Tag: Integrated Workplace Management System (IWMS)

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Seven Benefits of Wayfinding for Colleges

Every year, colleges across the country welcome a new crop of students. They join upperclassmen, faculty, maintenance staff, support workers, and dozens of other groups present on campus. And, for the first few weeks of the year, campus is relatively chaotic as everyone figures out their new routine. Universities looking to ease this chaos benefit enormously from wayfinding.

Wayfinding doesn’t just help the new crop of students get their bearings; it’s useful to anyone on campus, no matter how well they already know the environment. It’s important to remember that wayfinding isn’t only about knowing where things are or how to get to them—it’s also about navigating the space fluidly. As campus operations directors and facility managers seek to improve the campus experience for everyone on it, wayfinding stands as a great opportunity.

What is wayfinding?

Wayfinding is a support system that helps students, faculty, staff, visitors, and anyone else on a college campus understand where they are, and help them get to where they want to go. It can be as simple as a digital campus map or as complex as turn-by-turn directions to a specific room in a particular building. Whatever features it offers, the goal of a wayfinding solution is to make navigating campus simpler and more efficient.

These days, most wayfinding solutions come in the form of an app or a cloud system. This allows users to unlock their smartphone and instantly access the campus information they need. Look up a professor and find directions to their office. Look up a class to figure out where it’s meeting today. Chart a course from your dorm room to a building you’ve never been in before. It’s all possible through wayfinding—that, and simply being able to see where amenities or emergency services are at a glance.

Wayfinding refers to the process of navigating and orienting oneself within a physical environment, such as a building, campus, or public space. It involves using visual cues, signage, maps, and other information to understand and follow a path or reach a specific destination. Wayfinding helps individuals understand their current location, identify points of interest, and determine the best route to their desired destination.

The main goal of wayfinding is to provide clear and intuitive guidance to users, ensuring they can navigate a space efficiently, safely, and without confusion. Effective wayfinding design takes into consideration factors such as the layout of the environment, the needs and abilities of the users, and the context in which the navigation is taking place.

The benefits of wayfinding for schools

The robust capabilities of modern wayfinding for schools and colleges come with many benefits that make it a great investment. Here’s a look at seven of the most prominent benefits associated with campus wayfinding:

  1. Alleviate congestion. With thousands of people walking around campus at any given time, it’s important to modulate traffic. Wayfinding can ease congestion by suggesting alternate routes at certain times of the day, or even providing real-time updates on areas where overcrowding is an issue.
  2. Improve navigability. Whether they know where they’re going or have no clue where they are, wayfinding makes navigating large campuses simpler for everyone. Condensing the sprawl of campus to a smartphone-sized map enables better decision-making by students—especially when they’re racing the clock.
  3. Reduce disruption. Nothing interrupts a class like someone walking in because they have the wrong room. Likewise, not everyone has time to stop and give directions to a hurried passerby. Wayfinding reduces these types of disruptions by giving everyone the power to get to where they need to go.
  4. Ease transitions. Professionals and students alike have places to be after class ends. Wayfinding helps them chart the way so that they can arrive on-time composed and ready for the next item on their itinerary. It’s a simple way to reduce instances of flustered faculty and winded students so that class can start on-time.
  5. Familiarize campus. College campuses are privy to a number of visitors—everyone from pizza delivery drivers to visiting friends and family. These individuals need a way to get familiar with campus instantly, so they can find the people and places they’re looking for. Wayfinding provides necessary context.
  6. Emergency action. Where’s the nearest first-aid station? Where are campus police located? Where’s the emergency exit in this building? These are important questions that wayfinding can answer, to empower greater safety on campus. It’s an instant way for someone to get their bearings in a dire situation.
  7. Improve accessibility. From wheelchair-bound persons to those with special needs, wayfinding is a tool for making life on campus easier. It can show where handicap access is or where certain facilities are, to empower those with accessibility needs to better-navigate campus in a way that supports them fully.

Wayfinding’s numerous benefits make it something anyone on campus can and should use. Universities that encourage a wayfinding-first approach to acclimating on campus will find themselves with a campus population that’s more adept at navigating and more comfortable with the environment.

Everyone on campus benefits from wayfinding

For new students, wayfinding is a vital tool for getting familiar with campus. For returning students and seasoned faculty, it’s the key to finding the quickest route to wherever they need to be. For visitors, it’s an abundance of information that makes finding specific people and places easy. Everyone can use a campus wayfinding app to improve their interaction with the university and the many buildings under its purview.

Whether it’s a campus spread throughout a city or one with sprawling grounds, wayfinding helps students get to class and everyone else get to where they’re going. Moreover, it does so with experience, efficiency, ease, and expedience.

Keep reading: Facilities Management Software for Schools

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12 Benefits of Wayfinding for Campus Environments

Business colleagues walking and talking

Many companies operate on campuses. They have multiple buildings designated for different purposes, with staff fluttering between them. Akin to anthills and beehives, there’s constant activity on corporate campuses, with everyone working hard to get from one destination to the next quickly and without delay. Consider the many people, destinations, buildings, and routes this involves and it’s not difficult to see the benefits of wayfinding.

For seasoned employees, getting from one place to another on a corporate campus might be a breeze. Even still, these experts can still get tripped up attending a meeting in a room they’ve never been to in a building they rarely visit. Now, think about a new employee or a visitor—someone who’s never been outside of an admin building. For these folks, wayfinding is downright essential.

What is wayfinding?

Wayfinding in a corporate setting is the act of providing context for movements within facilities. It could be as simple as numbering rooms or as robust as an app that offers step-by-step directions for guests who’ve never visited the building before. The purpose of wayfinding is to make navigating easy—whether to find a person, place, or specific type of space. On a campus, this type of system is even more important, since navigable space goes far beyond a single floor or building.

12 benefits of wayfinding software on campuses

Not only does it take time for people to traverse campuses to get from one destination to another, there are more routes to use. Moreover, it’s easier to get lost or lose your bearings going from one building to another. The benefits of implementing a wayfinding system on a corporate campus are invaluable in saving time, improving experience, and even bolstering productivity.

  1. Space location and utilization. Marc needs a standing desk. Roselia prefers a quiet workstation. Emile needs a 12-person conference room in Building X. Wayfinding is the quickest way to connect need with space. It’s a direct route to the best available workspace.
  2. Efficient employee movement. Getting lost on a corporate campus can result in lots of wasted time and lost productivity. Employees avoid detours, reduce backtracking, and shave minutes off their route when the quickest path is right in the palm of their hands.
  3. Improved employee confidence. Wayfinding offers a straightforward path to the destination, to give employees confidence while they navigate new or unfamiliar areas of the campus. This is vital for new employees as they get acclimated.
  4. Welcoming to visitors/guests. Guests need to know exactly where they’re going on a campus. A wayfinding solution instantly improves the visitor experience. Guests won’t need to stop and ask for directions or spend time trying to call or text the person they’re meeting.
  5. Easy directory integration. If Lenore needs to meet with Rajesh, she can locate him via the wayfinding directory and get instant directions to his desk. This is particularly useful in flex spaces, where employee location hinges on personal devices or current bookings.
  6. Robust software integration. Need to book a hotel desk en-route to a building? Wayfinding integrations make space accessible on-the-go. Book the space from the wayfinding app and get instant directions to it.
  7. Employee autonomy. On free-assign campuses, it’s important for employees to own a sense of autonomy. Wayfinding gives them that freedom. Whether they want a quiet workspace, somewhere near the cafeteria, or a desk with a view, exploring is simpler.
  8. Increased productivity. Employees spend less time wandering the campus and more time getting settled into their workspace comfortably. There’s also a certain productivity in understanding your bearings—you’re less out of your element when you know exactly where you are.
  9. Better space utilization. Wayfinding opens the door to spaces employees might not know about or think to use. When they know where these spaces are and how to get to them, they’ll use them, which boosts campus-wide space utilization metrics.
  10. Contextualized campuses. Wayfinding puts the campus in context, no matter how large it is. As they navigate around, employees become more familiar with where spaces are, what utilities they’re near, how to use certain spaces, and what the best routes are.
  11. Improved safety. Intelligent wayfinding systems can account for campus construction, on-site hazards, and other obstructions. They’re smart enough to navigate people around the problem, so they get to where they’re going quickly and safely.
  12. Better traffic flow on campus. Every campus has common areas and high traffic thoroughfares. Like a car’s GPS, smart wayfinding can route and re-route people across campus to avoid pile-ups and bottlenecks in well-traveled areas.

Wayfinding on campuses is essential. Even for those who are intimately familiar with the campus environment, the ability to rely on wayfinding software for routing and quick answers is key in helping the campus environment feel smaller and more personal.

Make navigation simpler

Employees will eventually get to the point where they don’t rely on wayfinding. That said, wayfinding is still a tool available to them for specific uses—booking a desk, finding a person, or locating an asset, for example. Whether they use it daily or only as-needed, wayfinding is the backbone of any corporate campus and the ebb and flow of movement throughout it.

Keep reading: The Five Major Pillars of a Wayfinding Program

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Workplace Thought Leadership

Leveraging BIM for Maximum Returns

Office buildings background generated with a CAD software for architectural design, showing constuction plans, blueprint and structure. All models and plans are available in my portfolio.

By Nick Stefanidakis
General Manager, Archibus
SpaceIQ

As the world population continues to grow, the demand for urban and industrial construction projects will also carry on at a massive scale. Building information modeling (BIM) systems are playing a vital role in this development, with both government and private sector groups seeking more efficient, collaborative ways to build roads, skyscrapers, tunnels, and more.

BIM software is so effective that countries like Abu Dhabi and the UAE now require its use for all major construction projects. Other countries are following suit, and the BIM market is estimated to reach a value of $9.81 billion by 2026.

The COVID-19 pandemic has further increased the demand for BIM, which helps construction companies adhere to safety and distancing requirements. (Global use of Autodesk, one of the most popular BIM software options, increased by 350% in the first quarter of 2020.)

Clearly, BIM software is quickly becoming the new standard in the construction industry. But what are the top benefits of using BIM during the construction process? And how can construction companies leverage the technology to the fullest?

A quick guide to BIM 

Like blueprints and CAD software that came before, BIM is fast becoming the standard for drafting, designing, and visualizing any construction project. But unlike past methods, BIM is highly intelligent and collaborative.

Changes to the design are updated and stored automatically in a common data environment, so architects and contractors can immediately observe these changes. In addition, small tweaks to any element of the 3D model flow through to the entire building, which helps maintain consistency and accuracy.

Design is just one element of BIM, however. The software also offers features like scheduling, cost estimations, budget analysis, energy consumption, and more.

Ways to leverage BIM data

The advantages of BIM data go well beyond 3D modeling. But leveraging BIM requires a thorough understanding of how the software can help a particular segment. For example, for those looking to use BIM to FM (facility management) purposes, the manager should first define their needs, make a data storage plan, and then classify information.

Here are other ways architects, construction firms, capital project managers, and operations and maintenance professionals can successfully leverage BIM data:

  • GPS and drones. Every 3D design starts with a point cloud, and that point can sometimes take weeks to come up with. However, GPS software and drones can be used to get quick, accurate, and detailed measurements as a launching point for BIM designs.
  • Laser scanning. Laser scanning is the best way to outline existing structures that may clash with a new construction project. This information can be directly imported into BIM software, making it easy for architects to design buildings with minimal rework.
  • Mobile apps. Owners can now use BIM software like Autodesk anywhere they go, thanks to mobile apps that can communicate both internally and externally to immediately reflect design changes.
  • Project management software. Integrating BIM data with project management software helps to further streamline the entire construction process, from the initial sketches to completion.

Maximize BIM with the right tech

BIM offers many clear benefits, allowing companies to build in a more streamlined, cost-effective, sustainable fashion.  Combined with an open project management tool that integrates flawlessly with Autodesk and other BIM software, like Archibus, stakeholders are able to access vital information that keeps them on track with their goals.

Greater Cost Savings & Predictability

Capital projects present many budgeting challenges, with 30% of construction costs coming from rework and 55% of maintenance costs remaining reactive. Fortunately, BIM can help to greatly reduce costs during the building process, by minimizing delays and providing greater visibility. BIM can also help reduce costs across the life of the structure, from maintenance forecasting to energy specifications.

Archibus helps take these benefits to the next level. Weighted performance scorecards highlight over-budget projects and allow owners to review actual costs in comparison to baseline estimates.

Fewer Errors & Improved Schedules

When asked about the benefits of using BIM, 34% of people surveyed answered that “fewer errors” topped their list. Because BIM offers insightful data and better schedule forecasting, builders are less likely to encounter problems in later stages of construction. In addition, the same survey found that 26% of respondents believe BIM offers an ROI of 25% or more—further highlighting the importance of reducing errors.

Archibus creates a central repository of data, offering a “top-down” perspective that makes it easier to manage projects and changes once construction is completed and the building is handed over to the owner/occupier. With insights like project priorities, actions, and costs, all parties involved have quick access to streamlined reporting and project execution.

Greater Insights

BIM software makes it easier for multiple parties to communicate about the construction process in real-time. This allows all stakeholders to gain valuable insights and a greater understanding of the 3D modeling before it is put into action.

One of the premier advantages of using Archibus is the ability to see each subsystem within a building and understand its context. How does that system exist in relation to others, and what’s its role in broader building function? With this information in-hand, facilities managers can make better decisions about how they manager, alter, and maintain different subsystems, and the effects of those decisions on the building.

Increased Efficiency

In another survey of BIM users, respondents reported that the software allows them to spend less time documenting and more time designing. Increased efficiency means architects can dedicate more of their workday to creating sustainable, cost-effective buildings.

BIM risk mitigation takes many forms. Utilizing BIM data in an integrated workplace management system (IWMS) like Archibus can help model maintenance and improvement tasks sequentially, to reduce risks associated with the scope of a project and increase efficiency. Or it can deliver risk analysis for certain aspects of building function. It can even mitigate on-the-job risks by assessing the inherent dangers of specific tasks. In short: BIM makes facilities maintenance and modification safer.

Comprehensive Views

Organizations typically have a large number of projects in progress across the portfolio. Using BIM data, Archibus can help connect these project to a capital budget plan and ranks them so capital spend is aligned with the corporate mission.

By integrating BIM data into Archibus, managers get a comprehensive view of their entire project, which allows for appropriate building management once construction is complete. Using data collected during design and construction phases lets owners and operators easily track and manage assets and space. The payoff is improved asset performance and space utilization because all departments are aligned.

For example, Maintenance isn’t repairing a roof, that capital planning has scheduled to replace, in a building that CRE has slated to sell, and technology is completing a mission critical project in. BIM correlates the activities across the organization.

BIM for better building

BIM data provides a wealth of opportunities for capital projects managers, real estate developers, and more. Coupling BIM software with Archibus allows owners to leverage existing data, improve construction schedules, and get greater cost predictability. Explore the benefits of utilizing Archibus and  BIM together by scheduling a demo today.

Keep reading: How Does BIM Work?

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Credit Union Facilities Management

By Dave Clifton
Content Strategist
SpaceIQ

One of the hallmarks of a credit union is the friendly, welcoming feel members get when they walk through the door. A credit union isn’t a large, impersonal corporate bank—it’s a hometown financial institution that sees members as individuals. Each visit needs to evoke a feeling of comfort, welcomeness, friendliness, and warmth. To do that takes a focus on credit union facilities management.

A strong emphasis on facilities management is imperative for maintaining the ambiance of a credit union—and for enabling the services members expect when they visit one. Well-managed facilities are clean, safe, and accessible, and support everything from simple teller transactions to private meetings behind closed doors. It’s about enabling the credit union to run seamlessly with the full support of facilities.

Here’s why credit union facilities management has become more of a priority for smaller, local financial institutions—and the benefits that come with it.

What is credit union facilities management?

Credit union facilities management encompasses a wide range of disciplines. According to the International Facilities Management Association (IFMA), the core areas of focus for facilities management include: employee support, facility technologies, health and safety, training, environment and sustainability, and facility maintenance. Together, they touch every major aspect of operating a workplace.

For credit unions in particular, facilities management is a practice of vital importance. These institutions rely on facilities as an asset, even more so than their big bank counterparts. They often have smaller branches, which makes for a more personable and intimate setting, which means offering a higher standard of service. Without facilities management to bring cohesion to the environment, credit unions run the risk becoming impersonal, thus losing a major competitive advantage among financial institutions.

From ensuring employees and members have the right space, to keeping facilities running efficiently, to managing the costs and ROI associated with each branch. The overarching goal is to ensure facilities serve the needs of the people relying on them.

Benefits of facilities management for credit unions

A strong emphasis on facilities management is enough to turn a workplace from a cost center into a competitive advantage. Facilities management for credit unions helps ensure members have a friendly neighborhood branch available when they need financial services. Well-managed facilities set the tone by enabling a higher standard of service for members and better ROI for credit unions, among other benefits:

  • Safe and secure facilities that promote accessibility, yet safeguard access
  • Streamlined operations through better space efficiency and utilization
  • More affordable facilities and better budgeting for upkeep and maintenance
  • Better transparency when it comes to company operations and activities
  • Easier management, upkeep, and improvement for space across facilities
  • Better adaptability and more flexibility to accommodate business growth

Facilities management is an ongoing practice with ongoing benefits. Credit unions need to continuously respond to the needs of members, as well as pace the service offerings of larger regional and national banks. Facilities need to support this and offer credit unions agility and scalability, while remaining personable and welcoming.

How does credit union facility management software help?

The sheer scope of focus involved in facilities management makes it nearly impossible to do well without software support. Whether it’s managing facility support tickets, assessing space allocation, monitoring building upkeep, or responding to changing demand, software enables both understanding and action when it comes to facilities.

Credit union facility management software enables not only better oversight, but simplicity, as well. It’s easy for administrators to automate routine facility tasks, focus on specific metrics, and gather data to support decision-making in regards to the credit union workplace. Less guesswork; more data and tools to promote better facilities upkeep and enablement. That, and the benefits that come with dashboards, sandboxes, and modeling tools.

Ultimately credit union facility management software puts administrators in better control of facilities, so they can shape the experience members have when they visit a branch. Whether that means keeping the lights on and the HVAC blowing or allocating space and creating the ambiance required to deliver personalized financial services, software is an essential cornerstone in the facility management experience.

Financial facilities need to be personable

Whether they’re walking in to cash a check, make a withdrawal, or sit down with a loan officer, members need to feel welcome and confident when they step through the doors of a credit union. Well-managed facilities help set the tone for a positive experience and ensure members feel good about their visit. More important, it establishes a level of trust that reminds members why they chose a local credit union over a corporate mega bank.

Facility management doesn’t need to be difficult for credit unions—after all, the facilities themselves are typically smaller than other financial institutions. What matters is the level of oversight required to ensure the branch is well-maintained and aligned with member expectations. If members feel good about their visit and leave satisfied, it’s a testament to a credit union’s ability to be better than bigger banks.

Keep reading: Credit Union Space Utilization

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Workplace Thought Leadership

IWMS Technology and the Modern Workplace 

By Nick Stefanidakis
General Manager, Archibus
SpaceIQ

Rapid workplace changes and the emergence of cutting-edge technologies are ushering in new facilities management trends. They also are shedding light on the benefits of adopting Integrated Workplace Management System (IWMS) technology to scale and support both short-term transitions and long-term transformations.

The lasting impacts of the pandemic, demands for connectivity and collaboration, adoption of cloud-based applications, machine learning, and a focus on sustainability are sure to have far-reaching effects on workplaces worldwide. Businesses that find opportunities to embrace these trends will be better prepared to make data-driven decisions, improve performance, and achieve new standards of success in facilities management.

Planning for long-term workplace resilience

As agile work environments increasingly define the “new normal,” we will likely see substantial changes in workspace requirements.

The prospect of returning to physical workspaces has renewed attention on prioritizing employee health and safety. Things that employees and businesses may not have thought twice about before — air circulation, sanitization practices, access to communal spaces, traffic patterns — weigh more heavily as workforces reemerge from stay-at-home orders. New health and safety requirements will demand that organizations take these factors into account.

While some have deployed interim return-to-work solutions (hoteling and desk reservations, updated cleaning protocols, adopting remote management solutions, staggering schedules), others are reassessing overall workplace strategies as they shift from reactive to forward-thinking resiliency planning.

Organizations now need a long-term strategy for facility management, supported by workplace management technology that offers flexibility and scalability for remote, in-person, and hybrid work setups. A centralized, enterprise-wide IWMS enables teams to standardize workflows, reduce duplication, provide transparency with real-time information shared among teams (e.g., badging and health check-in data), and ultimately make more collaborative decisions.

A renewed focus on collaboration and employee engagement

Gone are the days where every employee comes to work, sits in the same seat, and leaves with coworkers at the end of the day. Now, more offices are refocusing workspaces as socialization and collaboration hubs. Employees, visitors, and others coming into the workplace need convenient, reliable ways to ensure they have the spaces needed to work in ways that are best for them. IWMS technology offers insights for businesses and building owners/operators into whether they need to increase hotel desk reservations or implement desk-sharing setups — all while providing safe and engaging spaces.

Hybrid work setups boost SaaS adoption

More hybrid workers mean people need anytime/anywhere access to critical systems and information. Stemming from this demand is an emerging trend: facilities management shifting from on-premises to SaaS-based implementation.

Organizations are investing more in cloud enterprise applications due to ease of deployment, configurability, and scalability. When COVID-19 forced many businesses to adopt remote work setups, real estate, and facilities teams with cloud applications already in place quickly adapted to changing conditions and seamlessly accessed critical business information. Others were left scrambling.

While it was a tough lesson, organizations can learn from such disruptions and invest in technology that helps predict change and evolves to meet new work structures. SaaS-based IWMS applications empower key stakeholders to make faster data-driven decisions, automate business processes, and deliver on mobile needs.

Look for trends in workspace usage patterns

Machine learning in building management has been gaining traction in recent years. It delivers efficiencies in predictive maintenance and real-time workplace management that help manage costs and provide optimal work environments.

Developments such as the Internet of Things (IoT), advanced analytics, and new wireless sensors are a few ways companies are creating smarter facilities management.

Smart building solutions use a range of sensors or actuators — light, motion, building occupancy — to collect data from connected devices. Information is then stored in an IWMS. Continuous monitoring lets facilities managers identify changes or inefficiencies in building usage, system performance or environmental conditions and establish triggers for maintenance or control systems.

When combined with an IWMS, massive amounts of IoT data can be aggregated into a dashboard for meaningful insights. This not only de-silos critical workplace data, but also highlights identifiable trends and patterns for strategic future workplace planning.

Using data to plan, design, construct, and manage facilities

Building information modeling (BIM) and its integration with IWMS technology is a new approach to managing the many phases of building design and workplace management. BIM centers around 3D modeling programs that provide a customized simulation of an actual facility. The rendering, when combined with IoT and Machine Learning represents a digital twin of the building, which allows users to virtually move through a space and observe its features, dimensions, and operating parameters — from anywhere. Such technology offers nearly infinite possibilities to help professionals plan, design, construct, and manage facilities. The volume of BIM data and the context of the data stored within an IWMS is so useful, and the more stakeholders leverage these insights, the more they’ll enable fully informed decision-making.

Optimizing building usage and consumption

It’s all too common to waste energy in a building in the form of incorrect setpoints, poor maintenance or simple oversights — not turning off lights in conference rooms after a meeting, keeping rarely used equipment plugged in, etc.

While steps like switching out light bulbs or installing new HVAC systems are necessary, they may not deliver the long-lasting results you’re hoping for.

A more impactful solution is using IWMS technology to optimize usage and consumption across building systems and real estate portfolios aligned to the actual, real-time conditions. This empowers building owners and facilities managers to anticipate, troubleshoot, and manage issues as they arise. An IWMS also enables smarter operations that can reconcile the entire range of optimal sustainability performance metrics.

Addressing long-term transformations

As the adoption of IWMS technology grows, so does its potential to play a critical role in supporting workplaces for years to come. Trends in IWMS are pointing toward a future that provides extensive and essential support to facilities managers, building occupiers, service providers, owners/operators, and real estate management companies to organize, centralize, and optimize workplace data at all levels — from individual workstations to entire real estate portfolios. It’s with such insights that they can make the best decisions to address current challenges and anticipate future needs. For more information, read our guide on Modern Workplace Platforms.

Keep reading: What is a Smart IWMS and What are its Features?

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Workplace Thought Leadership

Improve Indoor Air Quality with Condition-Based HVAC Maintenance 

By Fred Kraus
Senior Director, Product, Archibus
SpaceIQ

Issues surrounding indoor air quality (IAQ) can typically be broken down into two categories: environmental safety factors and the risk of pathogen transmission. While indoor air safety has been a growing concern for several years, the COVID-19 pandemic pushed the topic of pathogen transmission to the forefront of the IAQ conversation.

Since factors like indoor temperature, humidity, and carbon dioxide levels can influence pathogen transmission, business owners are more concerned about optimizing heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) maintenance than ever before. COVID-19 may be a driving force in the movement to optimize IAQ but boosting ventilation performance also improves safety and cuts costs.

Let’s take a look at how a streamlined operations and maintenance approach can improve indoor air safety.

Maintaining IAQ at scale: Is it possible?

The manual approach to preventive HVAC maintenance is highly ineffective on a larger scale. As an example, one college might have 53 buildings, 145 AHUs with IAQ issues, and 838 zones with IAQ issues. On this level, even simple HVAC fixes like stuck fire dampers or loose set screws would be challenging to keep up with.

Preventive maintenance best practices recommend making almost 1,000 HVAC checks per year. To accomplish this, facility managers would constantly need to check on parts such as cooling towers, chillers, boilers, etc. And this preventive maintenance would all be on top of other urgent, corrective maintenance requests submitted on a daily basis.

In reality, most organizations simply cannot handle this type of maintenance. From budget constraints to a lack of resources, there are countless challenges standing in the way of frequent preventive maintenance.

Typically, most HVAC systems are left unfixed until someone in the building complains about it. Without the right tools to help scale preventive maintenance, companies just can’t keep up.

Optimizing IAQ with fault detection and diagnostics

So, how can organizations overcome the challenges of HVAC preventive maintenance? Simply by switching from a manual approach to a smarter, software-driven approach.

Fault detection and diagnostics (FDD) software offered by companies like Clockworks Analytics allows organizations to run a daily analysis on HVAC systems, identifying any hidden issues across all equipment. Rather than falling behind on hundreds of annual preventive maintenance checks, companies can run thousands of automated checks every day and transition to a condition-based approach.

Detailed diagnostic reports eliminate the time-consuming investigation process. Instead, they deliver a straightforward list of HVAC issues to be resolved. These reports provide important information such as:

  • Equipment ID
  • Impacted tenants
  • Work orders
  • Part numbers
  • Assignees
  • Priority
  • Work history
  • Recommended tasks

Technology helps keep the air clean

An integrated workplace management system (IWMS) – like that offered by Archibus – can be integrated with a tool like Clockworks Analytics to aggregate and centralize data, making it easier and faster for facilities managers to schedule and track work orders.

This streamlined system replaces outdated spreadsheets and paper documents. It allows facilities managers to easily manage tasks like:

  • Replacing air filters and other consumable filtration equipment
  • Cleaning HVAC units
  • Inspecting for mold growth
  • Clearing condensation in drains
  • Examining registers and exchangers

The shift to real-time response

By shifting from a rigid, scheduled approach to a more natural, real-time response system, organizations will be better equipped to stay on top of HVAC preventive maintenance.

Here are a few reasons how an FDD and IWMS working together can enable a real-time response method:

  • Tackle multiple tasks at once. Facilities managers can view upcoming maintenance needs and tackle them while working on another task in the same area.
  • Match the right people with the right tasks. The software can align the type of issue with the best person fit to complete the task.
  • Prioritize tasks based on needs. Facilities managers can prioritize tasks based on categories like energy waste, comfort, or impact on maintenance.
  • Learn the true cost of unresolved maintenance tasks. The software highlights avoidable costs, allowing organizations to potentially save thousands of dollars each year.
  • Cut out manual investigations. Fault detection and diagnostics software doesn’t just deliver IAQ measurements – it points out potential root cause issues, too. This allows organizations to save time by skipping the manual investigation process.

Making the most of fault detection and diagnostics

Ultimately, switching to a highly intelligent, real-time response system doesn’t change the diagnostic data. What it does change is how that data is put into action. Whether an organization wants to focus on a specific HVAC zone, a particular type of equipment, or specific IAQ issues, an IWMS allows them to achieve their goal.

The cost of falling behind on HVAC maintenance is clear. Organizations put their employees’ health, safety, and comfort at risk. That leaves them vulnerable to pathogens like COVID-19.

Thankfully, when combined with an IWMS, an integrated fault detection and diagnostics system allow companies to protect employees, avoid unplanned downtime, and increase overall efficiency in HVAC preventive maintenance.

Keep reading: Get Familiar with a Facility Maintenance Plan

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Healthcare Space Planning: Facilitate a Healing Environment

Shot of two healthcare workers walking together

By Devon Maresco
Marketing Coordinator
SpaceIQ

Healthcare environments are incredibly complex spaces to manage. Not only do facilities managers face unexpected levels of demand and varying forms of need, they’re also dealing with mixed spaces. It’s difficult to use an MRI room for anything other than what it’s intended for; meanwhile, a general treatment room can become anything from a triage station to a space for ultrasounds, inoculations, and more. The sheer number of factors in-play make healthcare space planning an arduous, yet necessary task.

How can healthcare facility managers account for the many unpredictable variables present in a hospital, while orchestrating space that’s agile, accessible, and available? It takes no shortage of resources, including healthcare space planning software. Putting the pieces together in a facility that meets the demand of the local population is a full-time job that’s ever-evolving.

The goal of space planning in healthcare facilities? To ensure every patient has access to the medical care they need, when they need it—and that medical professionals can administer that care with as few physical obstacles as possible.

What is healthcare space planning?

Space planning is about purposing space to meet the needs of the people using it. In a hospital, it means allocating space to treat patients, and optimizing that space so physicians can deliver care.

For example, consider a hospital’s oncology wing. How much of the wing does the hospital need to devote to testing facilities? How much to chemotherapy? What percentage of space needs to go to waiting rooms for family and caregivers? Hospitals need to plan for these demands as they orchestrate space. In doing so, they ensure appropriate facilities are always available to the people who need them.

Space planning in healthcare facilities also occurs at the macro level. For example, it might mean putting the radiology department near the orthopedic wing, in order to promote the relationship between these two business units. This also factors into navigability for patients and physicians. The less ground there is to cover between affiliated areas of the hospital, the better.

Even HIPAA compliance and safety factor into space planning. It’s all about controlling the flow of traffic and instituting access points between sensitive areas.

The benefits of healthcare space planning

Bringing healthcare facilities together through thoughtful space planning affords patients and physicians alike numerous benefits. Here’s what good space planning translates into at a practical level:

  • Better availability of facilities to meet the needs of patients
  • Easier navigability for patients, family, and healthcare staff
  • Faster-paced operations that benefit from streamlined layout
  • Physicians have access to facilities that enable better patient care
  • Enhanced safety, security, and privacy in well-orchestrated spaces
  • Fewer overlaps and interruptions in facilities ensure smoother interactions

Space planning effectively makes healthcare facilities accessible. Patients or family visiting will know exactly where to find what they’re looking for, and those relying on the facilities will get the care they need from space orchestrated to support them.

From an administrative standpoint, healthcare space planning makes it easier for facilities managers to optimize space. Hospitals are other healthcare facilities are only so large, which means using precious square footage in the best possible ways. Planning influences execution, which gives managers the baseline they need to govern facilities based on demand.

How does healthcare space planning software help?

Hospitals operate 24 hours a day, with an ebb and flow of need and demand around the clock. Space planning software provides the tools and resources to realize these varying levels of demand in real time. It gives facility managers access to space insights that drive better decision-making, ultimately leading to a better standard of patient care.

Space planning occurs on two levels: proactive and reactive. Proactive planning means recognizing demand for space and tailoring facilities. For example, if the hematology department is overcrowded, it might mean taking over the phlebotomy lab next door and transitioning phlebotomy to a bedside practice. It’s about recognizing the operational demands of facilities and balancing space accordingly.

From a reactive standpoint, space planning is about continuing to meet ongoing demand for space. If the hospital is outsourcing more of its pathology to an off-site lab, the pathology department may become a new dialysis department, to better-support the growing number of patients who require this treatment.

Space planning software enables both proactive and reactive space planning capabilities. Facility managers can use it to sandbox new floor plans, understand space allocation, and contextualize space based on how it’s used. Best of all, software makes space planning agile in hospital environments that are increasingly dynamic.

Enable the highest level of patient care

Well-planned, agile healthcare facilities have rippling effects. Shorter wait times for treatments and tests. Less strain on patients and family as they navigate facilities. Improved safety, accessibility, and HIPAA compliance. It all roots back to how facility managers organize and purpose space, and the governance associated with those spaces.

As demand for healthcare rises and hospitals become more dynamic and agile, even more opportunities for space planning become clear. One space, one purpose still defines some areas of healthcare facilities, but for all others, there are many opportunities to meet patient demand. Planning for agile, multifaceted spaces is the path forward for the future of healthcare.

Keep reading: Healthcare Space Utilization: Caregiving at Capacity

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Healthcare Space Utilization: Caregiving at Capacity

People walking in and out of the hospital - Healthcare concepts

By Devon Maresco
Marketing Coordinator
SpaceIQ

The United States’ healthcare system is a $8.45+ trillion industry—and it’s growing larger by the year. As demand creeps higher for everything from dentistry to oncology, more and more facilities are springing up across the country to meet these needs. In major metropolitan areas with larger populations and around-the-clock need, more facilities aren’t necessarily the solution. Better healthcare space utilization in existing facilities is.

The ability to use existing healthcare facilities better unlocks broad potential for meeting need, without the additional (tremendous) cost of building and staffing new buildings. Tapping into the fullest potential of a hospital or other healthcare facility rests heavily on the ability to orchestrate space around sometimes unpredictable demand. That starts with a fundamental understanding of capability and availability.

What is healthcare space utilization?

Space utilization is the concept of maximizing the utility of available space. If a hospital has 30 emergency room beds and the average occupancy of those beds is 15, it has a 50% utilization rate. And while this might sound poor, healthcare space utilization differs significantly from other types of utilization metrics. The reason? Much of hospital space is allocated on a contingency basis. The hospital may not use 30 emergency beds, but it needs 30 emergency beds based on the local census.

Healthcare space utilization goes beyond looking at usage as a static figure. To truly understand utilization takes a mind for all the variables that factor into demand. How many emergency room cases were there last quarter? Last year? Over the past five years? What’s the average time per bed occupied? What percentage of total beds are emergency beds? These factors and dozens more form the basis for space allocation, and also inform the standard for utilization.

While space utilization may be a measure of how often usable space is occupied, it’s also a measure of space efficiency in context. To gauge an accurate measure of both is an ongoing, ever-difficult task for healthcare facility managers.

The benefits of healthcare space utilization

Good utilization in hospitals and healthcare facilities comes down to contextualizing use within the parameters of the ecosystem. Facility administrators who can keep space allocation and utilization balanced help unlock significant benefits for everyone seeking or administering healthcare:

  • Better access to spaces designed to support specific healthcare
  • Specific, purposeful space planning and organization
  • Smoother administration as the result of predictable facility usage
  • Improved comfort and convenience for patients receiving treatment
  • Better clinician support from well-equipped and accessible facilities

Ultimately, moderating space utilization comes down to ensuring facilities are available when they’re needed, to the people giving and receiving treatment. Emergency bed utilization may only be 50%, but that means there are several available to housing incoming critical patients from a multiple vehicle accident, for example. Even in non-emergent situations, utilization matters. You don’t want patients sitting for hours waiting on radiology to x-ray their broken arm—they need attention ASAP, from facilities that aren’t constantly at their limit.

How does healthcare space utilization software help?

The biggest unknown variable affecting healthcare facilities is demand. You never know when someone is going to need care—even with appointment scheduling. Utilization software helps account for this unknown by measuring the known variables, to make figuring out a buffer easier.

For example, if there are 10 beds in the chemotherapy wing, each with a utilization rate of 90%, it’s an indicator that more beds may be necessary. Similarly, if the utilization rate of four ultrasound rooms is only 20%, it may be an opportunity to repurpose one or more of them. Utilization software provides these figures to unlock the potential these insights provide.

It’s also important to consider utilization software from the perspective of tracking and monitoring trends, and aligning them with the business goals of a healthcare facility. Do you really need to build a new hemodialysis treatment center? Or, can you establish this environment in current facilities by consolidating underutilized space in the greater hematology wing? In this way, there are cost and treatment benefits rooted in decision-making, made possible by space utilization software insights.

Orchestrate a superior approach to patient care

Healthcare space utilization isn’t just about making use of facilities to avoid the prospect of building and staffing. Above anything else, it’s about being able to deliver superior patient care and a healing experience for the people relying on those facilities. Anticipating demand isn’t always easy, which means the path to better space utilization starts through space governance.

In the modern era, healthcare space utilization software is becoming a must-have, crucial part of the facility management approach. It allows hospitals to be agile with their space and adaptable to the needs of the census. Moreover, it allows hospitals to understand how efficient they’re being, so they can explore new opportunities to provide better caregiving solutions. The result is better use of existing facilities, which helps avoid adding even more costs to an $8.45+ trillion industry that’s already the ire of many.

Keep reading: Healthcare Space Planning: Facilitate a Healing Environment

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Government Space Utilization: Make the Most of Taxpayer Dollars

By Dave Clifton
Content Strategist
SpaceIQ

Every major city has government facilities that are, by and large, taxpayer funded. From public libraries to police stations, courthouses to the local DMV—these are facilities we’ll all rely on at some point in time. Taxpayer dollars are what keep them well-maintained and functional. So, when questions of government spending arise, facility waste tends to be one of the first focal points in shoring up a budget. Attention turns to government space utilization.

Space utilization in government facilities is a difficult prospect to get a handle on. These facilities exist to support the public, but there’s no telling when and to what degree people will rely on them. You can’t always predict when there will be a run on books at the local library or when everyone will decide to visit the DMV to renew their license. For government facility managers, space utilization is always a prospect in flux.

Thankfully, modern space utilization software is making it easier to not only maximize utilization in government facilities, but to also optimize it for demand. You might not know when someone will show up to get married at city hall, but you can keep facilities agile enough to adapt.

What is government space utilization?

Space utilization is the prospect of maximizing the use of a particular space vs. its availability. If the space is open for eight hours a day, five days a week, that’s 40 hours of availability. If it’s occupied and in-use for 30 of those hours, utilization is 75%. It is a simple concept, but difficult to practice.

Demand isn’t consistent in government facilities. For example, there’s likely to be much more demand for access to the County Clerk in the spring, when more people apply for marriage certificates. If the waiting room only supports six people, you’ll need to allocate more space for those waiting patiently to apply. During the winter months, you might use this overflow space for something else. Optimizing space utilization stems from understanding demand for it.

Government space utilization comes down to efficiency: both operational and monetarily. Are you making the most of available space in government facilities? Or, are taxpayers footing the bill for unused, unneeded, or ungoverned space? Efficiency metrics will tell you.

The benefits of government space utilization

While cost control is the most prominent benefit of good utilization, it’s far from the only one. Government facilities that capitalize on space efficiently position themselves to offer a variety of benefits to employees and visitors including:

  • Better access to spaces designed to support government functions
  • Specific, purposeful space planning and organization
  • Smoother operations as the result of predictable facility usage
  • Improved comfort and convenience for individuals utilizing space
  • Cost-efficient use of space, which results in lower cost to taxpayers

Utilization emphasizes the practicality of space. Instead of letting some types of spaces sit idle while demand for others grows, utilization metrics illustrate need. In government facilities, the relationship to how often spaces see use and the demands of people using them is crucial. If people aren’t using your space, it means government isn’t meeting the needs of constituents – or worse, they’re paying for unnecessary facilities.

A focus on utilization is a focus on maximizing the usefulness of facilities, while that the same time optimizing cost. From a front-facing constituent standpoint, this is exactly what people expect from them.

How does government space utilization software help?

As mentioned, unpredictability is a big obstacle standing in the way of high utilization levels in government facilities. How do you maximize the availability of a space when demand remains uncertain? For a growing number of municipal building managers, space utilization software is the answer.

Utilization software offers the benefit of both real-time and historical insights. Real-time space utilization metrics allow facility managers to pair immediate demand with space designed to support specific activities, capacities, and locations. Historical data produces patterns and trends, to help make unpredictable demand slightly more identifiable. For example:

  • If two attorneys and their clients need space for arbitration at the courthouse, real-time utilization metrics will show what’s available.
  • If a facility manager wants to know how much space to delegate to a town hall meeting, they can look at previous utilization trends to plan accordingly.

Utilization software makes it possible to maximize space in an ongoing capacity. Government facility managers can learn about the demand and use of space, and work to shape facilities around anticipated expectations. The result are facilities that better-accommodate employees and visitors, while minimizing the cost to taxpayers.

Optimize the capabilities of facilities

More and more, government space utilization isn’t about optimizing one space for one purpose—it’s about optimizing many spaces for many purposes. The trick is to maintain the accessibility and convenience of public-facing facilities. To do this takes reliance on government space utilization software.

From post offices to municipal buildings, it’s possible to optimize space based on capability to address need. The building will remain the same destination for different services, but the way it meets public demand for those services may change. Utilization is now a dynamic metric, and it’s growing ever more important in facilities that need to operate with mind for budget control.

Keep reading: Government Space Planning: Make the Most of Public Facilities