Space Assessment – Using Sensors when Badge Data is Insufficient

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BACKGROUND

A multinational information and analytics company selected AVUITY to help them:

1. Understand space utilization rates within select facilities       
2. Determine if and where excess space existed 

Both goals emphasized the need to manage rising costs of real estate while maintaining appropriate facilities for their global workforce.

PROBLEM

Prior to working with AVUITY, this organization measured space utilization using badge access data collected from the corporate security system and imported into an Integrated Workplace Management System (IWMS) for analysis. However, the misuse and abuse of badges by several employees resulted in low utilization rates and caused the IWMS data to be incomplete and inaccurate. 

Furthermore, the badge system did not allow the organization to measure where employees spent their time while in the office. The organization’s leadership wanted to more accurately understand how employees moved about a space throughout the workday. Was it in conference rooms, individual desks, break rooms, etc.?  

SOLUTION

After a comprehensive review of the facilities, AVUITY stationed 350 VuAI sensors across two offices in Boston. The sensors were positioned over a variety of spaces including workstations, collaboration spaces and conference room seating, enabling a detailed view of how employees utilized the space. The sensors reported if a space was occupied at any time of the day and if it was occupied, how many people were actively using the space. All data was accessed in VuSpace, AVUITY’s analytics application, thereby allowing analysts at the organization to review reports on the specific seat utilization rates by hour, week and month by space type. Where badge data simply gave an aggregate number of employees in the building, sensor data was able to provide a detailed view of exactly how the space was used. 

Later, AVUITY trained members of the client’s team on the proper procedures for relocating the sensors. This has allowed the client to continuously monitor the spaces most relevant to their current questions and understand occupancy and utilization rates for their ever-changing office portfolio. 

RESULTS

Armed with access to historical and real-time utilization rates of these two key offices, the facility management leaders at the client were now equipped to make an informed decision about what to do when both building leases expired simultaneously. They renewed only one lease, with the knowledge that the second location could be easily absorbed into the first without any constraint on employee space needs. The elimination of the second lease saved the organization $1.3 million annually by eliminating the 25,697 SF floor.