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Transforming Standards Development and Publishing

Organizations that develop and publish engineering standards carry a unique responsibility. Their specifications guide design practices, manufacturing methods, construction quality, and operational safety across entire industries. Yet behind every published standard is an enormous effort: coordinating committees, managing revisions, validating technical data, and keeping documents consistent across a growing library.
Transforming Standards Development and Publishing

For many standards bodies, these processes still depend on manual assembly and aging document repositories leading to inconsistency, slow revision cycles, and unnecessary administrative burden.

FACILEX® changes that paradigm by delivering a fully integrated environment for standards creation, review, approval, publication, and long-term lifecycle management. 

Governance, Control and Collaboration

Initially standards development demands a modern platform that manages the full lifecycle of developing new specifications. FACILEX® offers an end-to-end governance framework that aligns perfectly with the requirements of a committee-driven process.

1. Initiation of New Standards

  • Configurable request and scoping workflows
  • Structured templates for defining purpose, scope, and requirements
  • Automatic routing to the correct committees and subject matter experts

2. Development and Collaboration

  • Version-controlled workspaces
  • Integrated conversation threads and technical submittal tracking
  • Ability to attach supporting calculations, historical references, and legacy specifications

3. Review and Approval

  • Multi-stage committee reviews mapped to client’s governance model
  • Automated notifications, task assignments, and progress tracking
  • Full audit history of changes, reviewers, and decisions

SharePoint: The EDM Vault for Draft and Final Specifications

One of the most powerful features of the FACILEX® Standards & Practices solution is its SharePoint platform, as the secure, authoritative Electronic Document Management (EDM) vault.  SharePoint provides the most advanced commercial EDM capabilities available today:

A Secure, Structured Repository

  • Enterprise-grade permissions
  • Controlled access for committees, editors, and external collaborators
  • Full version history and recordkeeping for compliance

Work-In-Progress (WIP) Document Control

  • Draft specifications stored in a controlled environment
  • Roles-based visibility (e.g., “committee only” views)
  • Lifecycle state management: Draft → Review → Approved → Published

Final Specification Vault

  • Published documents stored with strict read-only governance
  • Automated metadata classification for indexing and retrieval
  • Native support for long-term retention and archival policies

Integrated with the FACILEX® Data Model

FACILEX® links every draft and published document directly to its:

  • lifecycle
  • technical data
  • related specifications
  • revision history
  • SQL data sources (where applicable)

The SharePoint platform delivers a context-rich knowledge repository, where every specification can be explored by relationships, history, and underlying data.

The Evolution: SQL-Driven Automated Specification Publishing

In addition to governance and lifecycle-based process management, FACILEX® unlocks something even more powerful: the ability to auto-generate full specifications from structured SQL datasets.

What once required hours of specialized document assembly—collecting tables, dimensions, materials, notes, and formatting can now be generated in minutes with perfect consistency.

Key Advantages

  • Single source of truth: All data resides in a governed SQL database.
  • Instant regeneration: Any data update can generate a new spec in seconds.
  • Template-driven formatting: Uniform style across every standard or specification.
  • Zero manual assembly: Eliminates human error and formatting drift.
  • Audit-ready: Committee-approved data flows directly into the published PDF.

Integrated .pdf document generation drives consistency, eliminates errors, and strengthens the quality and value of content in the library.

The Power of Integrated Reporting

Because FACILEX® captures every data element, document, and workflow interaction, it offers powerful reporting insights:

  • Which specs reference each dataset
  • Where a change will have downstream impact
  • Committee productivity and review timelines
  • Version comparisons and historical traceability
  • Metrics on usage, publication frequency, and aging documents

This connectivity transforms standards management from document tracking into a data-driven governance model.

Why Choose FACILEX®

Organizations that produce technical standards face common challenges:

  • Lengthy review cycles
  • Manual document preparation
  • Disconnected document repositories
  • Fragmented datasets
  • Growing demand for digital-ready content

FACILEX® offers an integrated, proven solution that addresses all of these through:

1. Lifecycle-based specification development

2. SharePoint-driven document governance

3. SQL-backed automated publishing

4. Rich metadata and reporting analytics

5. Centralized control of structured technical data

This is the future of standards publishing: a unified, data-centric, automated environment where governance, collaboration, and document control converge.

Conclusion

FACILEX® embodies what’s possible when modern digital tools are applied to standards development. What began as a platform for managing the creation and approval of specifications has grown into a fully integrated ecosystem, combining SharePoint’s enterprise EDM capabilities with a FACILEX® governance model and SQL-driven publishing engine.

The result is a faster, more accurate, and more consistent standards program that meets the expectations of today’s engineering community.

Standards organizations seeking to modernize their workflows, reduce administrative burden, and deliver higher-quality publications now have a clear, proven path forward.

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Gateway Group

Gateway Consulting Group has been a leader in information management solutions for over 30 years, helping businesses navigate complex challenges with a blend of cutting-edge technology and expert consulting. By tailoring solutions to each client's needs, Gateway ensures efficiency, compliance, and streamlined business processes. With decades of experience, Gateway continues to deliver best-in-class strategies that optimize information management, combining innovative tools with a deep understanding of industry requirements.

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