Starting with just a couple of
devices keeps your upfront costs
low – a few sensors could run
between a few hundred dollars
to a few thousand, depending on
their complexity – and makes
it easier for your facilities staff
to get the hang of interpreting
and acting on the data before the
system is expanded.
When you’re ready to expand,
determine what the logical next
step is based on the data you’re
already collecting and what other
information you need to gain the
insights you want.
“The method that works best
is information layers and creating
multiple steps of discovery,”
explains Herbst. For example,
when you buy a cell phone, you
can add apps on top of it. You
need more information to solve a
problem, so you find an app for it.
“That natural curiosity and the
need to solve a problem results
in understanding,” Herbst says.
“You can’t just throw everything at a facilities manager and
expect them to understand it all
within two weeks – it’s much
more effective to have someone
actively looking for information
because there’s a natural process
of discovery that you can navigate
Avoid Analysis Paralysis
A mindful approach to scaling
up your smart building technology
initiative will keep your team
from becoming overwhelmed by
the data deluge as your implementation grows. An intuitive
analysis platform will also help
by channeling the raw data into a
form you can actually use.
You could look at the perfor-
mance of every light fixture
separately, but wouldn’t it be
easier if you had a platform that
examined each one for you and
alerted you about which ones
aren’t working? Monitoring
the energy consumption of
your chiller is a good first step
in identifying how to lower
cooling expenses, but you could
accomplish that much faster if
your platform knows to look for
unexpected spikes in energy use
that can’t be attributed to higher
occupancy or a day that’s signifi-
cantly hotter than normal.
“Use a platform that knows how
to do some synthesis of the data
for what you need it to do so that
you’re not just looking at raw data
on your own,” Soya recommends.
“Some platforms don’t know what
the end value is, and if you don’t,
you can get lost very quickly.
Know what the end value of the
data is that you want to collect
and pick a vendor who knows how
Make analysis easier by
choosing a monitoring solution
with data quality capabilities built
in, Soya adds: “Make sure it can
handle outages, spikes and sets
of missing data that may come so
that it can correct for anomalies
automatically and doesn’t burden
your team with getting distracted
by noise.
“Choose a solution with robust
capabilities around monitoring
the status of the equipment and
whether there are any mainte-
nance requirements. A solution
that generates uptime reports can
also be useful – something that
can show you the uptime of your
devices on a weekly or monthly
basis and reminds you not to
wait if an anomaly occurs in your
device.”
Implementing smart building
technology the right way isn’t
about which sensors to start with
and how many data streams to
analyze at first, Soya says. It’s
partially about attitude, too.
Approach your Io T project with
a focus on solving problems and
using tools to achieve a goal.
“Io T is a new way to solve
an old problem,” Soya explains.
“That’s going to help you transition so much more easily than
if you think of it as its own big
project you have to deal with.” B
Janelle Penny janelle.penny@
buildings.com is Senior Editor
of BUILDINGS.
What is the Internet of
Things in Facilities?
In the simplest terms, the Internet of
Things is a network of sensors, meters,
appliances and other devices that
are capable of sending and receiving
data. The chief benefits setting Io T
devices apart from other smart
building technology are flexibility and
observability.
They tend to fall into four categories:
n Energy: Includes popular applications
like wireless energy consumption
monitoring.
n Equipment: Those that optimize
lighting and HVAC use.
n Environmental quality: Devices might
measure particulate matter or CO2.
n People or spaces: Devices that can
measure occupancy, space utilization
or how many people have passed
through a certain entrance.
