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

30 locations,
3000+ employees
in 3 weeks

The rapid and sustainable implementation of the "2 meter office" at Drees & Sommer.

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

Especially against the background of increasing new infections in connection with the corona pandemic, many companies are asking themselves how the back-to-office issue can be implemented sustainably, safely and quickly for employees in the workplace. There are several aspects to consider here, which have already been discussed in our blog: Technology for the 2 meter office (6 Feet Office) have already been described. The consulting, planning and project management company, Drees & Sommer, has now implemented a solution with Thing-it for its more than 3500 employees at 46 locations worldwide by booking suitably distributed workstations.

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 requests 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

Professional portrait of a man with bald head, blue eyes, dark suit, white shirt and striped tie, against a light background.

Procedure

Once all the documents had been compiled, the floor plans were digitized by our Professional Services team. Specifically, this meant that a digital twin was created in our portal for each of the buildings using Building Information Management (BIM) so that the tables and their location 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 makes the exact location recognizable. Together with the digital implementation of the workspaces in the building model, booking calendars were also created via the import, if necessary 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 atmosphere 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.

Tracing in the event of infection

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

If the booking has been confirmed, e.g. via barcode scan at the site ('check in'), this information is similarly accurate as a real indoor location determination, e.g. via Bluetooth beacons or contact tracing as in the federal government's Corona-Warn-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 result also includes a precise overview of the location of desks, including information on whether a desk is booked, enabling the creation of utilization overviews. These occupancy analyses can cover buildings, floors or just specific rooms and allow the percentage use of the area to be displayed 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.