Difficulty: expert

Content

Learning Objectives

After reading this article, you’ll be able to:

Understand the difference between Occupancy and Utilization concepts used in Workplace
Select which sensor solution is most adapted to your use case

What is the difference between the concepts Occupancy and Utilization?

Both concepts are based on occupancy sensor data.

occupancy (eg 50% occupied in 8h time) vs utilization (2 out of 4 chairs)

For example a room can be occupied 50% of a day (4 out of 8h) but when only 2 chairs are used out of 4,

it is utilized 50% against 50% occupation.

The real performance is then only 25% (half a day used for half the capacity).

As another example, we can take a meeting that went on for 8 hours, where 2 people were in a meeting room with capacity 10:

Occupancy = 100%
Utilization = 20%

Check Setting the capacity & thresholds of spaces for more information on how to configure Room Capacity.

Direct Utilization & Occupancy

“Direct utilization” because the sensor will send information on “the number of people counted in a certain area” to the Workplace platform.

Sensor method	Installation method	other hardware needed	max installation height	Functioning method	max Detection area	Icon decay	Config	info available	advised for utilization?
Pointgrab	wired	none	2.15m (7ft) to 4.5m (14.8ft)	PointGrab The sensor will check every 15 sec – 1 minute for coordinates, the data is uploaded into Workplace Cloud every 1min: this interval is so low that a person in the room will be captured.	8m x 6m (26 x 20 ft)	2min	CPMS + Studio	Live Floorplan + Dashboards	yes for utilization in meeting rooms or in open spaces
Vergesense wireless	wireless	gateway	3,66m (12 ft)	Every 15min, a snapshot is taken (no average of 15min!) and data is send to Workplace Cloud every 15min.	1 per room or ~ 8 desks (smaller detection area than Pointgrab)	15min	Vergesense + Studio	Live Floorplan + Dashboards	yes for utilization in meeting rooms or in open spaces

Indirect Utilization & Occupancy

“Indirect utilization” because the sensor will send information on occupancy to the Workplace platform, who will then calculate “the number of people counted in a certain area”.

Sensor method	Installation method	other hardware needed	max installation height	Functioning method	max Detection area	Icon decay	Config	info available	advised for utilization?
PIR (Tabs)*	wireless (tape)	hub+sensors per seat/chair	2.15m (7ft) to 4m (13.12ft)	Motion sensor	4m x 10m (13,12 x 32,81 ft)	15min	Studio	Live Floorplan + Dashboards	- possible for utilization in open spaces - not advised for utilization in meeting rooms (difficult/technical set-up; not possible to detect over-utilisation + risk of false positive/negatives is bigger, eg people standing up in the room or people walking around the chairs while on the phone)
Footfall (Pointgrab)	wired	none	2.15m (7ft) to 4.5m (14.8ft)	in/out-traffic	8m x 1m (26 x 3 ft)	2min	CPMS + Studio	Live Floorplan	other options are more reliable (footfall method very sensitive)
Airthings	wireless	hub	NA	estimate based on size of the room + CO2 => combination of parameters	50m2 (538,2 sq ft)	15min	Airthings + Studio	not yet integrated	other options are more reliable

Utilization & Occupancy on Live Floorplan

Occupancy on live floorplan shows: location occupied or not (independent of how many people are in that location)

Utilization on live floorplan shows: how many people are detected in that location

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Utilization & Occupancy Matrix