Space Technology

By: Mosaic Space
In order for any space management project to work properly, one of the key aspects, after creating a good policy foundation, is the gathering of good data. There are many different sources for data within any higher education institution. In the first instance, the estate or facilities management area should have extensive data on the rooms that exist at the institution. The only question is how accessible this data is. Can it be exported to a simple flat file format? How accurate it the data? How often is it checked and updated? Is it connected and reconciled with any other systems?

Some of the most difficult data to deal with can be that which has to be collected from the users: the academic and administrative staff in the individual departments. There are two aspects to this:

1. Checking that data from previous years that is going to be rolled over is still accurate, and

2. Collecting new data relating to the upcoming teaching year or term.

What can seem the easiest way to deal with this is to print out some forms, either containing the data that needs to be checked, or asking for the new data that will need to be recorded. But the simplicity of this approach can be very deceptive. Any written form is open to a set of responses that can vary almost infinitely, depending on the imagination of the academics and admin staff. Sorting through these sorts of responses can be confusing, frustrating and ultimately very time consuming.

One way of reducing this data collection load is to collect data via the web. This will take extra time to set up but has many worthwhile rewards when you come to compile the data. However, care must still be taken to insure that the data that is being collected is in a form that will be simple to load. In general, the rule for confirming or collecting data, is to avoid any simple text entry. As far as possible all data entry should be from a pull-down list or menu, a set of radio buttons or some check boxes. The only type of data entry that is likely to be usable is numbers. This should include data such as the entry of subject or course components or staff availability and preferences.

Mosaic Space Consulting are experts at university timetable software implementation, having implemented education scheduling packages and performed space utilization audit work at more than 50 universities and colleges worldwide. For more information, visit http:www.mosaic-space.co.uk or http://www.mosaic-space.com.au