GeoSIMS: FAQ
What is SIMS?
SIMS is the University of Washington’s Space Inventory Management System. The space inventory is used by the Office of Planning and Budgeting to track the assignment and utilization of space for the UW. The assignment and utilization information is used by OPB for reporting and decision management. The UW is required to report to state and federal agencies on the UW’s utilization of space. The assignment and utilization of space is used for things like responding to space requests, among others.
What information in SIMS is required?
The information below is required by the Office of Planning and Budgeting. Individual departments may have additional data requirements. Management Accounting and Analysis has additional information required for the A-21 indirect cost study during the F&A base year. View the data dictionary for definitions of these values.
- Room
- Organization
- Primary use
- Seating capacity
- Room Assignment
- Organization (This is the department that physically occupies the space)
- Principal Investigator (Use "999999999 – N/A" for non-research areas)
- Room %
How often do I need to update my SIMS data?
Departments should keep their SIMS data current by updating the data when a change occurs. Current and accurate data is vital for analysis, reporting, and planning. A department should confirm that each room's data is correct, to the best of their knowledge, at least annually. This can be accomplished by clicking the "Confirm" button for a room in the Map Viewer or Data Viewer.
Data is extracted on a quarterly basis for internal use and for individual department administrative use. OPB may also ask specific units to validate their space data to assist with central decision making.
How do I update my space information?
To update your space information you must have security access to update your department’s space (see the section "Do I need a SIMS account? How do I get one?"). Once you have security access, you can use the Map Viewer to navigate to the floor plan for the room you need to update. Click on the room to bring up the room data. Double-click on a data field to bring up the editor box. Search for the correct value and hit the enter key to submit the update to the server. You can also use the Data Viewer, which presents the space information in a data table.
What’s in it for me?
By creating a standard form of collecting the data it is possible to use the information in SIMS to assess how much space your department has and how that compares to other departments at the UW. OPB also uses the space data combined with personnel and program information to assist in decision making when a request for space is made. If you are requesting more space due to a lack of space, SIMS is the best way to show it in an objective way.
Individual departments and schools/colleges can chose to use SIMS to help in managing their space and collect information that is important to them. As an example, the School of Medicine is assigning budgets and principal investigators to space to aid in the evaluation of the efficiency of space utilization and show where grant funded operations are occurring.
Department can also elect to use a client server Geographic Information System (GIS) application to connect to the live SIMS drawings and data to create custom maps. It is also possible to link local data to the GIS maps to create very sophisticated and custom maps for your use. This can aide in anything from creating maps with people's names and phone number on it to tracking project information by space. The software is free of change through the University’s site license. The software can be checked out of the Suzzallo map library, or is available for download at http://gis.washington.edu/.
Who do I email if I need help?
mapping@uw.edu
What do I do if I need to have a change made to the floor plan drawings?
Send a request for floor plan updates to the MAPS Team. Include the facility name, number or code along with the room number(s). Describe the change that needs to be made, and attach any appropriate drawings or CAD data. Please include your contact information.
How often are the drawings updated?
This is a very difficult question to answer because of the difference in frequency of changes from one building to another. Most of the time we are unaware of the changes occurring until someone lets us know that the drawing is wrong. Then comes the difficult task of trying to track down information about what was done and who did it.
In short, the MAPS Team updates the drawing on request and the time it takes depends mostly on the information we have about the changes. Anytime you send information to MAPS, like a hard copy floor plan, please be sure to let them know who you are and what building the plan is for (if not specified as part of the drawing) so that they can get in touch with you if they need to and to let you know when the changes have been completed.
How can I help speed up the drawing update process?
The best way for MAPS to update the drawings is if they have a Computer Aided Drawing (CAD) file of the project. Using the CAD file requires much less work than having to measure walls from a hard copy drawing. If you are involved in a remodel project, ask to get a copy of the CAD file from the project manager. There is no reason you should not have a copy, especially if you are paying for it. Then send the MAPS Team a copy.
Do I need a SIMS account? How do I get one?
A SIMS account is required to view and update the space inventory. To request a SIMS account, send an e-mail to mapping@uw.edu. If you are responsible for updating your department's space inventory data please have a supervisor confirm you should be given access and specify the organization code(s) that you need access to update.
I have moved out of a room but it still shows up as my space in SIMS. What do I do?
To change who the space is assigned to, change the organization code in the room and room assignment. If you know the new occupying department you can change it to their org code, otherwise you can use the proxy org code of UNKNOWN
I moved into a new space how do I get it assigned to my department?
Contact mapping@uw.edu with the facility and room number to have the organization code changed.
What is ArcGIS and what can it do for me?
ArcGIS is a client/server application that can be used to link to the SIMS live drawings and data as well as link local data or drawings to the SIMS drawings. This can be used for thing like creating custom department maps with name and phone numbers, evacuation maps, or tracking any other space related information. The printing capability of ArcGIS far surpasses that of the website. This is also the only way to print maps to a specified scale.
How do I print a drawing to scale?
Currently the only way to print floor plans to a specified scale is to use CAD or ArcGIS desktop software.
What do I enter for Functional Use Definition?
See Functional Use Definitions.