Meeting room utilization is an important aspect of the workplace experience. With demand always outstripping supply, it is critical that their usage must be maximized. This means, minimizing no-shows and short meeting scenarios. Here, we showcase how ecobook works with occupancy sensors to improve the meeting room utilization through minimal human intervention.
Background
No-shows are when meeting rooms are booked but never occupied. Short meetings are when the meeting rooms are booked for 2 hours but only used for 30 minutes.
ecobook is a workplace management software platform that allows managing of meeting rooms and desks through the wen and mobile. It provides a comprehensive set of features and business rules to help track meeting room or desk usage and help claim back under utilized spaces.
To achieve this, ecobook requires that occupants follow certain practices diligently such as checking into meeting bookings and desks or checking out when their reservation is over or ends prematurely.
While check-in methods via mobile apps and digital meeting room tablets are available to address no-shows, they are ineffective when it comes to short meeting scenarios. Users may check into the meeting room but forget to check out if their meetings ended early. Meaning that those rooms remain “in use” even if the meeting ended early. This causes a tremendous waste of meeting space.
Software by itself cannot compensate for human behavior.
One of the methods that can help in the monitoring, detection, and proactive management of meeting rooms is the use of occupancy sensors.
Occupancy Sensors
Occupancy sensors are hardware devices that help in detecting the presence of people within an area. When placed in meeting rooms, they help in detecting if the meeting room is empty or occupied. There are several types of occupancy sensors ranging in technology and price range. We will not be covering the details of different occupancy sensors here, but we will showcase how these sensors work with ecobook to help augment your workplace management practices.
How Ecobook Uses Occupancy Sensors
ecobook leverages occupancy sensors to detect the presence of people within the meeting room. Combined with its business rules, ecobook can detect the presence and make adjustments to the meeting booking.
Here is how ecobook taps on occupancy sensors to help:
Automated Check-in
If ecobook detects that there is constant presence of people for a pre-defined duration after the meeting has started, then it shall automatically check in the user. This is shown in the tablet as “Occupied”.
For example:
Everest meeting room’s sensor-based check-in is set to 5 minutes. In this case, ecobook monitors the presence status of the sensor. If there is consistent activity in the sensor for 5 minutes, then ecobook will consider the meeting room as being used. ecobook will then automatically check in the user. By providing a 5-minute presence period, ecobook can differentiate between actual meetings and random walk-ins to the meeting room such as the cleaner or caterer preparing the table for the meeting.
Automated Check-Out
After checking in, if the ecobook detects that there is no presence in the meeting room for a pre-defined duration, then the meeting is considered to have ended. Therefore, any unused booking timing that was booked for the meeting will be released.
For example:
K2 meeting room’s sensor-based check-out is set to 15 minutes. In this case, ecobook monitors the presence status of the sensor. If there is already a check-in and there is inactivity for 15 minutes in the meeting room, then ecobook will end the meeting.
No-Shows/ Auto-Cancellations
If ecobook detects no activity in the meeting room after the start of the meeting and there is no check-in, then the meeting is considered a no-show and the meeting room will be released for others to book.
For example:
Elbrus meeting room’s sensor-based no-show is set to 15 minutes. In this case, ecobook monitors the presence status of the sensor. If there is no activity in the meeting room for 15 minutes after the meeting time starts, then it is considered no one is using the meeting room. ecobook will then consider this as a no-show and automatically cancel the meeting.
Advantages
Integrating sensors with ecobook provides several advantages:
- Better utilization of the meeting rooms without having to rely on users to automatically check in and out of the meeting space. ecobook uses presence to perform these actions without user involvement.
- Freeing up unused meeting room times helps maximize meeting room usage.
Quick FAQs
Some common frequently asked questions that are raised by facilities are:
What if I want the sensor to be in the meeting room but meetings should not be auto-canceled?
ecobook provides the capability to disable auto-cancellation at the meeting room level. This helps in ensuring important spaces such as board rooms have no auto-cancellations.
What if the sensor is not able to send the data to ecobook?
ecobook detects the most recent updates from the sensors. If no update is received, then ecobook will not update the meeting status automatically. This is to prevent important meetings from being canceled because of no sensor activity.
Will the users be notified if the meeting is auto-cancelled?
Yes. ecobook will notify the host & invitees when the meeting is automatically canceled.
What kind of sensors can be used?
ecobook has API calls that allow a variety of sensors to be able to communicate with it. ecobook’s simple REST-based APIs provide a vendor-agnostic platform for sending status messages. For more information, get in touch with us.
Further reading:
Improving Office Space Utilization with Occupancy Sensors
How ecobook works with VergeSense Occupancy Sensors for Meeting Rooms
