Laravel development for a suite of facilities management applications

Summary

OnlineFM is a suite of facilities management applications I designed, built and run for a UK energy supplier. Three Laravel apps handle ticketing, permits to work and scheduling, tied together by a single sign-on hub. The ticketing system now has a native iOS app in TestFlight, so site teams can raise and manage jobs from their phones.

The problem

Facilities work across 8 sites was being managed through spreadsheets. Jobs were hard to track, compliance paperwork lived in different places, and there was no single view of what was happening across the estate.

What I built

Ticketing. The core of the platform. Staff raise maintenance and facilities issues, contractors pick them up, and every update sits in one conversation timeline against the ticket. Version 2 rebuilt the ticket view around a clear status summary so anyone opening a job can see where it stands at a glance.

Permits to work. Manages the approval process for hazardous or controlled work on site, so the right sign-offs are in place before a contractor starts.

Scheduling. Plans planned preventative maintenance and recurring work across the estate, with document storage for certificates and reports. The interface was redesigned in Filament around a consolidated colour system so status reads consistently across every screen.

Single sign-on. A central identity hub built on Laravel Passport lets users sign in once and move between all three apps with the right permissions.

Going mobile

Most facilities work happens away from a desk. The iOS app, built natively in Swift, gives site teams the ticketing system in their pocket: raising tickets, adding photos, updating status, replying to contractors. It authenticates through the same SSO hub using PKCE, so there’s one set of credentials and one permission model across web and mobile. It’s currently in TestFlight with a small group of users ahead of App Store release.

Infrastructure

The platform runs on Laravel Cloud (AWS London) behind Cloudflare’s WAF. Databases are backed up daily, and every app also runs an independent nightly backup to separate storage. Background tasks are scheduled for working hours so the platform can scale down overnight and keep hosting costs in line with actual use.

The outcome

OnlineFM gives facilities teams one place to track jobs, manage permits and coordinate work across multiple sites. Staff can see the status and history of a job without piecing together updates from spreadsheets and email. The mobile app is now being tested with site users to make that same workflow available where the work happens.