsequent courseimplementation has coupled this presen-tation with that of the individual classwhich the future instructors will teach. Itaddresses matters such as public speak-ing skills, classroom management, indi-vidual learning characteristics, “problem

Above: Instructor Frank Quevedo and Party Chief Robin Wickline at TSCe DataCollector training in Stockton.Left: Participants at a CAiCE Basis Digital Terrain Model course in Marysville

The Caltrans Survey Training ProgramTotal Station Survey System

Leica On-board Data Collection 8 hrs.TSCe Data Collectors 24 hrs.Roadlink Software Applications 8 hrs.

Safety Devices and Procedures 8 hrs.

U.S. Public Land Survey SystemPLSS 2000/2001 8 hrs.Lotted Sections Workshop 8 hrs.

GPS-RTK Surveying 40 hrs.

GPS-Static & Post-Processed Surveying 40 hrs.

Legal Description Writing Techniques 8 hrs.

Court Procedures for Surveyors 8 hrs.

Error: Theory, Analysis and Adjustment 40 hrs.

California State Plane Coordinate System 8 hrs.

CAiCE-Introduction to COGO and Mapping 20 hrs.

Boundary Research 8 hrs.

The Survey Academy 40 hrs.

Boundary Control 24 hrs.

CAiCE-Digital Terrain ModelsIntroduction to DTM Mapping 20 hrs.Advanced DTM Mapping and Techniques 20 hrs.

CAiCE-Advanced Mapping Techniques 20 hrs.

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students” and instructor image. TheT4T also encouraged team teachingwith an instructor from the same oradjacent district, particularly for the first(few) sessions. Perhaps of greatestimportance, we assure future instructorstotal support, including if necessary(which has not yet materialized) a train-ing expert from Headquarters coming tothem for quality improvement purposes.This combination of specific trainingand absolute support has resulted in acadre of more than 100 in-house instruc-tors who have, by all measures, done anoutstanding job of helping their col-leagues. In fiscal year 2003/2004 theywill conduct 64 separate sessions of ninedifferent courses, thereby providing1,300 students with more than 19,000hours of training.

Rome was not built in a day, and neither is a comprehensive training pro-gram for surveyors. A year of advanceplanning and three-and-a-half years ofactivity have been invested thus far. Ofthe 15 courses approved, three remainto be implemented, three are undergo-ing continuous improvement, and one isbeing expanded. It is anticipated that byJune 30, 2004 only two courses willremain as targets for future delivery.One course, Error: Theory, Analysisand Adjustment, is undergoing a majorrevision, essentially being recreated at asignificantly more complex level. TwoCAiCE courses—Advanced DTM’s andAdvanced Mapping—are nearing imple-mentation, and the instructional materi-als for one course—Court Procedures forSurveyors—are in production. In addi-tion, the Total Station Surveying Systemcourse is being expanded to include useof the Roadlinks software installed onnewly acquired data collectors. Evenafter the above courses have been delivered, the process of evaluating andimproving all courses will continueindefinitely. Also, the acquisition of newequipment, a never-ending necessity,will always involve expansion of

existing courses or the creation of newones. Training must remain an integral,dynamic activity.

At this time we are beginning tomigrate existing courses, and those under-going revision or initial creation, to com-puter and/or web-based presentation. Theuse of computers will further reduce thecost of delivery, preserve existing trainingcapability beyond the “employment life”of individual instructors, and allow train-ing to be conducted when and whereneeded without the constraint of economi-cally justifying a classroom presentation.Computer applications will also providethe ability for individuals to make use ofportions of courses that they need withoutspending time on parts they already know.And, it will facilitate the use of these mate-rials for refresher purposes.

A comprehensive training programhas been shown to make “economicsense”. Employee productivity, bothquantitatively and qualitatively, benefitsfrom the employer’s investment in train-ing. We literally can do more with less.Training also improves employee moraland job satisfaction. And, when the timecomes that the department is again hir-ing surveyors—as it certainly will—anongoing training program will be aunique recruitment tool.

Training a highly technical staff ofsurveyors, photogrammetrists and GISSpecialists requires the assistance ofmany people, the investment ofresources, and most of all, time. Beyondeverything else, however, it requires thevision and commitment of top-levelmanagement. The surveyors of theCalifornia Department of Transportationare fortunate to be in the right place atthe right time.

Chuck Karayan is Chief of COSTraining in the Office of Geometronicsfor the California DOT. He recentlyfounded GEOLEX Consulting Serviceswhere he will direct his full-time effortsupon retirement later this year.

Future instructor Doug Hinckley,Trimble tech rep Derek Miles, and anassistant at TSCe Data CollectorTraining-for-Trainers session in Sacramento.

Displayed with permission • The American Surveyor • May-June • Copyright 2004 Cheves Media • www.TheAmericanSurveyor.com