When researching why you need room scheduling software, or what space planning solution is right for you, you may come across a variety of terms that can make it difficult to decipher what exactly your organization needs. We've compiled this guide to help you better understand space planning and what it means for your organization.
What is Space Planning?
Space Planning is all about organizing and managing your workspace in way that best suits your employees. Space Planning encompasses managing spaces, scheduling spaces, tracking and optimizing scheduling, assessing your real estate portfolio, integrated technologies and office layout and design.
All of the terms we're going to continue to define here would fall under the umbrella term of Space Planning.
What is Room Scheduling Software?
Room scheduling software is a set of tools that allows your employees to book and schedule shared spaces for use either individually or with a group. This software also allows employers to set room capacities, block times the spaces can be used and track space usage data.
Room scheduling software solutions offer insights into space utilization, real-time employee data and better real estate insights to drive better business decisions.
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What is Desk Hoteling / Desk Sharing?
Desk Hoteling, or desk sharing, is the concept of foregoing set desks and workspaces to instead have a more flexible solution where employees can schedule desks or workspaces ahead of time to reserve for their purposes. Desk Hoteling offers employees both pre-scheduling and often on-the-spot reservations for workers to choose where they want to work from for a day, or sometimes longer terms.
The benefits of Desk Hoteling include more flexibility in where and when employees work, increased collaboration and networking by switching up who you're working by, lower costs of real estate and increased employee productivity.
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What is Space Utilization?
Space Utilization is how your workspace is being used, as opposed to space occupancy, which is how many people are in a certain space. Space Utilization focuses on function and efficiency, with the end goal of having high utilization regardless of occupancy.
Measuring space utilization is critical for an organization's long-term financial success, as it allows businesses with measure and report on how their space is being used, in order to make better real estate decisions.
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What is Workspace Management Software?
Workspace Management Software helps organizations manage the scheduling and maintenance of their various office spaces and offers analytics and reporting tools to give businesses visibility into how their spaces are used.
Workspace Management Software is often used interchangeably with Room Scheduling Software. However, Workspace Management Software refers to any space within an office, including open areas or bookable desks, while Room Scheduling Software often refers specifically to private work rooms within an office.
What is Conference Room Management/Booking Software?
Conference Room Management Software refers to scheduling solutions that help businesses book and manage their conference rooms. This term is also often used alongside Workspace Management Software and Room Scheduling Software, though Conference Room Management Software refers specifically to conference room booking, scheduling, maintenance and tracking.
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What are Intelligent / Connected Workspaces / Smart Buildings?
An Intelligent (or connected) Workspace and Smart Building go hand in hand. Intelligent Workspace often refers to organizations providing modern technology solutions that work alongside legacy products to upgrade their workplace environment. These technologies help organizations solve complex business problems while also serving the day-to-day needs of employees.
Smart Buildings use technology to share information about what is happening in the building between systems in order to optimize the building’s performance.
A combination of Smart Buildings and Intelligent Workspaces allows for organizations to manage which employees can come to the office, when they can enter and take their places, how often the office is cleaned, whether the airflow is sufficient, and other data tracking in order to better understand their space.
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What is the Flexible Workplace?
The Flexible Workplace refers to the ability for employees to have more control and flexibility over where and when they work. Flexible Workplaces often include desk sharing, room scheduling, work from home options, remote working capabilities, video conferencing options and a variety of different workspaces.
Research has shown that one of the main requirements of employees in their work environment is choice and flexibility. An office that is open, with flexible workspaces, a variety of seating options, and the ability to work from different places within the building or at home, offers the flexibility that employees not only need, but demand.
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What is an Event Management System / Software?
An Event Management System (or Event Management Software) helps organizers plan, execute, and report on events, driving success for their business. A truly comprehensive event management system will allow users and organizers to access and manage all aspects of an event, including registration, marketing, engagement, integrations, physical planning and preparation, reporting and analytics, and more.
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Accruent Can Help with Your Space Planning Needs
Whether you're just getting started in trying to plan your workspace, or you're looking for more innovative tools to improve your space utilization, Accruent has a solution for you. Our EMS space planning solution helps organizations manage room bookings, desk hoteling, sanitization, social distancing, and more.
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