Debate: Space-Planning Software Myths
John Clark (Tririga) has pointed out a wonderful article on buildings.com about space-planning software’s greatest features. In this article Leah B. Garris describes some space-planning myths.
Space Planning Myths
Myth: It requires too much data entry to be effective.
Reality: “New capabilities capture data via automated processes that monitor user actions, which minimizes the data entry required,” says John Clark, director of corporate marketing at TRIRIGA. Some software provides automated processes that track actions in stack planning and use this info to count the number of employees moved, calculate the churn rate, and estimate the cost of the move. The results are automatically compared to targeted goals, scored, and presented side-by-side.
Myth: It’s too hard to produce a visual on a computer. Only engineers can successfully use desktop software to produce business-worthy visuals.
Reality: “We strongly believe that this is a major reason why communication is such a problem for most organizations,” says Jill Roberson, social media manager at SmartDraw. “Can you imagine how hard it would be to communicate a facilities layout for a manufacturing plant without using floorplans or schematics? People don’t communicate with visuals because they believe it’s too hard and time-consuming. This is a total falsehood.”
Myth: You have to have specialized expertise, such as CAD, to use it.
Reality: “Users with CAD knowledge will be able to expedite some of the processes,” says Karen Roller, vice president of services at MicroMain. “However, new space-planning software enables customers to use the system without that expertise.”
Debate
The above three myths are very important, however I am quite sure that there are more space-planning myths. I would really like to hear about what kind of Space Planning Myths you acknowledge. Therefore, this week’s debate is about Space-Planning Myths.
You can use the comment box below this post to describe your myths and realities.
Myth: IWMS systems alone are sufficient for managing vacancies and seat assignments.
Reality: Systems such as AgilQuest’s automatically keep track of seat assignments and seat vacancies and can feed this information into IWMS systems. This solves the main Achilles Heel of IWMS systems – the time, cost, people and effort expended in trying to maintain data accuracy. In addition, it allows for “managed self moves” and accurately accounts for “night/guerrilla” moves.
In response to “it requires too much data entry to be effective” – We measure Actual Use of Space in a way that requires no manual data entry. We tie infrastructure systems together in a unique way to effectively measure the actual use of every workspace over an extended period of time.
Steven,
Thanks for the posting.
The Buildings.com article refers to new space-planning features available in 2009. For reader who want to see more about the new features offered in 2009 by TRIRIGA Strategic Facility Planning, visit our features page at http://www.tririga.com/products/products-iwms-facilities-features?ecid=12
John Clark
TRIRIGA Inc.
http://www.tririga.com
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