How could a facilities department use SharePoint?

Sure, a facilities group could use SharePoint 2007 site collections to work on their office files. That would be great. Well, how often is a facilities group working on office documents? It is likely that they are not as heavy office users as say an administrative assistant or technical writer. Maybe they are heavy Visio users and sure those files could be stored in document libraries on SharePoint.

Let’s think out side the box a bit. Let’s think a bit about the Ethernet interfaces that we find on almost every device in today’s connected world and there are many devices that have Ethernet interfaces on them. These are not just IT devices like print servers or wireless access points. Let’s think about it from a facilities perspective. A facilities group may own and operate many different systems from HVAC systems to cleaning equipment, flow meters or security systems among many others. These systems may have web interfaces that allow some sort of monitoring, alerting or management features. In some of my other writings I touch on creating a shared interface for a particular type of employee and this is where SharePoint could step in and play a role in a facilities departments use of SharePoint 2007.

SharePoint could be used to create a shared interface for a facilities group. This interface might contain a number of different web parts including custom link lists to web page viewers to contact lists.

• Populated with links to all of the HVAC log-on pages through out the company.
• The web page viewers will display the pages that are used to monitor the progress of the different flow meters.
• A custom vendor list could be established and populated.
• An on call calendar for the business to view to see who should be contacted in the event of an emergency.

The benefit in this scenario is a common shared interface established that contains links to important systems and information used by the facilities department. This common interface has web page viewers to critical systems that allows the team members to frequently view the status of the various systems. Additionally you establish a standard way of accessing these resources which simplifies training and documentation as the business grows.