New way of booking a meeting room

The system has been used for several years within Carmarthenshire to monitor the use of space in areas that have been rationalised. The existing sensors have been re-purposed and re-deployed to support the system and an add-in has been procured, at a minimal cost, to provide a booking capability to enhance the system that Corporate Property already use.

The rationalisation project has increased the number of meeting spaces available as managers have given up office spaces to increase the number of meeting and collaboration spaces available.

Other under-utilised spaces such as the Chamber in Spilman Street will also become bookable spaces available to all. Feedback from the system will also help the Corporate Property team determine how well a space is utilised.

The touchdown zone in Spilman Street will be available from the end of January and the Touchdown Zone in County Hall from the Beginning of March.

We will as it’s a free tool available to us, but Outlook:

• Can’t actively manage rooms.
• Can’t provide evidence about how well space is used.
• Can’t tell you about the facilities available in rooms and where they are located.

For example: Outlook can tell us when and how long a room is booked for, but it can't determine whether the room was used for the entire time of the booking or whether it was used at all.

The new system works with a passive room sensor that is linked to the booking system. This compares bookings against use. If for example a room is booked for 2 o’clock and no-one turns up, the new system will sense that the room has not been occupied and release the room booking making it available, thus actively managing the space. In this way the Corporate Property team can compare bookings against actual usage.

Tŷ Elwyn: This is located by going to door at the left-hand side of main reception before the double doors and swiping through the door immediately on the left.

Tŷ Parc-yr-hun: the zone is located on the ground floor of the building and is immediately on the right as you go through the doors off reception.

Yes, anyone working for Carmarthenshire County Council can use a touchdown zone. Spaces are not currently available to partners unfortunately. However, if this becomes an issue it can be reviewed.

Desks in touchdown zones are available on a first come first serve basis.

The system uses passive infrared sensors (PIR) to monitor for the presence of a human being, via a combination of motion and heat.

They cannot identify individuals; and they cannot record pictures or sound. The sensor technology is solely designed as a modern replacement for a ‘floor walking study’ or ‘a person with clipboard’ (or more recently iPad).

This is the same kind of sensor that you might find on the security lights in your garden, that sense movement and switch on a light.

If you have any further questions, please email CCCHybridWorking@carmarthenshire.gov.uk