The Space Utilization and Optimization Initiative will see three key milestones come to fruition over the coming weeks as part of the ongoing efforts to improve how CU Boulder manages space on campus to best support students and the university’s mission of education and research.
Since being hired into the newly created role last year, Kevin Griffin, director of the Office of Space Optimization, has been leading the space utilization and optimization efforts on campus. Specifically, Griffin’s work has centered around working with the Space Policy Working Group to draft appropriate campus space policies and standards, as well as leading the implementation of Archibus, a space-management technology tool and database for tracking and managing the various types of space across campus. He also has been working with campus programs to fulfill space requests, developing solutions for space allocation, assignment and relocation that best achieve the overarching goals of the initiative and the campus.
Collectively, those efforts are helping to drive the next steps of the Space Utilization and Optimization Initiative.
The Space Policy Working Group, which includes representation from the provost’s office and other campus departments, has been examining best practices, vetting preliminary policy and procedure drafts, and seeking diverse opinions with respect to how space is managed on campus. The group has taken into consideration a broad spectrum of space governance topics and expects to present a draft space management policy for review by campus leadership by the end of May.
Griffin says, on the Archibus front, the implementation process has continued to advance with the completion of user acceptance testing, load testing and completion of the infrastructure for the final production environment.
“Data is being migrated in bulk from the legacy platform used to manage space on campus to the new production environment,” Griffin said. “This way, use of the Archibus tool begins with a comprehensive space inventory.”
Griffin added that for those who manage space on campus for various buildings and programs, training sessions and one-on-one walkthroughs of the Archibus tool are anticipated to occur over the summer or early fall depending on user availability.
Finally, a new space management website will launch this summer that will include information about space governance, useful space information dashboards, training resources for Archibus users and more.
“Implementation of a campuswide policy for how space is managed, in conjunction with the rollout of the Archibus tool, are integral steps to ensuring the goals of the Space Optimization and Utilization Initiative are met and that space allocation decisions are made in a fair and transparent way that best serves the overall campus mission,” Griffin said.
