June 3, 2004

Redesigned Facilities Management Web site to aid service

Facilities Management has launched a redesigned Web site that officials hope will help make the large department more user-friendly to those who rely on its services.

Facilities Management Department Assistant Denise Hawkinson said the goals of the redesign were to make the site more consistent with Northwestern Web standards and to better explain the department’s complicated structure.

“We are such a large department and we do so many diverse things that it’s easy to get confused,” Hawkinson said. “We had people who were calling our design department to get a lightbulb fixed. The new web site has an organizational chart that makes it clear we have separate offices within Facilities Management.”

The Office of Web Communications worked with Facilities Management officials since July 2003 in formulating new ideas for the redeveloped site, said Staci Roberts, director of the office. Roberts said the Office of Web Communications was able to add improvements such as an online request form for repairs and services, a format to submit online questions and receive customized answers and a staff contact list to the site.

Hawkinson said Facilities Management officials are confident the new site will give both internal and external users better access to every aspect of the department. To promote one of the site’s new features, Facilities Management will offer a $25 discount on work tickets submitted online for a limited time on a first-come, first-serve basis.

“A bulk of our customers use our site to find information on where to call us for repairs and services. If they could just submit those requests online, it would take out a step,” Hawkinson said

The site — www.northwestern.edu/fm/ — also includes an online survey asking users their opinion of the redesign.