Space management

  • Release version: Australia
  • Updated March 12, 2026
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Space Management

    The Space Management feature within the Facilities Service Management application provides a structured approach to managing and analyzing facility spaces. Key metrics such as occupancy percentage and total available space are readily available for analysis, aiding in effective space utilization. Note that this feature is no longer available for new customers.

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    Key Features

    • Forecasting: Helps predict future space requirements.
    • Simplified Charge Back Process: Streamlines financial operations related to space usage.
    • Space Analysis: Supports analysis for both actual and planned use cases.
    • Zone Creation: Allows the formation of zones for different collections of spaces.
    • Space Hierarchy: Organizes spaces into a natural hierarchy (campus, building, level, space) for better management.
    • Space Roll-Up Calculations: Aggregates occupancy and area information from lower levels to higher ones, facilitating better oversight of space utilization.
    • User and Department Associations: Enables assigning multiple users and departments to spaces for accurate cost allocation and reporting.
    • GeoJSON Map Files: Utilizes GeoJSON format for floor plan visualizations, allowing custom map creation.

    Key Outcomes

    By implementing Space Management, customers can expect improved visibility into space usage, enhanced forecasting abilities, and streamlined reporting processes. The ability to efficiently manage occupancy, link users to spaces, and visualize layouts through GeoJSON enhances overall operational efficiency. Customers will also benefit from automatic updates to occupancy statistics as user assignments change, ensuring accurate real-time data management.

    The concept of space is part of the Facilities Service Management application. Space provides a definition at all levels with the same unit measure, and presents metrics that are readily available for analysis. These metrics include occupancy percentage, total space available, and so on.

    Note:
    This feature is no longer available for new customers.
    The additional benefits of space management include:
    • Ability to forecast future space requirements
    • Simplification of the charge back process
    • Space analysis for actual and planned use cases
    • Addition of zones for creating different collections of spaces

    Space hierarchy

    A natural hierarchy models all the spaces of your organization. You can use this information to determine how effectively you are using your facilities space. The hierarchy from top to bottom is campus, building, level (floor), and space.

    You can create types of spaces as needed. New space definition tables extend the [fm_space] table. Be sure to set the proper ACLs. The following graphic depicts how tables are related to one another.
    Figure 1. Space table hierarchy
    Picture depicts order of tables as fm_campus, alm_building, fm_level, and fm_space and how they are extended

    Space roll up calculations

    The Facilities Service Management application can roll up occupancy, area, and usage information from lower to higher levels in the space hierarchy. Roll ups are spaces designated as available for occupancy. The occupancy values from that space roll up to the level above them.

    When you designate a space as available for occupancy, you can also specify the maximum occupancy. Depending on the actual occupancy, a percentage appears to show how much space is available. A script include modifies the roll-up calculations.
    Figure 2. Available for occupancy selected and dependent fields
    image is a screenshot showing the available occupancy check box and dependant fields
    The values that roll up are:
    • Occupancy
    • Max occupancy
    • Assignable area

    The percent occupied calculation takes place based on the current and max occupancy values.

    Associated users

    You can assign users to more than one location, with a primary location.

    Assign employees a primary location. A business rule ensures that an employee can have only one primary location. Employees that travel between campuses can have an assigned space on each campus. The [fm_m2m_user_to_space] table stores these records. Adding a user automatically updates the current occupancy and availability status of the space and performs the percent occupied calculation.
    Note:
    Space becomes available when a user becomes inactive.

    Associated departments

    You can assign spaces to more than one department for cost allocation and reporting purposes.

    The Associated Department [fm_m2m_department_to_space] table extends the fm_space table, containing the relationship of departments and percentage ownership. A percentage automatically calculates after setting the weight for each department. A business rule sets the percentages based on weight so that the sum of percentages equals 100%.