Space utilization software works one division in five directions, and the five are the whole of a space utilization analysis. Attendance over desks is the average utilization; peak attendance over desks is the peak; peak attendance is the desks the busiest day needs and desks less peak is the surplus; area over attendance is the square feet per person actually in; and peak over headcount, times ten, is the sharing ratio the attendance supports. Those are the space utilization metrics, and floor space utilization, office space utilization, office utilization and the utilization of space are the same five figures named by the floor they are worked for. This guide is the five, worked on this site's example, and what the software has to keep so the figures are measured rather than remembered.
The five figures on the worked example
140 desks, 180 people assigned, 84 in on an average day, 126 on the busiest, 12,000 square feet of net area: 60% average utilization, 90% peak, 126 desks needed, 14 spare, 142.9 square feet per person actually in, and a sharing ratio of 7 desks per 10 people. Every input is the manager's own count and every output is one division. The space utilization worksheet on this site works all six on the page from the five inputs with no account and publishes no target rate, because there is none: the floor's own attendance is the standard.
Average and peak, the two that disagree
A floor that reads 60% on average and 90% at peak is the normal case, and the two numbers answer different questions. The average says what the floor costs per person actually in; the peak says whether a floor can go. A space utilization analysis that reports only the average will recommend releasing desks the busiest day needs; one that reports only the peak will keep a floor that is empty four days in five. Office utilization is both numbers or it is neither.
What the software has to keep
The counts, week by week, against the desks and the area they were measured on. Utilization of space is a trend before it is a figure: a floor at 90% on its busiest day in May and 110% in September has outgrown its ratio, and the lease conversation needs both months. Space utilization software that shows today's live map and forgets last month's count has measured the floor and lost the measurement. HardFM Pro keeps the weekly counts and exports them for $24 a month for the whole team.
Where the counts come from, and what this page does not claim
Badge readers, desk and room sensors, wifi association counts, the booking system or a person with a clipboard for a month all produce the same two inputs, average and peak attendance, and the arithmetic does not care which. HardFM integrates with none of the hardware and takes the counts as inputs. It publishes no benchmark utilization rate; 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 for federal agencies only.
Questions people ask about space utilization software
What are the space utilization metrics?
Average utilization (attendance over desks), peak utilization, desks needed on the busiest day, desks spare, square feet per person actually in, and the sharing ratio the attendance supports. The free space utilization worksheet works all six from five of your own counts.
What is a good office space utilization rate?
The floor's own attendance is the standard, and the worksheet publishes no target. The useful reading is the pair: 60% average and 90% peak means the floor costs more per person than it looks and cannot lose desks; the peak decides whether a floor can go.
What should space utilization software keep?
The average and busiest-day counts week by week against the desks and area, exportable as a table, so the trend exists when the lease comes up. HardFM Pro keeps that for $24 a month for the whole team.