World map with connecting lines between different countries, text 'DREES & SOMMER WELTWEIT' top left.

30 locations,
3000+ employees
in 3 weeks

The fast and sustainable implementation of the "2-metre office" at Drees & Sommer.

Back-to-office.
Safe, smart, and productive.

Particularly against the backdrop of rising new infections related to the coronavirus pandemic, many companies are asking themselves how to implement the back-to-office transition for employees in the workplace sustainably, safely, and quickly. Several aspects must be considered here, which were already described in our blog: Technology for the 2-meter office (6-foot office) . The consulting, planning, and project management firm Drees & Sommer has now implemented Thing-it, a solution for booking suitably distributed workstations, for its more than 3,500 employees at 46 locations worldwide.

The specification was: it must not take significantly longer than 3 weeks until all 3000+ employees at all 30 of 32 locations can book workstations.

World map with networked points and the slogan "Drees & Sommer worldwide" in a box, representation of a global network.

This was only possible thanks to an intensive and interlocking working method between the core team at Drees & Sommer and ourselves.

Graphical representation of quotation marks.

"As someone who has accompanied the (booking) app at Drees & Sommer from the very beginning and was also able to help shape its implementation for our various customers such as CA Immo/cube berlin and Fond of/The Ship, I have seen over the past two years how the app has significantly improved in terms of performance, usability, stability and user experience thanks to a lot of practical experience in the demo center and the test phase in our Aachen office, as well as feedback from the projects.

Many user wishes were incorporated, which were always discussed controversially - as is usual in software development - in order to achieve the best result.

The quick booking option for workspaces in particular is currently very popular due to the coronavirus pandemic. In my experience, booking via floor plans is also very popular with customers and internally.

The now flexible configuration options with booking of additional options (catering, equipment, etc.) and the functional option of automatic release in the event of no-shows should also be emphasized."

Markus Kluck,
Head of the expert team for digitalization, Drees & Sommer

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Procedure

Once all the documents had been compiled, our Professional Services team digitized the floor plans. Specifically, this meant creating a digital twin for each building in our portal using Building Information Management (BIM), so that the tables and their locations could then be implemented virtually.

A check mark in a circle indicating success or approval.

In the first step, Drees & Sommer had to provide the foundations. This required extensive research to locate and precisely define the floor plans of all the offices to be relocated. This served to optimize and detail the location of the workspaces and how they may be used and booked by employees.

A tick in a black circle with a blue tick

These workstations are marked with a unique ID that identifies their exact location. Along with the digital implementation of the workspaces into the building model, the import also enabled the creation of booking calendars, possibly with specific booking rules (e.g., duration, earliest possible booking time, etc.). These calendars are assigned keywords such as "Quiet" or "Open Space," which make it easy to select an ideal working environment via the app:

A blue tick in a black circle, indicating a successful completion or approval.

Floor plan of an office building with COVID-19 vaccination niches marked in red in the lower part of the room. An overview of the workstations and room layout can be seen.

Tracking in case of infection

When a case of infection is reported, workplace booking makes it possible to determine which employees were in proximity to the infected employee – at workstations nearby, on the same floor, or in the same building. Of course, this only applies if the employees have not marked their bookings as 'private'.

If the booking was confirmed, for example, via a barcode scan at the seat ('check in'), this information is as accurate as a real indoor location determination, for example via Bluetooth beacons or contact tracing as in the federal government's Corona warning app.

Screenshot of a COVID-19 control system with information on risk groups working in the same buildings as Hussein Zaazou, workplaces used and disinfection tasks.

Employees who are potentially at risk can be informed quickly by e-mail and contaminated areas can be disinfected quickly.

Balanced land use

In addition to the bookability of workspaces, the results also include a precise overview of the location of desks, including information on whether a table is booked, enabling the creation of utilization overviews. These utilization analyses can cover buildings, floors, or specific rooms and allow the representation of the percentage utilization of the space over a specific period of time.

Screenshot of a room occupancy and meeting management dashboard with diagrams and statistics in German.

Heat map of an office floor plan with areas in red, yellow, green and blue that indicate the use of the rooms.

The digitalization of an office building using the Thing-it platform helps to create a protected working environment. At the same time, a sustainable working environment of the future is realized.

Back-to-Office. Safe, smart, and productive.