Playbook: Laptop occupancy data | GSA
Source: https://www.gsa.gov/real-estate/use-it-act-and-occupancy-data/playbook-laptop-occupancy-data
Archived: 2026-04-23 17:18
Playbook: Laptop occupancy data | GSA
Skip to main content
Countdown to America's 250th Anniversary:
close
Official websites use .gov
A
.gov
website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A
lock
(
)
or
https://
means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.
Playbook: Laptop occupancy data
Send questions to
isi-federal@gsa.gov
.
1.0 Background
This guide provides federal agencies a high-level description of how they can implement a tool to understand their daily building occupancy using laptop data
GSA and other agencies are looking to understand building utilization across their portfolios to make better decisions about their buildings and in support of the Utilization of Spaces for Efficiency (USE It) Act and Water Resources Development Act (WRDA).
PBS developed a
site
that other federal agencies can use to help understand building occupancy, but no single option covers all GSA buildings.
Since GSA issues laptops to almost all of its employees, this tool’s idea started with using laptop logs to provide building level occupancy data.
GSA developed a tool that correlates the users’ IP addresses with the IP address network blocks assigned by GSA for each building (tracked within our network management tool). The tool is displayed on a
Google Site
(only available to GSA users) with future plans for making this available on
D2D
.
2.0 Prerequisites
There are several prerequisites for other agencies to follow a similar approach
Users are issued Government Furnished Equipment (GFE) laptops and use them when they are at the office (desktops are not provided).
The agency has a Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) or similar tool with IP address logs for agents associated with GFE laptops and those logs, which can be filtered to identify the GFE laptops.
IP addresses are allocated in a way that certain blocks can be correlated to a specific building.
Dashboarding tools are available to convey the results to stakeholders.
3.0 GSA’s process
This section outlines the high-level process to develop GSA’s building occupancy tool using information from laptops
Obtain from your network management tool the mapping of Classless Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR) address blocks to building names.
Enrich SIEM data by adding the building to the log event to map the event to a building. [As an alternative approach, this correlation can be done outside of the SIEM.]
Either manually (or via automation) run a query on the SIEM that identifies the following for the past week by filtering by laptop machine name (as GSA uses a strict naming convention):
Date per day
Region
Building mapping
Number of unique users
Develop an online spreadsheet that has a specific tab for data sources. Then, create other tabs for pivot tables and charts to display the data in various ways, including:
Region for last three days
Drilldowns into each building for last week
Drilldowns by region for the last week
Develop a website to visualize the building occupancy data.
Export the query to CSV and import the data to update the spreadsheet tab that serves as the data source.
For more detailed information on the code used, please email
GSAAdministrator@gsa.gov
.
Print Page
Email Page
Last updated: Apr 21, 2025
Top
1
Choose a location
Error, The Per Diem API is not responding. Please try again later.
No results could be found for the location you've entered.
Get my location
OR
State
City (optional)
OR
ZIP
Rates for Alaska, Hawaii, and U.S. territories and possessions are set by the
Department of Defense.
Rates for foreign countries are set by the
Department of State.
2
Choose a date
Select fiscal year
OR
Travel start date (mm/dd/yyyy)
Travel end date (mm/dd/yyyy)
Rates are available between 10/1/2023 and 09/30/2026.
The End Date of your trip can not occur before the Start Date.
Additional terms and conditions
Traveler reimbursement is based on the location of the work activities and not the accommodations,
unless lodging is not available at the work activity, then the agency may authorize the rate where
lodging is obtained.
Unless otherwise specified, the per diem locality is defined as
"all locations within, or entirely
surrounded by, the corporate limits of the key city, including independent entities located within
those boundaries."
Per diem localities with county definitions shall include
"all locations within, or entirely
surrounded by, the corporate limits of the key city as well as the boundaries of the listed counties,
including independent entities located within the boundaries of the key city and the listed counties
(unless otherwise listed separately)."
When a military installation or Government - related facility(whether or not specifically named) is
located partially within more than one city or county boundary, the applicable per diem rate for the
entire installation or facility is the higher of the rates which apply to the cities and / or counties,
even though part(s) of such activities may be located outside the defined per diem locality.
Skip to main content
Countdown to America's 250th Anniversary:
close
Official websites use .gov
A
.gov
website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A
lock
(
)
or
https://
means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.
Playbook: Laptop occupancy data
Send questions to
isi-federal@gsa.gov
.
1.0 Background
This guide provides federal agencies a high-level description of how they can implement a tool to understand their daily building occupancy using laptop data
GSA and other agencies are looking to understand building utilization across their portfolios to make better decisions about their buildings and in support of the Utilization of Spaces for Efficiency (USE It) Act and Water Resources Development Act (WRDA).
PBS developed a
site
that other federal agencies can use to help understand building occupancy, but no single option covers all GSA buildings.
Since GSA issues laptops to almost all of its employees, this tool’s idea started with using laptop logs to provide building level occupancy data.
GSA developed a tool that correlates the users’ IP addresses with the IP address network blocks assigned by GSA for each building (tracked within our network management tool). The tool is displayed on a
Google Site
(only available to GSA users) with future plans for making this available on
D2D
.
2.0 Prerequisites
There are several prerequisites for other agencies to follow a similar approach
Users are issued Government Furnished Equipment (GFE) laptops and use them when they are at the office (desktops are not provided).
The agency has a Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) or similar tool with IP address logs for agents associated with GFE laptops and those logs, which can be filtered to identify the GFE laptops.
IP addresses are allocated in a way that certain blocks can be correlated to a specific building.
Dashboarding tools are available to convey the results to stakeholders.
3.0 GSA’s process
This section outlines the high-level process to develop GSA’s building occupancy tool using information from laptops
Obtain from your network management tool the mapping of Classless Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR) address blocks to building names.
Enrich SIEM data by adding the building to the log event to map the event to a building. [As an alternative approach, this correlation can be done outside of the SIEM.]
Either manually (or via automation) run a query on the SIEM that identifies the following for the past week by filtering by laptop machine name (as GSA uses a strict naming convention):
Date per day
Region
Building mapping
Number of unique users
Develop an online spreadsheet that has a specific tab for data sources. Then, create other tabs for pivot tables and charts to display the data in various ways, including:
Region for last three days
Drilldowns into each building for last week
Drilldowns by region for the last week
Develop a website to visualize the building occupancy data.
Export the query to CSV and import the data to update the spreadsheet tab that serves as the data source.
For more detailed information on the code used, please email
GSAAdministrator@gsa.gov
.
Print Page
Email Page
Last updated: Apr 21, 2025
Top
1
Choose a location
Error, The Per Diem API is not responding. Please try again later.
No results could be found for the location you've entered.
Get my location
OR
State
City (optional)
OR
ZIP
Rates for Alaska, Hawaii, and U.S. territories and possessions are set by the
Department of Defense.
Rates for foreign countries are set by the
Department of State.
2
Choose a date
Select fiscal year
OR
Travel start date (mm/dd/yyyy)
Travel end date (mm/dd/yyyy)
Rates are available between 10/1/2023 and 09/30/2026.
The End Date of your trip can not occur before the Start Date.
Additional terms and conditions
Traveler reimbursement is based on the location of the work activities and not the accommodations,
unless lodging is not available at the work activity, then the agency may authorize the rate where
lodging is obtained.
Unless otherwise specified, the per diem locality is defined as
"all locations within, or entirely
surrounded by, the corporate limits of the key city, including independent entities located within
those boundaries."
Per diem localities with county definitions shall include
"all locations within, or entirely
surrounded by, the corporate limits of the key city as well as the boundaries of the listed counties,
including independent entities located within the boundaries of the key city and the listed counties
(unless otherwise listed separately)."
When a military installation or Government - related facility(whether or not specifically named) is
located partially within more than one city or county boundary, the applicable per diem rate for the
entire installation or facility is the higher of the rates which apply to the cities and / or counties,
even though part(s) of such activities may be located outside the defined per diem locality.