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As educational technology advances and the industry continues to evolve, institutions need reliable ways to make decisions regarding operating hours, staffing, student engagement and other important aspects. Rapidly changing community demographics and economic fluctuations significantly influence an institution’s needs, and gathering hard data on these shifts is essential for understanding the situation.
People counting systems can help institutions identify gaps in their campus management strategies and create the most effective solutions. This guide explores how people counting systems can enhance campus management for all institutional stakeholders, from administrators to first-year students.
Data-driven decision-making (DDDM) is a business concept that has applications in almost every industry, including education. Harnessing the power of real-time data makes it easier to stay up to date with the changes happening on your campus so you can address them more effectively.
The data you collect from a people counting system can have a significant impact on:
An integrated software platform can help you analyze the data you collect to generate crucial insights into typical traffic patterns and the most effective solutions.
People counting systems are a valuable tool for institutions looking to lean into DDDM. Some examples of the data you can collect with this technology include:
To gain these insights, though, you need to ensure you use a system of internet-connected sensors and software platforms. Combining these technologies enables you to use the data you collect to create better solutions.
While people counting systems are useful in various industries, each sector has specific use cases for them. Some of the most significant benefits of implementing people counting systems in higher education institutions include:
Overstaffing in under-utilized areas or during periods of low traffic can cause you to overspend on utilities and labor, reducing your potential for revenue generation.
People counting systems can help you identify areas and times with less traffic from students and staff, which can help you determine how to address this discrepancy.
For example, if traffic in a campus convenience store is typically low until the afternoon, you could reduce its hours to afternoon and evening only and adjust staff shifts accordingly. This change can help you save on overhead costs by eliminating the need to maintain a specific temperature or keep the lights on.
In addition to ensuring students feel safe and secure while on campus, colleges and universities must comply with federal regulations regarding campus safety. Data from people counting systems can help you determine how to ensure specific zones on your campus are sufficiently secured by:
For example, you could use this data to determine the best strategy for allocating security resources. By monitoring classroom utilization throughout the week, you can identify when certain campus zones are most occupied.
You can also use this data to inform emergency evacuation plans. Highly occupied buildings, like dining halls and libraries, may need more careful consideration than smaller, less utilized spaces.
Pairing overhead people counting sensors with automated heating and cooling systems and electrical equipment can significantly lower energy costs in periods of low occupancy. These people counting sensors can detect when there’s activity in an area, signaling to the heating and cooling system that it needs to adjust to maintain a comfortable temperature without using too much energy.
People counting systems provide information on how and when students use and interact with different amenities on campus.
Some ways these insights can help you improve the student experience include:
School occupancy monitoring can help you determine whether the right resources are available to students in the right places at the correct times. By monitoring typical foot traffic in specific areas, you can determine if the resources in those spaces are underutilized or overwhelmed.
For example, you could monitor typical traffic in your institution’s career support office to determine whether you need to adjust staffing levels, require students to make appointments or keep things the same. If many students choose to visit the office at the end of the week, you could move staff schedules around to accommodate the increased demand at that time. You could also close the center during periods when students are least likely to visit to save on overhead and labor costs.
MSU Moorhead has leveraged people counting systems in its campus management strategy for more than 20 years. Over that time, the university has collected data on everything from food services to campus events.
Here’s a brief example. Braden Kuznia, assistant director of Event Services, said people counting technologies from Traf-Sys have helped university administrators better understand building occupancy at specific times throughout the week. These insights enabled them to optimize scheduling for maintenance staff to accommodate increased occupancy during weekend games.
Now, instead of scheduling three maintenance workers every weekday, MSU schedules two from Monday to Friday and one from Tuesday to Saturday. This change has improved the campus experience for visitors and students by ensuring clean, functional amenities when occupancy is at its highest.
Want to know more about what people counting systems can do? You can find more case studies and success stories on our dedicated page.
While people counting systems can bring significant benefit to colleges and universities, ensuring a smooth implementation is critical for long-term success. Improper implementation can cause additional challenges and lead to frustration.
Here are three key considerations you’ll need to make when preparing to implement a people counting system in your institution.
Getting your stakeholders on board early in the process is essential for ensuring alignment with your goals and eliminating potential obstacles later on. This step also increases your chances of a successful implementation by securing the necessary support before beginning the project.
Conventional engagement tactics like website updates, town halls and mass emails often perform poorly because they’re overly broad and difficult to respond to. Instead, it’s important to provide a way for your stakeholders to provide their own input.
You could encourage stakeholders to stay active and engaged by:
User-friendly tools are essential for ensuring quick startup and faster results. The VisiCount people counting and reporting software from Traf-Sys features an intuitive interface that helps users generate the insights they need without having to overcome a steep learning curve.
Using this solution, you can separate door counts by:
These separations make it easy to analyze the connections between the number of people in a space at a time and the revenue or costs associated with it.
Developing a realistic implementation roadmap for new technology provides a clear path toward achieving your campus management goals. Some key steps in this timeline include:
People counting systems have changed significantly over the years as technology has improved, allowing users to collect more data than ever. Moving forward, we’re likely to see an even greater shift in the technology’s functionality and capabilities.
Some emerging technologies that will have a large impact on how institutions can use people counting systems include:
The Internet of Things (IoT) is a wirelessly connected network of physical devices and software programs that collects and exchanges data over the internet.
While today’s people counting systems are already technically part of the IoT, future expansions of this network could enable deeper integration into your campus’s overall system by developing additional connections to other systems in your institution. These potential expansions can help you gain more impactful insights for even more effective solutions.
Artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms can analyze people counting data much faster than a human analyst, enabling you to automate analyses and reporting. Any user can learn to generate detailed, targeted reports with minimal training thanks to these algorithms.
AI also enables real-time analyses, so you can get the most up-to-date insights on specific areas over a given period of time. This capability makes it easier to ensure significant insights into foot traffic at your institution and allows you to perform more advanced analyses.
Machine learning (ML) is a type of AI that enables the algorithm to learn from its interactions and continuously improve its processes.
By recognizing patterns and adjusting to changes in each sensor’s environment, ML-equipped software programs can enhance their counting accuracy over time using feedback from you and other users.
Deep learning capabilities could take ML even further by enabling more in-depth analyses of people counting data, such as tracking specific individuals or distinguishing between demographics.
When you know the issues you need to address, you’re better prepared to solve them. That’s why people counting systems from Traf-Sys are an excellent addition to any campus management strategy.
Traf-Sys is an industry leader in the people counting space, with various types of sensors for facilities of any size and layout. We work with our customers to design holistic solutions tailored to their unique needs.
Regardless of your institution’s size or location, a custom people counting system can help you make more effective campus management decisions. Contact Traf-Sys today to request a free quote.
