1. Our Sharepoint System

Windows Sharepoint Services is the web-based collaboration and content management system that is included with Windows Server 2003. Here we see the Sharepoint site for our fictitious company, Jolly Roger Cruise Lines.
Right out of the box, Sharepoint provides us with an “Issue List” that we can use to manage passenger-related problems.
We’ve called this list “Passenger Issues” and as you can see, Jolly Roger already has a few complaints on their hands. As we drill into a particular issue, you can see the type of information that is already included when you create a new Issue List. While the Issue Record is completely customizable, the only thing we’ve done is specify options for the category field.
While Sharepoint provides this out-of-the-box solution for managing issues, Jolly Roger still needs a way for crew members to get the problem into Sharepoint since a web browser will not be available where they actually do the work.

2. On the device

At Jolly Roger, we want to be responsive to our passengers so we’ve issued Pocket PC devices with the PocketForms software so that our crew members can easily document passenger issues.
Let’s walk through the recording of an actual incident we just had on the aft deck.
We’ll use our Passenger Incident form to document a problem in the Kiddie Pool.
You know, they’ve come a long way with handwriting recognition and we can record the entire incident just like we were writing on paper.
You may have noticed earlier, another problem involving bad crabs served in our galley. I don’t think these issues are related.
We could save the report offline for later synchronization but since we happen to have a wireless connection, we’ll save it directly to the server. After all, we want to get this issue into the system without delay.
So where did the information go? We have a copy of it here on the Pocket PC, but as we shall see, it also has been saved into Sharepoint.

3. Back in Sharepoint

Back in Sharepoint, let’s take another look at the Passenger Issues List. You can see that our problem at the Kiddie Pool is now listed.
Sharepoint includes built-in functionality for assigning responsibility, tracking due dates and managing information relating to a particular issue. Through integration with Microsoft Office, you have an effective means of associating action plans for resolving the issue. You can even set up alerts.

4. Email

This “Alerts” feature can be configured to send you an Email notification whenever new issues are recorded. This Email includes a link to our Kiddie Pool issue so we can quickly formulate a resolution to the problem.

5. Summary

So in this brief demonstration, we’ve shown how PocketForms can extend the capabilities of Sharepoint to your mobile work force. In case you are wondering, this entire solution was put together in less than 10-minutes and required no special programming skills. Give us a call to discuss how PocketForms can be used to mobilize your work force.