Developing a digital signage solution for office presence

Abstract

In an increasingly connected world, for a growing amount of jobs remote work is a valid alternative to the traditional office work. This can provide new opportunities as well as challenges. While it can give employees the possibility to achieve a better work-life balance, it can also lead to confusion at work as it may be unclear where co-workers are currently located. This was the case at the company evia. However, as the company wanted to maintain its flexible working model with all its benefits, a solution for this problem had to be developed. It was decided to develop a system that allows employees to enter whether they’re working remotely or in the office. The collected information should be displayed on digital signs in the office rooms of the company. Digital signs are centrally managed computer screens which can display dynamic content to their audience. However, in order to increase usability, additional ways to display the data should be explored. In the context of this thesis this software system was developed. This included defining, designing, developing, validating and verifying the system. The overall goal of this thesis was to produce a working prototype as a proof of concept. In addition to digital signs the system was able to display data within the Microsoft Teams app and in a browser, after the implementing phase. The user can input his data through a Microsoft Teams conversational bot, e-mail and the web app. Overall the Project took a good course and produced a working system that got adopted by the company.