FacilityPoint^TM Overview

Managing the approval process of facility use permits can be a daunting task for school districts, local governments, or any organization that makes their facilities available for public use. In fact, it can sometimes take up valuable time from several employees just to meet minimum requirements!

Interactive Design & Solutions offers a turn-key solution of streamlining the facility use permit approval process: FacilityPoint^TM. Our Microsoft® SharePoint® add-on solution allows educational and government offices to reduce the overall cost and task of facility use permit processing while improving customer service to the various groups requesting facilities.

What Does It Do?

FacilityPoint^TM allows public groups to initiate a request to use a facility (use permit) via the Web:

• The use permit request is then routed through an approval process, which can include any number of approval steps (i.e. routing through local clerical staff, custodial supervisors, government office administration, and accounting. Office personnel can easily approve, deny, or revise a facility use permit
• Public groups can check the status of their requests via the web
• Use permit requests can be managed right within an email inbox. For example, administrators receive an email notification when a request is created, custodial supervisor(s) receive email notifications when a request is approved by local staff, and the governing office receives email notification after it has been approved by the custodial supervisor
• Automatically calculates fees based on a schedule. Schedules can be changed based on the day of the week and hour (i.e. increased custodial/maintenance fee for events on weekends or after normal hours)
• All permits are versioned and audited, so a complete audit history is generated for each facility use request
• Disposition policies can be configured to archive or delete permits
• Office personnel can run reports on facility use and export use permit information to Microsoft® Excel® or generate calendar views to see all approved requests for selected facilities
• Supports equipment and furniture requests
• Supports six classes of users with associated use fees (commercial use permits vs. non-profit use permits)
• Supports minimum time bookings (i.e. four hours or more)
• Customizable list of personnel to receive copies of the approved use permit
• Supports notification of approved permits based on the facility or site reserved (i.e. a field supervisor can be notified anytime someone makes a reservation to use a field)
• Allows users to attach documentation to their request, such as an insurance certificate
• Supports custom legal notices for specific facilities.

How Does It Work?

Below is an illustration of a typical permit approval process. An online request is submitted from a public group to use a school site facility, such as an athletic field. Once the site approves the request, it is forwarded to the administrative services office for the purpose of determining any charges, securing insurance endorsements and determining the eligibility of the group requesting the use. If approved, the administrative services office sends out notification to custodial services, food services, security, or other personnel where necessary.

Lastly, any applicable charges to the outside groups are automatically submitted to the accounts receivable department for billing. The entire process is completed electronically via a Web and email interface-- so the learning curve for employees involved in the approval process is not steep at all.

Specifications

• Operating System: Microsoft Windows Server 2003/2008, All Editions
• Dual 2.5Ghz processors
• 4 GB Memory
• NTFS formatted partition with 3 GB of free space
• Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007
• Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 and 3.0
• Browser: Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 or greater is recommended for advanced administration features.
   

Licensing

We offer two FacilityPoint^TM licensing models:

1. One-Time Server License Fee. Your organization can purchase a FacilityPoint^TM server license for a one-time license fee. Under this model, the software is installed on hardware that your IT Department provides. We typically perform the installation and initial configuration for the IT Department, which we offer at a fixed cost plus any travel costs. The initial configuration fee includes two days of consulting (so that we can gather the necessary configuration information for the out-of-the-box permit approval process) and one day for training.
2. Annual Subscription Fee. Under the annual subscription model, your organization pays a one-time setup fee of for the initial configuration and an annual license fee (subscription fee), which includes hosting on hardware that we provide.

In addition to the license fee, we offer professional consulting services which can be used for product customization, ongoing technical assistance, and training. Our consulting services are billed on a time and materials basis, through the use of a consulting retainer.