Houston-Galveston Area Council Transportation Systems Management & Operations Clearinghouse

The Capability Maturity Model

The CMM is a tool that assists agencies and multi-agency centers to determine gaps and common barriers to successful TSMO. When applied effectively the CMM can help agencies develop consensus on needed improvements, the priority of those improvements, and specific action items to improve capability maturity in planning, design and TSMO implementation. AASHTO is the primary keeper of the CMM including the six dimensions assessed for TSMO capability.


  1. Business processes including formal scoping, planning, programming and budgeting.
  2. Systems and technology including use of systems engineering, systems architecture standards, interoperability, and standardization.
  3. Performance measurement including measures definition, data acquisition, and data utilization.
  4. Culture including technical understanding, leadership, outreach, and program legal authority.
  5. Organization and workforce including programmatic status, organizational structure, staff development, and recruitment and retention.
  6. Collaboration including relationships with public safety agencies, local governments, metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) and the private sector.

TSMO capability is assessed by conducting, typically, a multi-agency CMM workshop and determining one of four levels of capability for each dimension.

Level 1
Activities and relationships largely ad hoc, informal and champion-driven, substantially outside the mainstream of other DOT activities.
Level 2
Basic strategy applications understood; key processes support requirements identified and key technology and core capacities under development, but limited internal accountability and uneven alignment with external partners.
Level 3
Standardized strategy applications implemented in priority contexts and managed for performance; technical and business processes developed, documented, and integrated into DOT; partnerships aligned.
Level 4
Full, sustainable core DOT program priority, established on the basis of continuous improvement with top level management status and formal partnerships.

Additionally TSMO guidance suggests numerous Organizational Capability Elements or TSMO Strategies including:

Asset Management, Performance Management, Planning, Procurement, Programming/Budget/Funding, Project Development, Scoping, Economic Analysis of Reliability/Costs and Benefits, Evaluation of Operations Strategies, Performance Measurement, Reliability Predictive Models, Active Traffic Management/Travel Demand Management/Pricing, Arterial Traffic Control Device Operations, Emergency Transportation Operations, Freeway Operations, Freight Management Operations, Integrated Corridor Management, Planned Special Event Management, Project Systems Engineering, Regional Architectures, Road Weather Management, Roadway Geometric Design, Standards and Interoperability, System Architecture / Engineering, Testing, Verification & Validation (V&V), Traffic Incident Management, Traveler Information, Vehicle Systems/Connected Vehicles, Work Zone Management, Leadership/Championship, Outreach & Marketing, Program Status/Authorities, Technical Understanding, Education, Training & Professional Activities, Organizational Structure/Staffing, Program Status, Recruitment and Retention, Staff Development, Local government/MPO/RTPA cooperation, Outsourcing/PPP, and Public safety agency collaboration.