Unifying Campus Operations for a Small College
Problem
A small college was relying on a patchwork of emails, spreadsheets, and informal communication to manage essential daily operations. Meal counts were frequently inaccurate, causing unnecessary food waste. Maintenance issues were easily lost in inboxes, slowing response times. Important campus documents, calendars, and announcements were scattered across departments with no central hub. Even health and wellness notifications were inconsistent and difficult to track.
Most of this responsibility fell on a single administrator who spent entire days juggling messages, organizing information, and trying to keep various processes moving. The lack of structure not only slowed operations but also prevented the administrator from spending time where they made the biggest impact: building meaningful relationships with students.
Solution
To bring clarity and efficiency to campus life, the PowerApps911 team built a custom community application using Microsoft Power Apps and SharePoint. The solution consolidated multiple campus workflows into one unified platform, including:
Meal Count Management: Allowing students and faculty to sign out of meals or request special options such as vegetarian or sick meals, dramatically improving kitchen accuracy.
Maintenance Requests: Creating a simple, trackable process for reporting and resolving issues.
Guest Tracking: Providing easy logging for visitors to support hospitality and security.
Document & Calendar Sharing: Giving everyone a central location for campus resources and events.
Sick Notifications: Enabling fast reporting of illness or urgent health needs, with immediate alerts to staff.
Administrative Dashboard: Equipping staff with real‑time visibility into daily requests, counts, and alerts.
By consolidating these workflows, the app replaced chaos with clarity and organized the full spectrum of campus operations.
Impact
The app quickly became a core part of campus life. Operational processes that once consumed hours were handled within minutes. The kitchen saw a dramatic reduction in food waste thanks to accurate meal counts. Maintenance staff benefited from timely, trackable requests. Students and faculty gained a clearer, more consistent understanding of campus expectations and updates.
In one instance, the app even led to a life‑saving intervention: a student used the sick‑notification feature to request immediate help, triggering an instant response that ultimately led to the discovery of appendicitis at urgent care.
Beyond measurable efficiencies, the biggest impact was human. The administrator previously responsible for reigning in all of these processes regained the time and bandwidth to connect with students, support the campus community, and focus on meaningful work.
Broader Applicability
This solution demonstrates how digital transformation can strengthen both operations and community culture. Any organization struggling with decentralized communication or manual workflows can benefit from:
Centralized platforms that reduce administrative burden
Automated processes for time‑sensitive or repetitive tasks
Real‑time visibility that improves responsiveness
Clear communication channels that foster trust and connection
Resource tracking that reduces waste and supports better planning
When routine tasks are streamlined, organizations can spend less time managing logistics and more time focusing on people, turning technology into a force multiplier for human impact.
