Introduction
Welcome to the MDOT AASHTOWare Project Construction & Materials Software Manual!
AASHTOWare Project Construction & Materials is a fast, easy-to-use, web-based system for documenting construction progress, initiating contractor payment, and communicating with your agency's central office administration applications. Construction & Materials focuses on refining the work flow of construction contract management at all agency levels. With Construction & Materials, the field office can manage field-gathered data and then interface with a central office. Construction & Materials allows several users to update contract information, and it implements a shared database to expand an agency's data sharing ability. This user's guide is the key to discovering Construction & Materials’ vast capabilities and is a valuable resource both for novice and experienced users.
For more background information regarding AASHTOWare Project software visit the AASHTOWare Project webpage or the AASHTOWare Project Construction & Materials webpage.
Construction Technology News
July 29, 2026
July brought its familiar combination of intense construction activity, high temperatures, humidity, and frequent detours — all of which can add extra strain during an already busy season. The good news is that recent improvements, both out in the field and within our systems, are designed to help ease that workload and support a smoother workflow as we move forward. Before diving into the updates, let’s take a moment to pause, breathe, and reset.
Report Updates
- Category Status Report – This report has been updated to provide a comprehensive summary of the contract category/categories within a project.
DWR Screen Updates for Aggregates
Inspectors may notice a new field in the materials area of their DWR item posting screen. The "Supplier/Redistributor" was just added as part of preparation for aggregate tracking, sampling and testing. Currently, no action is required for inspectors regarding this new field. Please continue to complete the DWR in the same manner as you have been. Additional guidance and instructions for using this field will be provided as MDOT moves forward with implementing aggregate processes within APCM.
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Did you know?...
New Contract items need to be added to an awarded contract through a change order, via, the New Items section, or through the Unattached Items section for attaching unattached items to the contract. If you need to add a new item to an awarded contract, please add them by selecting _7000 item that has the correct units of measure, and assign the item name to the item.
An unattached item is an item that was added to the contract after the contract was executed. Unattached items are included in contract categories and can be tracked on daily work reports but are not recognized as contract items by the system and cannot be included in a contract payment until they are added to the contract through a change order and the change order is approved.
To view previous news articles, visit the Construction Technology News Archive.
Recent Updates
Recent Major Changes
The table below is a list of Major changes.
| Updated | Page | Summary | What Changed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Daily Work Reports | Removed Material Comments and Sources section and updated New section related to Posting Item and Material Quantities to a Daily Work Report | See what changed here. | |
| Contract Administration | New section related to Adding Subcontracts | See what changed here. | |
| Created new page for related content | N/A | ||
| Uploaded manual. | N/A |
Recent Minor Changes
The table below is a list of Minor changes.
| Updated | Page | Summary | What Changed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Change Orders | Updated content related to verifying funding source. Funding field is no longer shown on the screen in APCM, Related bullet point removed from following Change Order Sections: | See what changed here. | |
| Change Orders | Updated content related to verifying funding source in the following Change Order Sections: | See what changed here. | |
| Daily Work Reports | Added note specifically related to Approving Daily Work Reports | See what changed here. | |
| Main Page | Update related to the release of AASHTOWare Project 5.00 | See Construction Technology News | |
| Special Topics | Created new Special Topics Page for Final Project Review Reporting | See what changed here. | |
| Contract Administration | Created section related to Transferring Contracts Between Offices | See what changed here. | |
| Contract Administration - Closing and Archiving a Contract | Updated steps for Closing and Archiving a Contract. | See what changed here. | |
| Mobile Applications | Provided content related to Syncing Contracts with Mobile Inspector | Next section added [here] | |
| Change Orders | Minor updates to clarify use of New Items tab for a change order. | Changed title of Contract Items section and added explanation note to adding new items. | |
| Access and Roles - Available Roles | Added page to main menu and added role names and descriptions to page. | Tables for abbreviations and role names | |
| Contract Administration - Closing and Archiving a Contract | Updated the Workflow Phase selection when archiving a contract. | "Archived Contract" was changed to "Finance Closeout" |
Tracked Known Issues
Most Recent Identified Known Issues
| Issue Number | Area of Impact | Description | Date Identified | Workaround | Fix Plan | Fix Status | Manual Reference Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | System Wide | When running a report that outputs in an Microsoft Excel file or other Microsoft Office file format, the report does not download and the system provides an ".htm" file that shows an error | 6/15/2022 | N/A | User needs to udpate Microsoft Edge settings | Closed | Updating Microsoft Edge Settings for Reports |
| 4 | Payments, Insufficient Materials | An update appears to have cause some materials that previously were approved to now show as insufficient. | 9/1/2022 | N/A | The issues has been verified to be inconsistent sources listed on DWRs and Sample Records. Office Technicians and Inspectors are advised to take note and care when recording material sources in the system. Reports are being developed to assist with data verification. | Closed | |
| 5 | Payments, $0 priced items | $0 priced items can cause the create payment estimate process to stop when a $0 priced item has any type of payment estimate exception that causes a payment item adjustment (insufficient material, overrun, etc.). | 11/2/2022 | Office Technicians are encouraged to process all material approvals and change orders prior to creating estimates. A DWR temporarily backing out the posting of the $0 priced item, with a negative posting, can temporarily allow estimates to be created until the proper material approvals and change orders for the $0 priced items can be processed. Once material approvals and change orders are processed to avoid payment exceptions, a followup DWR can be made to restore the original item posting. | TBD | Pending | |
| 6 | DWR, Item Quantities | On a DWR, an error is being returned when trying to post item quantities to the third decimal place. (example: 0.123) | 3/15/2023 | N/A | An emergency ticket has been submitted to DTMB to allow three decimal places for postings. | Pending | |
| 7 | Subcontracts, Approval Dates, DWR, Item Quantities | The 4.8 upgrade process appears to have caused data loss of the already entered approval dates for subcontracts. This is preventing the posting of quantities to subcontractors. | 3/15/2023 | The approval date can be manually re-entered to allow postings. | An emergency Ticket has been submitted to DTMB to restore the missing data. | Pending |
Tracked Issues Complete List
The complete list of tracked known issues can be found on the Known Issues List page.
Support Information
AASHTOWare Construction & Materials Helpdesk
[email protected]
Preamble
This manual provides guidance to administrative, engineering, and technical staff. Engineering practice requires that professionals use a combination of technical skills and judgment in decision making. Engineering judgment is necessary to allow decisions to account for unique site-specific conditions and considerations to provide high quality products, within budget, and to protect the public health, safety, and welfare. This manual provides the general operational guidelines; however, it is understood that adaptation, adjustments, and deviations are sometimes necessary. Innovation is a key foundational element to advance the state of engineering practice and develop more effective and efficient engineering solutions and materials. As such, it is essential that our engineering manuals provide a vehicle to promote, pilot, or implement technologies or practices that provide efficiencies and quality products, while maintaining the safety, health, and welfare of the public. It is expected when making significant or impactful deviations from the technical information from these guidance materials, that reasonable consultations with experts, technical committees, and/or policy setting bodies occur prior to actions within the timeframes allowed. It is also expected that these consultations will eliminate any potential conflicts of interest, perceived or otherwise. MDOT Leadership is committed to a culture of innovation to optimize engineering solutions. The National Society of Professional Engineers Code of Ethics for Engineering is founded on six fundamental canons. Those canons are provided below. Engineers, in the fulfillment of their professional duties, shall:
- Hold paramount the safety, health, and welfare of the public.
- Perform Services only in areas of their competence.
- Issue public statement only in an objective and truthful manner.
- Act for each employer or client as faithful agents or trustees.
- Avoid deceptive acts.
- Conduct themselves honorably, reasonably, ethically and lawfully so as to enhance the honor, reputation, and usefulness of the profession.
Additional information about MDOT Construction Practices and Policies can be found on the Wiki Construction Manual.
For additional information about the AASHTOWare Wiki and to submit revision suggestions, please contact the AASHTOWare Construction & Materials Helpdesk.
