Occupancy planning software and occupancy tracking are the two halves of one loop, and the loop is the workplace team's whole job. Occupancy planning works forward from a headcount, a desk ratio and the allowances to the floor the organisation needs; occupancy tracking works backward from the door, the bookings or the sensors to what the floor actually saw, and the plan is only as good as the tracking that checks it. An occupancy tracking system, an occupancy tracker, occupancy monitoring and occupancy software are names for the second half; this guide is the loop in both directions, with the free worksheets on this site working each figure from your own counts.
Occupancy planning: forward from the headcount
120 people at 7 desks per 10 is 84 desks; at 60 square feet a desk, with 1,800 square feet of meeting space, 1,500 of support and 25% circulation, the floor is 10,425 square feet, 86.9 a person. The ratio is the biggest lever and it is the tracking's decision, not the planner's; the area per desk and the allowances are the organisation's own. Occupancy planning software has to hold the inventory the plan sits on so the plan can be checked, and the arithmetic itself is free on the office space per person worksheet.
Occupancy tracking: backward from the door
84 in on an average day against 140 desks is 60% utilization; 126 on the busiest day is 90%; 14 desks are spare; 12,000 square feet over 84 people is 142.9 square feet per person actually in; the attendance supports 7 desks per 10. An occupancy tracker is whatever produces the two counts, the badge reader, the wifi, the bookings or a person with a clipboard for a month, and occupancy monitoring is keeping them week by week. The space utilization worksheet works any one week from the counts you enter.
The loop closed: did the plan hold
A floor planned at 7 desks per 10 that runs at 90% of desks on its busiest day held; one at 110% did not, and either the days are named to spread the load or the desk count changes. That is the only honest test of an occupancy plan and it needs the counts kept, not reconstructed. Occupancy software that shows today's live map and forgets last month's count cannot close the loop; HardFM Pro keeps the weeks and exports them for $24 a month for the whole team.
What this page does not cover
Which sensor to buy, how the badge reader is wired and what a building code sets as maximum occupancy for egress are the hardware vendor's, the security integrator's and the fire authority's questions, and this hub takes the counts as inputs and asserts nothing about any of them. The one external figure on this hub is the U.S. General Services Administration's design requirement of 150 usable square feet per person for federal office space, quoted as a reference point that binds federal agencies only.
Questions people ask about occupancy planning software
What does occupancy planning software do?
Works the floor a headcount needs from the desk ratio, the area per desk and the allowances, and holds the inventory the plan sits on so tracking can check it later. The arithmetic is free on the office space per person worksheet; the inventory is HardFM Pro.
What should an occupancy tracking system keep?
The average and busiest-day counts week by week, against the desks and the area, so utilization, surplus and the sharing ratio are measured rather than remembered. The free space utilization worksheet works any one week; HardFM Pro keeps the weeks.
Do I need sensors for occupancy monitoring?
No. Sensors are one way to produce the counts; badge readers, booking exports and a manual count for a month are others. The worksheet and the record take the counts however they arrived.