RUIS - Leading The Way In Space Utilisation Reporting For University And College Management

Prime Minister Gordon Brown promised an additional 10,000 university places in England in 2009, for students wishing to study maths, science, technology and engineering. With student applications up by 50,000 on last year before the government’s recent announcement, finding the physical space within classrooms, laboratories and lecture theatres to accommodate the additional courses is likely to be a headache for many facilities managers.

Further education colleges face similar problems with student numbers increasing as young people make the decision to continue in education, largely due to the very limited employment opportunities in this recessionary period. Colleges however, may face potentially greater issues, with only 13 of the planned 180 rebuilding and renewal projects being given provisional approval due to lack of funding. With the current trend of increasing student numbers looking set to continue, there also is a strong possibility that the current mix of available space will be unable to fulfil the needs of the future.

Finding That Elusive Space The Mosaic Way

Mosaic (EU) Limited, trading under the name of Mosaic Space UK, was incorporated in the United Kingdom in 2007 specifically to address the problems of planning, optimisation, systems implementation and data analysis in education estates management. The UK launch of the company’s RUIS software (Room Utilisation Information System) in September 2009, provides facilities managers within educational establishments with a simple, yet highly effective method of analysing, planning and forecasting space utilisation.

Mosaic’s RUIS software provides room utilisation analysis and reporting, space planning tools, timetable usage spread analysis and learning environments modelling. The system can operate in a number of modes either as a stand-alone module, on an intranet or on the internet. Using data which can be imported from popular timetabling packages such as Syllabus Plus and CELCAT, the system can set room utilisation targets for room frequency (RFF), seat occupancy (SOF), utilisation, area per seat, maximum hours per week and maximum load per event. The software also supports multiple utilisation targets, allowing planning across a number of discrete areas to be targeted at the same time.

RUIS also incorporates a powerful filtering wizard, allowing space managers to filter data by campus, building, room type and room with other filtering options available for week range, days, start & end times, room size and event size. Comprehensive utilisation reports and charts provide an at-a-glance view of actual utilisation, required rooms and timetable usage profile to name but a few. Comparison reports can also be generated to view utilisation between multiple planning periods, compare one year or term with another and room audit results with timetable bookings.

Striking examples of effective space and utilisation planning using RUIS software includes one Australian University, where a planned 16 classroom extension was reduced to just 12 new rooms, following an evaluation using RUIS. The resultant saving, in the order of AUS$17,000,000 was split between the purchase of leading edge technology and equipment for the University and making some of the new space flexible in the way in which it could be used. This benefited both the University and local community, as the room could serve as a 300 seat lecture theatre and could be converted to a flat floor conference or event venue as required..

A second facility evaluating the need for additional classrooms found that not only did they already have enough space, they actually had space to spare which was then rented out to a local college, generating additional revenues for the University in question.

The trend for numbers of people in higher and further education looks set to continue to rise, based upon the current governments target of 50% of young people experiencing higher education. This, together with the realistic possibility of cuts in public spending in the coming years, means that Mosaic UK and the company’s RUIS software look likely to be in demand.

The Directors of Mosaic Space UK are available to discuss:

• How universities can reduce the need for additional building development through effective use of spatial planning and timetabling

• How universities can in fact generate revenues by renting out additional space which has become available through effective spatial planning

• How universities can create flexible-use facilities on campus to offer significant benefits to both the university, the local community, staff and students

• A case study where having used the services of Mosaic and their RUIS space utilisation analysis software, one university in Australia was able to secure savings of AUS $17,000,000, which could then be spent on cutting edge technology and equipment for learning.

For more information visit the RUIS webpage: http://www.mosaicsd.com/ruis.htm