People Finder
Pages under category: Public » People Finder » Book Meeting Rooms » Hot Desk Centre

1 Overview

This Module is used to find employees, assets and to view location details wth graphical floorplan layouts.
In people, assets and locations, there is a simple set of search fields that allow quick and easy database enquiries.

2 People

Using the search tool, in combination with the locator bar at the top of the screen, the entire database can be queried to display every employee.

2.1 Tools

This segment consists of the two primary tools for search purposes:

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Search People

  • Locate People Search Tool
    It can be found at the top left hand side of the browser window.
    Search Tool Description:
    First Name: This field can be used to search for employees based on their 'First name'.
    Last Name: This field can be used to specify a search based on the 'Last name' of the employees.
    Location: This field can be used to perform a search based on 'Location'. This essentially is a unique “postcode” that pinpoints a real area of space within a Real Estate portfolio.

Division: The division field can be used to perform a query based on the division selected from the options listed at the drop-down list.
Dept: Each division may have multiple departments. Hence, once a division is selected, the search query can be additionally constrained by selecting a certain department within a division. The departments can either be looked up by clicking on the browse button situated at the end of the input area of the Dept field or by typing in the name of the corresponding department ID, if known.

A search can be performed by providing any one or a combination of constraints mentioned above and finally, clicking on the 'search' button.

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Locator Bar

  • Locator Bar
    The Locator Bar can be found just above the Search Tool.
    In addition to the Search Tool, the Locator Bar can be used to perform searches based on:
    Region: 1st field from left
    Default Value: All Estates
    Building: 2nd field from left
    Default Value: All Buildings
    Floors: 3rd field from left
    Default Value: All Floors
    Location: 4th field from left
    Can be used to filter results by 'All Locations' (default) or 'Desks Only'
    These 4 parameters can be set as required to list target employees.

The Search Tool and the Locator Bar can be used to query and in turn, locate (if currently assigned a location) any employee stored in the system.

2.2 Useful People Finder Examples

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  • Searching an employee by Last Name, Location and Division
    For instance, there may be a situation where a user may be searching for a particular employee and he remembers that person's last name, the division and the floor on which that employee is located.
    For example, the last name is 'butler', the division is 'LON-EXE' and the floor number 22 and a search is performed. The results will be as illustrated in the figure alongside:
    Please note that the location code is usually of the order:
    XX (prefix-floor) X (zone) XX (X-Tile) XX (Y-Tile) X (Position).
    Therefore, the results could also potentially display any other employees based at the same division whose location code contains the number 22 in it.
  • Searching employees in a particular department
    For example, if a user wishes to list all the employees working in the LON-CAD division for the Transaction Management – London department, then he must first select the LON-CAD division from the options listed at the 'Division' field and by clicking on the browse button for 'Dept', a browser window for departments gets displayed.
    search%20dept.PNG
    Now, the 'Transaction Management – London' department is located and selected. Once the parameters are set, the search can be performed.
    The results are illustrated in the following figure:
    dept%20result%20eg.PNG
    The First section of the results, list all the employees who are assigned the corresponding department but, are yet to be assigned a location/desk.
    The following segment displays all of the employees who are currently assigned to a location within the particular department.

2.3 Locating a particular employee

The search results can be displayed via 3 distinct views:

  • Card View
    card%20view.PNG
    Click on the 'locate' link to view the precise location of this employee.
  • Icon View
    icon%20view.PNG
    Click on a particular Name to locate the employee.
  • List View
    list%20view.PNG
    Double click on the Name (first/last) of an employee (who is currently assigned a location) to locate the particular employee.

2.4 Display Location of an employee

A figure depicting a typical view of an employee's location and other details.
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The small window on the left displays a brief portfolio of the particular location and the highlighted location to the adjacent right illustrates the location on the corresponding floor plan. It is worth noticing the locator bar at this point as it has adapted the required parameters in order to display the highlighted location and the horizontal menu tab has shifted to 'floor plans' instead of 'people'.

2.5 Clear Form

The 'clear form' button is used to refresh all the parameters currently set at the 'Search Tool' and the 'Locator Bar'.

3 Assets

The Assets section also primarily comprises of the Assets Search Tool and the Locator Bar.

3.1 Asset Tools

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Search Assets

  • Locate Assets Search Tool
    This search tool has 6 input fields;
    Number: This is essentially the unique identifier code (in most cases, the serial number or the barcode of a particular item) assigned to each asset. A search can be performed to list a particular piece of equipment if the identification number of that asset is known. This is useful if there is a need to locate or verify the status of a particular asset.
    Type: A search may be conducted based on the type of asset. The default option is 'Anything'. Alternatively, a user can choose from any of the available types stored in the system. For example: A search may be conducted with the aim of finding all the printers at a particular division.
    Detail: Each type of asset may in addition have further details stored about it in the system. These additional details can be any relevant information with regards to a particular item. A search may be performed based on a particular detail with regards to assets.
    Location: By entering a particular 'Location Code' a search may be conducted in order to list all assets assigned to that location. Very similar to People, using the search fields, assets on this system can be displayed showing their name, type, location and an image to represent the asset.
    Division: The division field can be used to perform a query based on the division selected from the options listed at the drop-down list.
    Dept: Each division may have multiple departments. Hence, once a division is selected, the search query can be additionally constrained by selecting a certain department within a division. The departments can either be looked up by clicking on the 'browse' button situated at the end of the input area of the Dept field or by typing in the name of the corresponding department ID, if known.
  • Locator Bar
    The Locator Bar has the same functionality as described at the People section.

3.2 Useful Asset Finder Examples

  • Searching for a particular asset by its unique identifier (number)
    In this case, the unique identifier (number) of the asset in question must be known. This is a useful search query in order to locate or retrieve the current status of a particular asset stored in the system.
    For example: The system in question stores the details of a particular PC Server and its unique identifier (which in most cases is the serial code or bar code of the item) is known to be 'EUA010467'. By entering this into the 'Number' field the system can retrieve the location and current status of the asset in question.

    Figure depicting the search query and the corresponding result.
    search_number.PNG
    Now, we can simply click on 'locate' to pin point the exact location of the PC Server.
  • Searching for all Fax machines ('type' of asset) based in Japan (additional 'detail')
    In order to perform this search we need to select Type as 'FAX' (or whatever 'type' is assigned for fax machines, select from the options listed at Type) and at the Details input field type in the text that relates to the items assigned/located at Japan (in this case that is 'JPN'). Finally, by clicking on search, all the Fax machines assigned to/located in Japan should get listed.

    Figure illustrating the query made using the search tool and the corresponding results.
    fax_jpn.PNG

3.3 Locating an Asset

Locating an asset works on the same principles as in the case of finding particular employees.

4 Locations

At this section, the combination of the Locate desks search tool, locator bar and certain filters can be used to retrieve details with regards to any location stored in the system.

4.1 Tools

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Search Desks

  • Locate Desks Search Tool
    This section is comprised of 5 input fields;
    Location: Input may be provided to list the details of a particular known location stored in the system. Alternatively, a part of the 'location' code can be used to query a particular range of locations.
    Type: Each location stored in the system is primarily either 'seatable' or 'non-seatable'. In turn, these seatable and non-seatable locations can have an added association with a certain 'type' which depicts a more specific characteristic feature in relation to a particular 'location'.
    Vacancy: Certain locations can be tagged as vacant due to numerous reasons. The vacancy field lists all the types of vacancies stored in the system. For example: a location can be tagged with the type of vacancy 'hot desk' or 'visitor's desk'. Therefore, this field can be used to query locations based on any type of vacancy that may be associated with certain locations.
    Division & Dept: These two fields are used to query locations constrained on division and department. The structure and functionality is similar to the fields in the Locate People section.
  • Locator Bar
    The Locator Bar has the same functionality as described at the People section, with the exception of this Locator Bar having only the first three lists to choose from.
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Filters

  • Filters
    There are 4 types of filters that can be marked/unmarked in conjunction with the inputs provided at the Locator Bar or the search tool to specify added constraints for the query process.
    A brief description of each filter:
    Occupied: If this filter is unmarked/unchecked (default value: marked) then all the locations marked as 'occupied' in the system will get excluded from the queried results.
    Vacant: If this filter is unmarked (default value: marked) then all the locations marked as 'vacant' will get excluded from the queried results.
    Seatable: If this filter is unmarked (default value: marked) then all the locations marked as 'seatable' will get excluded from the queried results.
    Non-seatable: If this filter is unmarked (default value: marked) then all the locations marked as 'non-seatable' get excluded from the queried results.

4.2 Useful Location Finder Examples

  • Listing details of all doors ('type' of location) situated at a certain building on a particular floor (selected using the locator bar)
    For this instance, the type needs to be set to filter by the term that relates to a particular database (in this case: 'DOOR') needs to be selected from the types listed at the 'Type' field in the Locate Desks search tool. Then from the Locator Bar, the required building and floor can be selected, which in this case is situated in Mainland Europe, Paris – 21 Balzac Avenue and our aim is to list all doors on the fifth floor.

    The query and the corresponding results are illustrated by the figure as follows:
    location_type_eg.PNG
  • Listing locations based on filters
    A simple but useful query using filters could be to list all the 'vacant' yet 'seatable' locations in a certain building.
    In this case, we need to uncheck/unmark the check boxes next to (in front of) 'Occupied' and 'Non-Seatable' such that all the locations tagged as either occupied or non-seatable get excluded from the results. The query and the corresponding (excerpt) results are illustrated in the following figure:
    location_filter%20eg.PNG

The floor plan view of each of the listed locations can be viewed by simply clicking on the corresponding location code (listed under 'Location' tab in the query results).

5 Floor Plans

Using the Locator Bar users can choose between different estates, buildings and floors to view floor plans. The floor plans may be viewed to a varied level of details by toggling some of the filters with the added ability to create pdf documents of the current floor that covers all occupied locations.

5.1 Tools

This section of the module primarily uses two tools to generate floor plans and a navigator interface where the floor plans get displayed.

  • The Locator Bar
    The functionality of the locator bar is essentially similar to the other sections (people, assets etc.) It is used to select a particular floor of a certain building and upon selection, the corresponding floor plan is rendered at the interface.
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Filters

  • Filters
    The filters determine what details should be displayed along with the basic floor plan. This section comprises of 4 filters;
    People: This filter is used to determine if people/employees associated with certain locations/desks on a particular floor should be displayed along with the requested floor plan. If marked then all the employees allocated locations on a particular floor plan get displayed. By default, this filter is 'marked'.
    Desk Labels: On marking this filter, all the location codes for each allocated desk on a particular floor get displayed in the floor plan view. By default, this filter is unmarked.
    Assets: This filter is comprised of a list of 3 options, based on which the level of information with regards to the assets assigned to each desk get displayed at the information box (The Information box gets displayed if a particular desk location on the floor plan is selected/clicked). The 3 options are:
    • Simple: If this option is selected then the assets assigned to a desk get listed along with its ID number.
    • Full: If this option is selected then each asset's detailed information get displayed along with the ID number.
    • Off : If the option 'off' is selected then none of the assets associated to the particular selected desk get displayed.
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Option set to Full

Info Bubble: Whenever the pointer/mouse is hovered over an allocated location on the floor plan interface, an info bubble displaying a brief description (location code, type of asset etc.) of that particular location pops up. By toggling this option, the info bubble can either be chosen to be displayed or hidden. Clicking on a user or their desk will bring up information about the selected location. The information covers the person currently there, any assets present plus contact details and the type of location. See Information Box displayed above.
Figure illustrating floor plan view if people, desk labels and info bubble are marked;
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  • Floor Plan Interface
    The floor plan interface is the main section where floor plans get displayed. A floor plan diagram can be magnified to the extent of focusing on a particular allocated location, for example: a single desk. The magnification can be achieved by either using the magnifier meter at the top right hand corner of the floor plan interface or by scrolling up/down with a mouse. The navigator tool, just above the magnification meter, can be used to navigate the currently displayed floor plan. There is also a section, usually at the bottom right hand corner of the interface, that shows the whole floor plan (map view) where the magnified section is located.
    Figure illustrating an overview of a floor plan;
    floor_plan_interface.PNG
    Figure illustrating a map view of a magnified section
    overview%281%29.PNG

Video Illustration: Using People Finder

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