Workplace Analytics
Empowering workplace managers to manage the workplace to optimise return on investment.
Overview
Workplace Service Delivery (WSD) is a suite of products by ServiceNow that provides employees with a single platform to manage workplace tasks like reserving rooms, ordering supplies or reporting maintenance issues without the hassle of backend complexity.
While the employees used simple task flows for their workplace requirements, there was a need to monitor and manage all the data and operations by the workplace managers. This is where workplace analytics came into play.
Workplace analytics is all about using data to make workplaces better.
By looking at key metrics and trends, it helps improve how we use space, manage leases, handle maintenance, and connect in the workplace.
The aim is to boost efficiency, predict trends, and make smarter decisions for a more productive and cost-effective work environment.
Role
UI/UX designer
Timeline
Oct 2022 - March 2023
Responsibilities
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User interviews
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Competitive Analysis
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Personas
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Ideation
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Low-fidelity wireframes
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High-fidelity mockups and prototypes
Outcome
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30% reduction in asset and operations tracking time spent by workplace managers
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60% adoption rate among target users within the first month
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25% improvement in decision-making effectiveness
WSD Applications
Among several applications in the Workplace Service Delivery Suite, three of the important ones are as follows:
Reservation Management
Enables users to reserve meeting rooms, conference rooms, desks, and any reservable workplace service from the Service Portal.
Maintenance Management
Enables users make preventive maintenance plans for enterprise assets and workplace locations.
Lease Administration
Enables users to create, manage and track workplace contracts from a single interface.
Need for Analytics
These WSD applications facilitated users to request various workplace-related services and cater to those requests seamlessly.
However, the workplace managers and the facilities managers lacked a centralized platform to visually access workplace related data.
This impacted their ability to manage operations and resources effectively. Through a series of interviews with these users, a notable finding emerged—these professionals dealt with a significant amount of manual work in managing the workplace.
Pain Points
01.
Manual aggregation
Manual aggregation of data involving a lot of paperwork
02.
Manual reporting
Manually creating data visualizations and reports to find insights
03.
Manual tracking
Manual tracking of important metrics and date
Goal
So a solution was required for the workplace managers and the facilities managers that would help them in
Data Monitoring
Track all the key information (space, lease and maintenance) in one place
Data Prediction
Help users consume workplace data to anticipate and analyse trends
Data Visualization
Automatically create data visualizations to be shared across organization
Making Informed Decisions
Empower decision-makers with real-time relevant data
Optimising Resources
Streamline resource allocation and utilization for maximum efficiency
Increasing
ROI
Help reduce cost through resource prioritization
Competitor Analysis
Nuvolo Facilities Workplace Management System
Offers analytics capabilities related to asset management, work orders, compliance, and facilities operations.
Robin Space Utilization
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Real-time space utilization tracking
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Workplace Analytics
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Integration with collaboration tools
IBM TRIRIGA
Offers advanced analytics capabilities as part of its integrated workplace management system (IWMS).
Spacewell
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Provides data analytics for workspace optimization, including space management and IoT-driven insights.
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Users can run space-saving simulations (tweak solutions/widgets) and see the financial impact.
Metrics Analysis
I collaborated with the project manager to come up with a comprehensive list of widgets and metrics that align with industry standards and requirements to be shown on our analytics page.
Iterations
&
Reviews
Since all the metrics were decided, most of the iterations involved designs and discussions on the optimal ways to represent them. Regular conversations with the project manager and feasibility checks with the engineering team were pivotal in shaping the designs.
Additionally, we conducted internal reviews and had design partnership calls with our customers, presenting our initial designs and gathering their valuable feedback.
Solution
The solution that we came up with was separate dashboards for Space Management, Lease Management, and Maintenance Management along with filters to get desired data and score cards, wherever applicable.
Space Optimization
Capacity vs utilization
Displays the available space resources versus its occupancy.
Space utilization by department
Displays the average capacity and average utilization for a department.
Peak utilization days
Displays the average utilization for each day of the week.
Space type utilization
Displays the average capacity and average utilization for a space type.
Lease Administration
All Contracts
Displays the total number of workplace contracts.
Active Contracts
Displays the number of workplace contracts in an active state.
Draft Contracts
Displays the number of workplace contracts in the Draft state
Expiring in 60 days
Displays the number of workplace contracts that expire within the next 60 days.
Lease expiration by region
Displays the number of workplace contracts expiring in different regions.
Maintenance Management
PMP (Planned Maintenance Percentage)
Percentage of planned days spent for preventive cases vs the total planned days for both preventive and corrective maintenance cases.
PMC (Planned Maintenance Compliance)
Percentage of the total number of preventive maintenance cases completed vs the total number of preventive maintenance cases.
MTR (Mean time to repair)
The average time taken to close a maintenance case.
Number of open cases
The total number of open cases.
Corrective vs preventive maintenance case trend
Displays the trend of corrective and preventive maintenance cases.
Average age of maintenance cases
Displays the average age of corrective and preventive maintenance cases.
Planned maintenance percentage trend
Shows PMP trend over time
Planned Maintenance Compliance trend
Shows PMC over time
Outcomes
Improvement in Efficiency
The dashboard achieved a 30% time reduction for workplace managers in tracking assets and operations, replacing lengthy paperwork and manual tasks. This streamlined efficiency empowers managers to concentrate on strategic initiatives. Additionally, the dashboard removed cumbersome report generation, further optimizing workplace managers' efficiency.
High rate of Adoption
The workplace manager dashboard achieved a 60% adoption rate within a month due to its alignment with user needs. By consolidating data from various applications into a single, accessible platform, the dashboard offered a convenient solution, streamlining the user experience and leading to rapid and widespread adoption.
Enhanced Decision-Making
Workplace managers reported a 25% improvement in decision-making effectiveness. The dashboard provides real-time insights and trends, empowering managers to make informed decisions promptly, leading to optimized resource allocation and increased overall productivity.
Learnings
The greatest learning while working on this project was using existing components from the design system whose behaviour was already defined. Creating new components and getting them approved takes a lot of time and involves a lengthy process.
So we used Performance Analytics widgets, which are already an integral part of SNow platform with their own data architecture and visualisation. Thus we prioritised reuse of components for rapid solutions and resource optimization.
Another key takeaway was the importance of early collaboration. It was very important to involve the engineering team from the very first point to assess feasibility and plan the project.
Additionally, involving customers through the Product Advisory Council (PAC) and design partnership meetings allowed for early feedback and deeper engagement in the design phase.
Future Scope
While the Workplace Analytics dashboard delivered essential metrics for workplace operations, it lacked clarity on data interpretation and actionable insights. An essential enhancement involves providing users with insights and actionable steps directly from the dashboard, enabling informed decision-making and improvements to current conditions.
