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Cornell University

Facilities Inventory: Common Room Type Issues

Last updated: April 28, 2022

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Each year during the facilities inventory review cycle an audit is performed to identify areas where inaccuracies in room type coding may appear, or where more appropriate room type codes may exist. The following chart provides the most commonly miscoded room types.

ROOM TYPE DESCRIPTION WHEN TO USE COMMON ISSUES
010 – 035 (except 020, 024, 032) Unclassified (Non-assignable) Unclassified facilities are frequently assigned to a Facilities Service (57xx) org. These include custodial areas, stairs, elevators, machine rooms and mechanical areas. Non-assignable space should be assigned to Facilities Service and not the department. There are exceptions as noted in the room type documentation for circulation areas, lobbies, and private toilets.
020 and 024 Circulation Area (020)
and Lobby (024)
Circulation Areas: Used for hallways, vestibules, corridors, foyers, loading platforms, shipping and receiving areas.
Lobby: Any dual purpose areas that serve as both lounge and circulation area, generally containing benches, seats and/or coat racks.
If a program uses a circulation space for program use, that space should be carved out of circulation / lobby and coded to the program org.
Examples of spaces that should be coded to programs include: Lockers in corridors, circulation space internal to a program suite, greenhouse support areas, lounges adjacent to corridors.
032 Private Toilet Private toilets should be assigned to the department. A review was performed in 2016 and these should be cleaned up. Private toilets should be assigned to the department and NOT to Facilities Services.
060 Alteration or Conversion Area:
Rooms which are temporarily out of use because they are being remodeled or rehabilitated.
Use any time a space is out of use for at least one month because of remodeling or rehabilitation. There is a one-month threshold. The function code should always be 8.2.
273 Walk-in Coolers and Freezers: A room generally used for cooling or freezing. Used in research facilities to store research material. Room Type 273 should have a research function assigned to the space
  • Function Code 1.5 Departmental Research
  • Function Code 2.1 Institutes and Research Centers
  • Function Code 2.2 Individual and Project Research
Not to be confused with 635 Food Facility Service, which is used for refrigeration rooms that serve a food facility.
730 Central Storage: A room or building that stores materials or equipment which serves multiple organizational units or buildings. Storage areas are commonly surplus storage, central campus supply or warehouses. They can be storage rooms in a building which serves multiple room use categories and are used for general or surplus equipment. The vast majority of storage rooms on campus are service rooms that directly support the primary activity of a room. For instance, an office service room (315) which serves offices in the area. The most common service rooms are room types 215, 225, 235, 255, 315, 355, 635, 685. Storage areas for office supplies are classified as office service (315). Storage which must be close at hand because of the nature of the materials stored should be classified in the appropriate “service” category.