The Three Keys to Occupancy Accuracy Within IWMS

Providing Accurate Occupancy and Vacancy

(Utilization and Realization)

When discussing occupancy and vacancy, which is also known as utilization and realization, there are three key components to look at when looking for accuracy. Despite how overwhelming accuracy may seem, especially when looking at tech companies that have anywhere from a 50% to 300% churn rate, it is still very possible.

1) Employee synchronization within the HR system

Making sure that both the HR and the IWMS systems are synchronized is one of the most important steps. You don't need fifteen applications open in order to find and move just one person. The HR and IWMS systems should be able to take care of these details with ease, but, first, both systems need to have the same set of information being fed to them, which is why synchronization is key.

This sync should happen daily - it can happen at night when everyone is gone. This sync looks for things like new hires, those in the HR system but not in the IWMS, terminations, those in the IWMS system but not the HR, modifications like change in manager, phone number, room, email, etc., and errors, like no first name, placed in a division that doesn't exist, etc.

Some challenges with this are that companies have anywhere from 2 - 25%  that are contractors and don't go through the HR system, in which case you have to look at things like the security badging system or other on-boarding systems that will allow you to track a person.

2) Move process 

When a change occurs within a company, the move process within the IWMS system must be utilizedEvery move must be executed within the IWMS system to reflect the changes that are happening in the physical sites. This means that it needs to be used for every single move that occurs, no matter how large or small. It all needs to be recorded and changed.
properly in order to be effective.

This is the step that requires the most attention, and needs to be managed daily. A good IWMS system will be flexible enough to make this step as simple or as complicated as you need it to be. While most IWMS systems can move furniture, equipment, moving the person is the most important aspect in this article. Knowing where people sit provides the occupancy/vacancy data to make strategic decisions

3) Floorwalk

Despite the accuracy that the previous two steps will provide, it is still necessary to walk the floors from time to time. There will always be rogue moves. Maybe Alice moved her things one day and Jenny noticed that she had a window seat and moved her things since no one else was using that space. Especially with today's world of WiFi and DHCP, this is even easier for employees to do now.

Depending on how active your company is, floorwalks may be necessary every month, every quarter, or every year. We have clients that walk floors every month and some that walk them every three years.

If these three steps are being utilized, this should give you a 90% to 98% accuracy rate, which is very good. But, as a word to the wise, don't get caught in being 100% accurate. The moment you've walked the floor, someone has moved, similar to when a tile floor is being mopped. The moment it is clean, someone has walked on it. This is why all three steps, HR and IWMS sync, move process, and floorwalks are so important. When being used to their full advantage, hey will keep information from slipping through the cracks so a high accuracy rate can be realized.

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