Optimizing Campus Space Planning and Asset Tracking with ArcGIS Indoors at Brigham Young University-Idaho
At Brigham Young University-Idaho (BYU-Idaho), our mission is to develop disciples of Jesus Christ who become leaders in their homes, the Church, and their communities. We do this by building testimonies of the restored gospel and fostering its principles within a wholesome academic, cultural, and social environment. To fulfill this mission, we strive to provide a high-quality education in a resource-efficient manner. One of the tools helping us meet this challenge is ArcGIS Indoors, which we primarily use for space planning, but have discovered added benefits.
My name is Kade Smith, Geospatial Solutions Engineer at BYU-Idaho, and in this blog post, I will cover how ArcGIS Indoors and other Esri solutions have transformed our approach to space planning, enhanced our asset tracking capabilities, and streamlined our campus operations to support an efficient educational environment.
Streamlining Office and Classroom Management
ArcGIS Indoors allows us to keep detailed records of which employees are assigned to various office locations across campus. Synchronizing this data nightly with our Workday HR system has helped to ensure the accuracy of these detailed records. Each morning, the campus space manager can quickly identify employees who need assigned an office and compare this data to office move requests. Additionally, we monitor classroom and lab assignments and scheduling across departments to optimize use of campus resources, with the hope of helping faculty maintain proximity to their teaching spaces.
This data-driven approach is enabling us to conduct scenario planning, with the end goal of housing departments' employees together, located near the classrooms where they teach. By leveraging these insights, we are better equipped to address future campus needs and improve space allocations as we look at constructing future buildings and acquiring necessary resources for existing buildings.
Asset Tracking and Operational Efficiency
Beyond space management, we also use the data curated for ArcGIS Indoors to help map serviceable assets, including fire extinguishers, AEDs, hazardous waste, electrical panels, pianos, and more. Using the floor-aware filters in ArcGIS Field Maps, our field workers can easily collect data related to interior assets and complete service work orders, reducing confusion and improving operational efficiency. The ability to visualize assets by floor has been invaluable in keeping these records accurate and up to date.
ArcGIS Dashboard for Piano Asset Management: An ArcGIS Dashboard showing pianos across campus, displaying service status through red and green indicators on a map. Piano technician can access detailed service records, sort by filters, and ensure timely maintenance.
Empowering Public Access and Space Managers
We also released the ArcGIS Indoors Viewer for public use, enabling students to find classrooms and laboratories more easily, especially at the start of each semester. These areas and other points of interest across campus are now more easily navigated, improving the overall campus experience for students, visitors, and staff. In addition, the Viewer is a resource used by local emergency responders, allowing them to quickly identify locations across campus when responding to service calls, enhancing campus safety and community collaboration.
Campus Navigation Viewer: BYU-Idaho public campus map Viewer assists with navigation on campus, providing efficient routes for visitors and students.
Our campus space manager has benefited significantly from ArcGIS Indoors, using it to plan office locations more efficiently. In addition to tracking employee office assignments, we manage office and classroom use by ecclesiastical units for Sunday worship. The Indoors interface allows our space manager to quickly see the names of employees assigned to each office and track what type of computer the employee uses. This information is particularly important because ecclesiastical leaders currently cannot use offices equipped with Mac computers. The space manager has saved considerable time and increased accuracy by moving away from Excel spreadsheets and now relies on Indoors alongside customized ArcGIS Dashboards built from the ArcGIS Indoors data combined with other datasets, which help keep information current.
We’ve also developed several other dashboards to improve decision-making including:
- A dashboard showing employees who are still assigned an office but no longer work here, helps the space manager determine where empty space is available on campus.
- A dashboard integrated with room scheduling data helps the space manager track classroom usage efficiency, providing insights for department heads and college deans on potential areas for improvement.
- An access control dashboard helps track recent employee moves, ensuring that the right keys are assigned or swapped in a timely manner.
- Another dashboard assists the planning and construction office in tracking square footage across buildings, aiding in capital needs financial planning.
Building and Floor Space Overview Dashboard: Dashboard displaying building and floor-specific data, including total square footage metrics for both gross and net areas. A valuable tool for daily campus operations.
A Balanced Approach to Education and Affordability
By leveraging these tools, we can better meet the university’s goals of:
- Providing high-quality education that prepares students for lifelong learning and employment.
- Serving as many students as possible within our resource constraints.
- Delivering affordable education by optimizing space usage and reducing operational costs.
With ArcGIS Indoors, BYU-Idaho continues to enhance its ability to make data-driven decisions, improving space planning, asset management, and operational efficiency. This allows us to navigate the challenges of resource constraints while delivering a meaningful, Christ-centered education.
If you have any questions, drop a comment below or email me at smithka@byui.edu.