Space Analytics Case Study
University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Challenges
SPACE UTILIZATION DATA
UTK had little or no data to compare room or building occupancy over time.
SCHEDULING VALIDATION DATA
Without manual counts, UTK had few ways to validate class registration data and lecture hall use.
HISTORICAL DATA
Accurate forecasting was troublesome without a comprehensive view of space allocation and usage over time.
Space Analytics to Improve Campus Experience
UTK’s partnership with Lambent aligns with and supports the university’s mission to empower and sustain a culture of collaboration, adaptability, and innovation. In the category of space allocation, UTK faced challenges not uncommon on higher education campuses.
UTK BY THE NUMBERS
The University Of Tennessee, Knoxville is a 900-acre campus with 294 buildings occupied at a variety of levels over the course of a year.
UTK is the largest research-based, land-grant university in the U.S. It’s attended by nearly 30,700 undergraduate and graduate students and employs 1,586 full-time instructional faculty – with an estimated $1.7 billion dollar impact on the Tennessee economy.
Associate Vice Chancellor and CIO Joel Reeves partnered with Lambent to deploy and develop software for monitoring occupancy and informing how and where rooms and buildings were utilized by students. The university sought occupancy data for its most popular shared-space buildings, starting with the John C. Hodges library.
30K+
TOTAL STUDENTS
Campus-Wide Analytics Needed
CIO Joel Reeves has been working in the UT system for 20+ years and he currently oversees a 200+ IT department in addition to his duties as Assistant Vice Chancellor. In 2019, Reeves oversaw the initial deployment of Lambent at the UTK John C. Hodges Library. At 351,000 square feet, Hodges is the largest library in Tennessee, and is also home to several unique library spaces, including a 150-seat auditorium, One Stop Student Services and one of the state’s top-grossing Starbucks.
In 2020, UTK welcomed students back to a fall semester on campus, with some modifications to campus life that involved decisions around space — including staggered schedules and dormitory housing for students who were sick, following the nationwide spring shutdowns as a result of Covid.
Enrollment at UTK actually increased during the fall of 2020 with total enrollment exceeding 30,000 for the first time in decades. The first-year class of 5,512 set an enrollment record.
The following year, UT System evaluated Lambent in addition to several other solutions to meet the goal of leveraging existing data sources to provide deep insights into space utilization across campus, including at the Humanities and Social Sciences Building, which houses most of UTK lectures.
“Space planners are tasked with creating multi-purpose space to develop new initiatives, often without growing footprints.”
Joel Reeves - UTK Associate Vice Chancellor & CIO
Space Analytics in Action
Lambent expanded its initial UTK deployment to cover several buildings on campus. The UTK System based their choice of vendors on several important criteria, including:
Privacy First
Surfaces anonymous data, no PII or facial recognition
No New Hardware
Deploys with existing Wi-Fi, cameras
Scalable
Expands to additional buildings and locations as needed
UI Experience
Shows dashboard data in easy-to-understand views
ROI
Cost savings through space optimization
Space Analytics in Action
Lambent expanded its initial UTK deployment to cover several buildings on campus. The UTK System based their choice of vendors on several important criteria, including:
Privacy First
Surfaces anonymous data, no PII or facial recognition
No New Hardware
Deploys with existing Wi-Fi
Scalable
Expands to additional buildings and locations as needed
UI Experience
Shows dashboard data in easy-to-understand views
ROI
Cost savings through space optimization
- Privacy First – Surfaces anonymous data, no PII or facial recognition
- Privacy First – Surfaces anonymous data, no PII or facial recognition
- Privacy First – Surfaces anonymous data, no PII or facial recognition
- Privacy First – Surfaces anonymous data, no PII or facial recognition
Space Optimization Results
Renovation and Maintenance:
Like many institutions, UTK has virtually no surge space. Deferring maintenance can be costly, and Lambent data provides predictive analytics for reassignment decisions.
Staffing:
One of the first data-driven decisions UTK officials made based on utilization data was around routine cleaning schedules, and the reassigning of cleaning crews based on peak library study hours.
Classroom Utilization:
UTK was able to integrate Ad Astra, the common scheduling software for Higher Ed, with Lambent Spaces to determine whether classes were utilized as expected.
Collaboration:
Reeves was the initial project champion at UTK, but departments such as Facilities, the Chancellor’s Office and managers of Special Events were interested in understanding occupancy in new ways.
Sustainability:
Space planners are tasked with creating multi-purpose space to develop new initiatives, often without growing footprints. Occupancy and space analytics are essential to long-term planning.
“New buildings are one thing. Renovations mean you’re taking a building offline, but you have to keep doing business while that building’s being renovated.”
Joel Reeves - UTK Associate Vice Chancellor & CIO
Additional Project Benefits
Weeks not Months:
Faster time to data than through use of sensors or manual processes
Cloud-enabled Analytics:
Leverages existing Wi-Fi and sensors
Reporting:
Easy-to-read visuals for simple reporting
Future
Digital Signage, Impact Reports:
How to inform students about availability in shared and popular spaces so that they can plan their study and break intervals, along with when to bring large groups to various collaboration spaces is next up for Reeves and his team.
Lambent has helped the UTK team to communicate key metrics to inform strategic planning and the campus vision for flexible, dynamic spaces to meet the needs of a student population in need of increased research and development space. Reeves plans on expanding the occupancy data reports to help prove out impact studies for upcoming projects, such as a business school expansion of an additional building.
“There is no replacement for data when it comes to creating the modern student experience.”
Joel Reeves - UTK Associate Vice Chancellor & CIO
JOEL REEVES
Associate Vice Chancellor and CIO
Q&A WITH JOEL
QUESTION
How do you think Space Analytics can help shape the modern campus?
ANSWER
“There is no replacement for data when it comes to creating the modern student experience. We use data to fulfill our greater, stated mission to advance the prosperity, well-being and vitality of communities across Tennessee and around the world through our research, teaching, and service.”