Aurigo Software , North America’s leading capital planning and construction management solution provider, announced the launch of Aurigo Engage, an AI-based, secure, cloud-based application designed to collect and incorporate community feedback for public agencies during the capital planning process.
Gathering public feedback is mandatory on all infrastructure programs that use federal funds. Public agencies need their constituents to weigh-in on a project’s specific location, design, and impact to the community. Annually, tens of thousands of projects across the country go through this process. The earlier feedback can be incorporated on a project, the better. The recently-passed Infrastructure and Investment Jobs Act, a historic investment in Americas’ transportation, technology, and water infrastructure, will accelerate the need for agencies to publish, gather feedback, and get approval for their capital plans quickly.
Balaji Sreenivasan, CEO and founder of Aurigo Software said, “The public feedback process today is expensive, complex, and time-consuming. Our country will spend trillions on infrastructure in the next few years, and public sector leaders are looking for meaningful and equitable ways to connect with their constituents on these programs. Aurigo Engage allows our customers to harness the power of AI to speed up the delivery of infrastructure for their communities.”
Engage is an all-in-one public involvement platform that lets departments of transportation, metropolitan planning organizations, and other infrastructure owners publish their upcoming capital project information online. Members of the public connect to the platform through social media and provide feedback instantaneously. Using sentiment analysis and emotion AI, Engage categorizes, ranks, and displays feedback data so that agencies can quickly determine how best to respond. The system features an interactive, map-based public commenting portal, promotion tools, and real-time dashboards and reporting.
Historically, the public involvement process has relied on a variety of disconnected sources of feedback, including static websites, email, and in-person town hall meetings. These methods often hinder equal access for all members of the public due to lack of awareness, timing, and mobility constraints. Ultimately, this can cause rework for the agency and delay a project’s approval. Engage complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0, promising constituents an inclusive and easy to use platform to provide input on projects in their area.
“Digitalizing the process allows public agencies to connect with their constituents using modern technologies like social media,” said Ashish Agrawal, Aurigo’s Vice-President of Product Strategy and Marketing. “Artificial intelligence will save agencies hundreds of hours in processing time and provide richer feedback so that action can be taken quickly. This will ensure our nation’s investments in infrastructure meet the public’s needs.”
Engage will offer agencies an instant scorecard to analyze thousands of comments and identify themes, severity, and sentiment, reducing analysis time by up to 90 percent. This allows agencies to spend less time on analysis and more time incorporating the feedback into their capital plans.
The platform will integrate with Aurigo’s flagship capital management solution, Masterworks, used by public agencies across the U.S. and Canada to plan, build, and operate their infrastructure and facilities. Customers include departments of transportation in Nevada, Utah, and Massachusetts, and the cities of Houston, Las Vegas, and Seattle.
