Facility Logbook

I returned from the United States on March 15, 2013, and had the opportunity to secure a position as an Application Architect for Web and Mobile Technologies at Schneider Electric France.

As a reminder, Schneider Electric operates in more than 100 countries, generates around €23 billion in revenue, and employs over 135,000 people. The company is so large that, in certain fast-moving segments, internal “startup-like” teams are created to move more quickly.

I’m fortunate to be the lead architect on a very innovative project called Facility Logbook. The idea is to enable facility managers to manage all the facilities they are responsible for directly from their smartphones.

This is a major project for Schneider Electric, as it helps generate high-quality leads, track equipment already deployed in the field (including assets that may have been lost or whose location is unknown), and unlock new business opportunities. There are many other features I can’t disclose that also contribute to Schneider’s business.


What I’m bringing to the project

I was selected for this project because of my expertise in cross-platform mobile application development. I built my reputation in Boston by constantly exploring and promoting new technologies I discovered and tested at hackathons and meetups, as well as through my work on mobile strategy and technology choices.

I helped the group’s Strategy & Innovation team accelerate on mobile initiatives by contributing to the acquisition of a mobile agency. Acquiring expertise is often faster than building it from scratch.

In short, my role is to leverage hybrid cross-platform technologies to maintain a single codebase capable of targeting all devices in an ATAWAD (Any Time, Anywhere, Any Device) approach for the development of Facility Logbook. I will be responsible for defining the architecture of both the mobile application and the backend, and for collaborating with other Schneider Electric teams to integrate the new application into the existing ecosystem of production and commercially available applications. Everything will be developed in JavaScript (front/mobile + backend). I will not only design the architecture but also develop. Everything will be hosted on AWS. In our office we only have one single Mac OSX server to build and deploy our iOS app on the AppStore.


Here is the result after 6 months of intense development. You can scan QR code, use the flashlight and it works offline because facility manager operates sometimes in basements. Even though it’s developed in JavaScript there is no limitation. It’s a hybrid app with native bridges (Phonegap/ Cordova).

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Finally the facility manager becomes a facility hero.

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