The Challenge 

A leading UK estate agency made the strategic decision to replace its existing, widely used workspace booking platform with Microsoft Places. While the move would bring the benefits of a Microsoft-native workplace experience, the organisation was determined not to compromise on usability. 

The customer recognised that user adoption would depend heavily on the quality of the interactive floor plans. They wanted a workplace experience that accurately reflected their offices, making it easy for employees to locate desks, collaboration spaces and facilities, while maintaining the familiar look and feel of Microsoft Places. 

In addition, they wanted to introduce bookable car parking spaces as part of the overall workplace experience – something that Microsoft Places does not support natively. 

The Solution

Essential worked closely with the customer to design a series of bespoke Microsoft Places floor plans using the Apple Indoor Mapping Data Format (IMDF) used by Microsoft Places. 

Rather than delivering the simplistic styling typically generated using online mapping tools, our floor plan design service recreated the customer’s office layouts in greater detail while still working within the visual style of Microsoft Places.   

This included accurately representing: 

• Circular desk clusters that reflected the real office layout  
• Meeting pods & booths  
• Casual breakout and collaboration areas with comfy sofas

The result was a more realistic map that employees could instantly recognise and navigate with confidence, helping to support user adoption from day one. 

Extending Microsoft Places with Car Park Booking

The customer also wanted to introduce bookable parking spaces alongside Microsoft Places. 

Our design team therefore deliberately matched the ‘visual language’ of Microsoft Places, producing simplified maps (in purple!) that blended seamlessly with the existing user experience. Users move naturally between office floor plans and car park maps without feeling they’re using different systems. 

Consultancy Beyond the Technology

The project was about more than creating attractive floor plans. 

Our consultants also worked with the customer to rethink how desks and parking spaces were numbered, with the aim of making the experience more intuitive for the people actually using them. 

The existing desk numbers had been inherited from architectural CAD drawings, where numbering followed drawing order rather than the way someone would naturally move through the office. 

We took the same approach in the car park, recommending a numbering scheme that followed the one-way traffic flow. This made allocated spaces much easier to find and reduced the chances of drivers having to double back or reverse unnecessarily. 

TIP: We always recommend numbering desks and parking spaces from the perspective of the person using the space, rather than the architect who designed it. Small usability improvements like these can make a big difference to adoption and reduce confusion when finding pre-booked desks and parking bays ‘on the day’. 

For more on this approach, see our guide to desk numbering best practices. 

The Result

The project delivered a Microsoft Places experience that felt both familiar and highly tailored to the customer’s workplace. 

By combining carefully designed floor plans with integrated parking management, the customer was able to replace their previous workspace booking platform while maintaining an intuitive user experience for employees. 

The customer was particularly pleased with: 

• The quality and realism of the Microsoft Places floor plans 
• The seamless integration of car park booking
• The consultancy provided around workspace design and numbering
• The collaborative approach taken throughout the project
  

Looking Beyond Microsoft Places

Many organisations assume Microsoft Places only manages desks and meeting rooms. 

In reality, by extending Places with complementary services, organisations can create a much richer workplace experience. 

Essential’s Microsoft Places add-on services can also support services such as: 

• Catering requests for meetings 
• Alternative room layouts (e.g. boardroom, classroom, theatre, cabaret etc.)  
• Visitor management (e.g. pass creation & security notifications) 

Helping organisations deliver a truly integrated workplace experience – all while maintaining the familiar Microsoft Places interface.