Computer Classroom and Open Access Lab Utilization
During the Winter 2004 academic quarter, 12 computer classrooms and open access computing facilities were heavily utilized by students. Data was collected on utilization that covers the weeks of instruction and excluding closed holiday days and finals. Utilization covers Monday through Thursday to calculate average utilization. A weekday utilization comparison can be identified by going to http://clm.ucdavis.edu/pubs/labrep/winter2004/stats/weekdaycomparison.html.
Computer Lab Management facilities showed high utilization rates and people waiting to access a computer. Between the hours of 8 AM and 8 PM, people waiting for computers can be expected. The graph below shows the utilization and the average number of people waiting during a particular time of day. Significant numbers were reported this quarter with over 37 people calculated as the overall average number of people waiting for a computer throughout the various computing facilities between 1 PM and 2 PM. More than 23 people can be expected waiting for computers between 10 AM and 5 PM.
Utilization is tabulated based on users actively logged in and does not account for the time it takes between one user to logout and the next user to logon. Very rarely does usage ever reach 100 percent and will only do so when an entire room is reserved for class or all the users remain logged in at their stations during the entire hour of tracking. This explains why as many as 37 people can be expected to wait while the utilization average is 95%.
The above graph shows utilization begin to decline at 5 PM. Though overall utilization does not drop below 50% until after 6 PM, some facilities remain highly utilized. To maintain cost effectiveness in staffing open facilities, some computer rooms close at earlier times. Other facilities that stay open are often the most popular facilities. The peak at midnight represents the MU Station which has extended open hours from midnight to 2 AM. The MU Station is the only facility open at that time in the final two weeks before finals.
