National ITS Architecture

Turbo Architecture

Quick Start

Version 4.1

Prepared by the
National ITS Architecture Team

Prepared for:
Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA)
US Department of Transportation
Washington, DC 20590

March 2009
National ITS Architecture Turbo Architecture V4.1

Turbo Architecture 4.1 Quick Start

Welcome to Version 4.1 of Turbo Architecture! Turbo Architecture is a powerful tool for creating and
maintaining Regional and Project ITS Architectures using the National ITS Architecture. It supports many
of the requirements defined in FHWAs Final Rule and FTA Policy, which implement section 5206(e) of
st
the Transportation Equity Act for the 21 Century (TEA-21), which requires ITS projects funded through
the Highway Trust Fund to conform to the National ITS Architecture and applicable standards. Turbo
Architecture is based on the National ITS Architecture. Refer to the National ITS Architecture CD-ROM or
program website, http://www.its.dot.gov/arch/arch.htm, for more information.
Turbo Architecture functionality has been modeled after a representative process for creating Regional
ITS Architectures in the Regional ITS Architecture Guidance document (USDOT EDL document #14317,
http://www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/regitsarchguide/index.htm). That document describes a
representative process for creating Regional ITS Architectures with supporting examples for each
architecture product and discusses mainstreaming ITS into the planning and project development
processes.
If it has been a while since you used Turbo Architecture, we recommend you read and/or reference the
Turbo Architecture Users Manual. For the installation of Turbo Architecture, please use the Turbo
Architecture Installation Guide. If you would like a rundown of new features, please reference the Turbo
Architecture Whats New document. If you need help converting a file from a previous version of Turbo
Architecture, please reference the Turbo Architecture Conversion Manual. This Quick Start guide
introduces you to Turbo Architecture and leads you through the recent changes. In short, this is the
information that you need to get started.

Gathering the Data You Need

The following steps will help you to begin design of a Regional or Project ITS Architecture:
1. Interact with the stakeholders. Learn their issues and requirements.
2. Review previously generated documentation concerning ITS in the region
a. The Early Deployment Plan or an ITS Strategic Plan, if you have one, will include the user
needs and an inventory of required centers, elements, systems, etc.
b. Plans and studies identify regional transportation priorities and implementation time frames.
c. The USDOT Deployment Tracking Questionnaire, if your region participated in this process,
provides specifics on ITS in the region.
3. Review the Regional ITS Architecture Guidance document.
4. If you have identified user needs for your region, refer to the National ITS Architecture Market
Packages document for information about how to convert these needs to market packages that
can be entered into Turbo Architecture.
5. Have on hand the National ITS Architecture CD-ROM or use the web site, for access to the
National ITS Architecture.
In general, to effectively use the Turbo Architecture tool, you will need a fairly complete understanding of
the stakeholders, centers, elements, and services that are involved in the architecture(s) you wish to
develop.
IMPORTANT: To access the Turbo Architecture Manuals, select StartPrograms National
ArchitectureTurbo Documents, and select the appropriate manual in the Turbo Documents directory.

Whats New in Turbo Architecture

Reference the Turbo Architecture Whats New document for details on the new features in Turbo
Architecture 4.1.

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Installing Turbo Architecture

To install Turbo, first make sure that no other programs (e.g., email, virus protection) are running. Go to
the web site: http://www.its.dot.gov/arch/arch.htm, click on the link for Turbo Architecture, and follow the
instructions to download the SetupTurbo file to your computer.
Run this SetupTurbo file to install the software, load the sample databases, and copy the Turbo
documents to your computer.
On some PCs, you may be asked to reboot several times so that the system software that Turbo uses
can be upgraded. Reference the Turbo Architecture Installation Guide for more details on installing Turbo
Architecture.

Starting Turbo Architecture 4.1

After successfully installing Turbo Architecture, you can start the tool by doing one of the following:
Double click on the Turbo 4.1 icon on the Windows Desktop, or
Double click the Turbo41.exe file in the Program Files/National Architecture directory or where
it was placed, or
Select StartProgramsNational ArchitectureTurbo 4.1, or the program manager group
name created during installation to run the tool.
The initial Main Menu appears as depicted in Figure 1 below:

Figure 1. Turbo Architecture Main Menu

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Using Turbo Architecture for the First Time

1. There are two ways to proceed.
a. If you want to create a new Turbo Architecture database file or open an existing file before
opening an architecture, from the menubar pulldown, select File => New to create a
database file, or File => Open to open an existing file. The next thing you need to do is to
create or open an architecture in this file. To create a new Regional ITS Architecture, select
the New button in the Regional area on the Start tab. In the same manner, to create a
new project ITS architecture, select the New button in the Project area on the Start tab.
To open an existing architecture, select a name from the existing Regional ITS Architecture
or the list of Project ITS Architectures on this window.
b. If you wish to create a new architecture first on the Start tab before naming a database file,
you may place this architecture into a new file later during the Save or Save As operation
and enter the appropriate filename (this architecture may not be placed into an existing file in
this way). To create a new architecture, select either of the New buttons on the Start tab.
2. The Interview is optional depending on your expertise using Turbo Architecture to build ITS
architectures.
a. You can begin the Interview only if you are creating a new architecture.
b. You can continue the Interview if you previously chose to Quit the Interview for Now.
c. If you chose Exit Interview the interview process cannot be used again for that architecture.
3. The architecture definition process generally follows the Turbo Architecture tabs:
a. Start tab fill in your architecture attributes
b. Stakeholders tab - Define and group your stakeholders.
c. Inventory tab - Create or update the system inventory.
d. Services tab - Make or update market package selections.
e. Ops Concept tab Define and manage Roles & Responsibilities for your stakeholders and
link them to your Architecture.
f. Requirements tab Define and manage Functional Requirements for your architecture
elements.
g. Interfaces tab - Build and customize the interconnects and the information or architecture
flows of your architecture.
h. Standards tab Define and manage your ITS standards relationship to your architecture.
i. Agreements tab Reference your agreements between stakeholders and link the
agreements to specific projects.
You are likely to iterate back and forth between tabs before initiating the architecture Build and as you
add new elements or new services after an initial architecture is built. The following steps define this
process in more detail.
4. You may now begin to create, or continue development of, the architecture:
a. Begin the Interview (this is optional and available if creating a new architecture).
b. Continue the Interview (if you previously left the Interview by Quit the Interview for Now; if
you chose Exit Interview the interview process cannot be used again for that architecture).
c. Enter via the tabs, namely, Start, Stakeholders, Inventory, Services, OpsConcept,
Requirements, Interfaces, Standards and Agreements, to follow a typical
architecture creation process.
d. Use the pulldown menus File, Edit, Tools, Output, and Help, to manage files
including importing a Regional or Project ITS Architecture from another database file, typical
Windows editing features, extending the architecture and status values, checking potential
request and information flow discrepancies, providing a wide variety of reports and diagrams
as well as help when you need it. Merging a project into the Regional Architecture in the
current database could also be done at this time, and is found as an option on the Start tab.

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5. The following list includes more detail on creating the architecture using the above features. The
tabs are used to create the actual architecture data. These tabs allow the user to add or display
additional information about the architecture such as the operational concept, functional
requirements, and a list of agreements between stakeholders. To define the initial architecture
data, the following tabs are used:
a. Start tab allows you to begin or select one Regional ITS Architecture or from multiple Project
ITS Architectures. It also allows you to track changes made to the database using the
Change Log or to enter a list of other architectures that are stored in other database files but
may be related to your architectures, e.g. a statewide architecture, or an adjacent citys
architecture.
b. Stakeholders tab is where you may define new (or modify existing) stakeholders as well as
create or modify stakeholder groups. These stakeholders can be associated later with
inventory elements, operational concepts roles and responsibilities, and agreements.
c. Inventory tab is where you define the element inventory. Elements are mapped to
architecture stakeholders, entities (subsystems, terminators, and user defined entities), and
in some cases to projects in this window. An element can also be defined as an instance of a
parent element, or as being related to an element in another architecture file.
d. Services tab is used to define the services that are desired for the architecture in the form of
market packages or market package instances. A set of National ITS Architecture market
packages is selected (review the National ITS Architecture CD-ROM or web site,
http://www.its.dot.gov/arch/arch.htm). Architecture elements and projects are associated with
the selected market packages to be part of the architecture on this tab.
e. Ops Concept tab, which is shorthand for Operational Concept, is used to define Role and
Responsibility Areas, possibly based on the current Market Package choices, and assign
roles and responsibilities to stakeholders defined for your architecture.
f. Requirements tab allows you to select and/or define functional requirements for each
element in your architecture. You can use the Autoselect button to let Turbo look at the
element/entity mappings and the services selected to preselect a set of Functional Areas for
your architecture. Individual requirements can then be selected and tailored.
g. Interfaces tab is where you build and tailor your architecture.
Depending whether or not a previous build was done, there may or may not be
interconnects or architecture flows already listed on this tab. To build the architecture,
i.e., to add all the newly defined inventory elements or changes/additions made on the
Services tab, select the Build button. Read and follow the instructions you have the
option to display an Inventory to Market Package Comparison report, establish settings
for this Build, then Build the architecture. If you choose to Apply the additions to the
architecture, you will see the message, The identified changes were successfully made.
Use the Interfaces tab to tailor the architecture to your specific needs.
At this point you have created or modified an architecture and can move on to the other
features on the Interfaces tab.
The primary views of the Interfaces tab are Connect and Flows. These views
provide you with an editable list of the higher-level interconnects between elements (via
the Connect view) and the lower-level architecture flows between elements (via the
Flows view). These mappings can and should be customized on this tab.
h. Standards tab allows you to see what ITS standards relate to your previously built
architecture. This tab provides you with the capability to modify which standards are mapped
to your architecture as well as defining new standards or standards groups and connecting
these new or previously defined standards to architecture flows.
i. Agreements tab allows you to reference agreements by their number and title and link the
agreements to ITS stakeholders and projects.
6. After the element inventory has been created and the architecture is built, you have access to
reports and diagrams via the Output pulldown menu which can be viewed and/or printed (Note:

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Before any architecture flows (interfaces) are built, there is no data available for most reports and
diagrams). Other reports are dependent on whether their content has been added into Turbo
Architecture before they will display any information (e.g., you must define your stakeholders in
order to get anything meaningful from the Stakeholders report). Turbo Architecture has a
myriad of filtering options that control what you view in the report or diagram. The output from
certain diagrams may be exported to other software tools, such as, PowerPoint or Visio. Reports
may also be saved in a format that software tools, such as Excel and Word, may use.
7. A new feature on the Output pulldown menu is to create Web Pages from the Turbo Architecture
database. This makes it easy to generate user-friendly, accessible output to promote further
usage of the regional architecture.
All the operations and functions described above are covered in more detail in the Turbo Architecture
Users Manual document.
Using Turbo Architecture to Convert Files from Previous Versions
Converting a file created in a previous version of Turbo Architecture requires you to make some
decisions. You will probably want to review the contents of what was actually converted or, in some
cases, discontinued. Reference the Turbo Architecture Conversion document for details on Turbo
Architecture file conversion.
Where to Find Additional Help
The web site for the US DOTs National ITS Architecture program http://www.its.dot.gov/arch/arch.htm is
the main resource. Click on the Turbo Architecture link to be directed to the latest software to download
as well as the updated answers to frequently asked questions and other Turbo documentation.
The Turbo Architecture Support Email address is turbo@iteris.com.
The Turbo Architecture Support Phone # is (800) 260-1001.

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