Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre

Space Optimization Study Using AWS QuickSight

Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, a leading healthcare provider in Toronto, was seeking to address challenges in medical space utilization. With a diverse array of clinical services and bookable exam rooms, Sunnybrook faced challenges understanding a perceived shortage of space. Yet, intermittent observations suggested that many exam rooms were frequently empty.

M6 – Multipurpose Clinical Space | Yuval & Lori Barzakay Brain Health Clinic Study

To gain a clearer understanding of space utilization and identify potential inefficiencies, Sunnybrook partnered with HH Angus, leveraging our expertise in digital solutions and innovative engineering. The goal was to implement a robust monitoring system to capture accurate data on room usage, enabling informed decisions on resource allocation.

This project reflects Sunnybrook’s commitment to operational efficiency, ensuring that resources are optimally allocated to improve patient care and support staff needs.

SERVICES
Prime Consultant

PROJECT FEATURES
Digital monitoring system to inform clinical resource allocation | Enhanced operational efficiency | Patient privacy | Scalable design | Predictive analytics

LOCATION
Toronto, Ontario

KEY SCOPE ELEMENTS
Space utilization measurement and analysis | Data acquisition through sensor deployment | Security and connectivity | Data aggregation and storage | Visualization and insights

Solving Space Utilization Challenges

Sunnybrook’s medical staff expressed concerns about limited space availability, particularly for bookable exam rooms. However, casual observations indicated that some rooms appeared to remain empty. Sunnybrook needed a reliable solution to measure actual room usage accurately while addressing two significant concerns:

Privacy: Ensuring patient privacy was paramount, particularly in sensitive clinical settings.

Accurate Detection: Existing solutions struggled to detect minimal motion, such as during procedures like blood transfusions, where patients may remain largely still.

HH Angus was engaged to design and implement a solution capable of addressing these challenges while delivering actionable insights.

Solution | Smart Sensors and AWS Integration

Our Digital Services team developed an innovative solution leveraging cutting-edge sensors and AWS services:

Sensor Deployment:

- mmWave Sensors: Initial deployment involved mmWave sensors capable of detecting micro-motions, such as breathing, to confirm room occupancy. These sensors were equipped with cellular SIM cards to operate independently of Sunnybrook’s network.
- 3D Stereoptic Sensors: To further expand the data gathered from the various clinics, the move to 3D-stereoptic sensors was used to provide not just occupancy status of exam rooms, but also the near real-time occupancy count data. Enhancing scalability, these sensors could monitor multiple rooms simultaneously, offering greater hardware efficiency.

Security and Connectivity:

- mmWave sensors utilized mTLS (mutual Transport Layer Security) for secure data transmission.
- Custom authorization for 3D-stereoptic sensors was implemented using AWS Lambda.

Data Aggregation and Storage:

- Data was streamed via Amazon Data Firehose and AWS IoT Core, stored in AWS S3, and processed through AWS Lambda.
- A centralized S3 data lake provided a secure, scalable repository for all processed data.

Visualization and Insights:

- Data queries were conducted using AWS Athena, while AWS QuickSight offered intuitive 2D dashboards for near-real-time analysis with minimal latency.

This comprehensive approach ensured seamless integration, robust data security, and actionable insights for Sunnybrook.

Outcome | Actionable Insights and Future Expansion

The solution provided Sunnybrook with detailed, data-driven insights into space utilization:

Initial Findings: The installation was completed in December 2024, and data collection began in January 2025. Analysis of the 11 monitored exam rooms in Sunnybrook’s M-Wing, conducted from January to March 2025, revealed a surprising utilization rate of only 33%. This insight challenged initial staff assumptions and highlighted opportunities for more efficient space planning.

Future Outlook: New medical clinics, which opened in January 2025, will contribute additional data to further refine Sunnybrook’s understanding of space usage and inform future expansion strategies.

Through this project, Sunnybrook is well-positioned to optimize its clinical spaces, ensuring that resources are allocated effectively to enhance both staff workflows and patient care delivery.

Key Outcomes Summary

Accurate Space Utilization Data: Revealed underutilization of monitored exam rooms, providing actionable insights.

Efficient Resource Allocation: Enabled informed decisions about space planning and allocation.

Scalability: Designed for expansion, with sensors deployed to additional clinics.

Improved Patient Care: Enhanced operational efficiency supports better patient care delivery.

Predictive Analytics: Tool for staff to forecast resourcing needs based on the day of the week using historical trends

Privacy Assurance: Leveraged secure sensor technologies to maintain patient confidentiality.

AWS Services Used

AWS S3 (Simple Storage Service): Acted as the central repository for storing and
retrieving large datasets, facilitating data analysis and accessibility.

AWS IoT Core: Enabled secure, scalable connectivity for IoT devices, allowing for efficient data collection and integration into the cloud.

AWS Athena: Offered an interactive query service to analyze data in Amazon S3 using SQL, simplifying the extraction of actionable insights from complex datasets.

AWS QuickSight: Provided visualization tools and dashboards for business intelligence, enabling Manulife to derive and act upon insights from their data effectively.AWS Lambda: Supported serverless computing, automating data processing and transformation tasks without the need for server management.

Amazon Data Firehose: Streamlined the capture, transformation, and loading of streaming data, ensuring efficient data flow from IoT devices to storage and analysis tools.

AWS IoT Events: Monitored sensor data for specific conditions, facilitating real-time alerting and response mechanisms to optimize building operations.

AWS Step Functions: Orchestrated complex data processing workflows, coordinating the various components of the ETL pipeline for streamlined operation and maintenance.

Confidential Client

Space Utilization Dashboards

This dashboard solution transformed challenging conversations around space allocation into more informed decisions, enhancing efficiency and maximizing resource utilization for the organization.

This Canadian healthcare campus is comprised of three acute care hospitals, a rehabilitation facility, and various specialized and support facilities, making it one of the busiest hospital networks in the country.

In an environment where clinical space is constantly in high demand and various departments are always seeking additional space allocations, the campus network faced the challenge of balancing the ongoing demands for more space against the available assets. The need to gain insights into how these spaces were utilized and by whom was paramount in effectively optimizing space allocation.

To address this challenge, the client enlisted the expertise of HH Angus, a long-standing partner, to implement an occupancy monitoring solution. The project goal was to assess the utilization of clinical spaces and identify opportunities for improvement. A longer-term goal was to gather real-world data to inform the design of new spaces, ensuring they met needs identified through the measurement and analysis of current use data.

As part of the collaboration, numerous IoT devices were deployed across two rapid assessment centres, utilizing a variety of technologies to capture occupancy data. This near real-time data was then seamlessly integrated into a unified platform hosted on Amazon Web Services (AWS).

HH Angus designed and implemented a strategic approach to efficiently manage administrative department requests for additional space. Specialized occupancy sensors were tailored to meet the client’s requirements for accuracy and data granularity. Collaborating closely with the hardware vendor, HH Angus managed the entire installation and commissioning process. The result was a sophisticated cloud-based database and dashboard that empowers campus staff with comprehensive insights into space usage.

Road mapping and prioritizing sites were essential for large-scale implementation, and ongoing collaboration with the client ensures alignment with their long-term goals. The solution has already facilitated a departmental reallocation, demonstrating the practical benefits of the implemented system. Another benefit of the occupancy data collection is the ability to reallocate space to other departments as work-from-home initiatives create a more flexible work environment.

The sustainability features of this project are evident through its efficient use of office space, enabled by data driven insights. By implementing a tailored occupancy sensor solution, the project minimizes wasted space and energy resources, aligning with sustainable practices.

Medical privacy considerations, such as avoiding image processing, ensure that ethical guidelines are reflected in the technology deployed. Additionally, a continuous focus on accuracy maintenance enhances the longevity and effectiveness of the solution, reducing the need for frequent hardware replacements and minimizing associated environmental impact.

By leveraging AWS Quicksight, the collected data was transformed into actionable insights. Some of the notable benefits include acquiring reliable and actionable data, receiving an easy-to-understand insights dashboard, and utilizing this data and visualization tool to gauge the effectiveness of the client’s new Rapid Assessment Centre layout to inform future space layout decisions. This initiative reflects the client’s commitment to enhancing operational efficiency and improving patient care through innovative solutions.

SERVICES
Smart Building Consultants

PROJECT FEATURES
Tailored space optimization | Reliable accuracy | Privacy-compliant technology | Accessible data insights | Status: Completed 2023 plus continuing contract

LOCATION
Toronto, Ontario

KEY SCOPE ELEMENTS
Designed and implemented strategic approach to efficiently manage administrative department requests for additional space | Road mapping and prioritization of sites for large-scale implementation | Manage installation and commissioning process.

Fanshawe College

IoT Data Lake

The College’s overarching goal was to streamline their data management process by consolidating disparate IoT platforms into a single accessible platform for measurement and research.

Fanshawe College needed a comprehensive data lake for all campus IoT data, beginning with two solar panel arrays. Their existing process involved physically going to each building’s measurement platform to download its data, merge the information in Excel format and perform a manual analysis.

HH Angus served as smart building consultants to the project, providing digital design services. We reprogrammed the PLCs (programmable logic controllers) of the solar panel arrays, enabling data transmission to AWS IoT core. The resulting data is now stored in a data lake where it is presented with analysis on a centralized dashboard, providing a unified and efficient solution to the College’s data management challenges.

One of the challenges of the project centered on communications and technical access. Collaboration with multiple academic and IT departments proved challenging due to communication issues with various stakeholders involved in the original solar panel array. To address this, our team coordinated multi-department troubleshooting meetings, fostering a collaborative atmosphere that was focused on progress.

Also, gaining access to the PLCs for essential programming changes became complicated due to staff turnover at the client. An unintended consequence of this was that new staff members were unfamiliar with the PLCs. To remedy this, our team assumed more of a technical advisory role than had been anticipated originally, to the point of involving technical support from the PLC manufacturer to assist the College’s technicians. Solving these issues underscores the project team’s adaptability in overcoming unexpected challenges.

SERVICES
Smart Building Consultants

PROJECT FEATURES
Comprehensive data lake for all campus IoT data | Centralized dashboard provides data analysis and data management | Status: Completed 2023, with ongoing maintenance contract

LOCATION
London, Ontario

KEY SCOPE ELEMENTS
Hardware-free data retrieval from solar panels | Reprogrammed PLCs for AWS data transmission | Advanced data analysis with local utility rates

Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT)

‘Smart Campus’ Strategy, Planning and Technical Requirements

Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) engaged HH Angus to develop the ‘Smart Campus’ strategy, planning and technical requirements. These deliverables will guide NAIT forward as a leading polytechnic in Canada to attract students, donors and researchers, while supporting environmental causes and the student experience.

The Angus Connect team led a multi-disciplinary Smart Campus consortium of consulting firms that brought together deep expertise in digital solutions and engineering disciplines. Some of the exciting aspects of the Smart Campus project included a campus integrated command centre, IoT sensor rich environment, energy management, smart building standards with BIM and Digital Twins, a future state network architecture including a spectrum management plan for Wi-Fi and cellular, with a focus on 5G-enabled devices. The incorporation of these emerging technologies will assist NAIT in achieving its organizational goals.

This project required a broad engagement of stakeholders and subject matter experts; a consulting team of 24 subject matter experts and project management joined forces to prepare a smart campus strategy.

Key services provided and deliverables included:

Smart Campus Design Guidelines, documenting how smart features should be incorporated throughout the design
Integration Design: Integration Requirements, Use Cases, and Integration Matrix to inform a future Smart Campus Integration Hub architecture and Master System Integration responsibilities
Analytics: Analytical Model development to inform future Digital Twin insights
Governance

It quickly became apparent that setting up the right decision makers and creating an advisory committee would be key to a well thought out strategy. Our team led the governance, oversight and direction setting with the committee, and, the project was managed through virtual engagement.

LOCATION
Edmonton, Alberta

KEY SCOPE ELEMENTS
Smart campus strategy | Planning | Technical requirements

Young creative business people meeting at office.

Visioning Workshops

The Angus Connect team has deep experience in organization-wide and campus digital strategy & visioning, technology specifications, smart buildings technologies, command centres, networking infrastructure design and integration, and energy management. Our consultants facilitated visioning workshops with the Steering Committee and senior leadership to understand the needs, goals and objectives of the organization. These sessions included discussion of best practices, industry standards, and showcased current and emerging technologies through the use of case studies. From these sessions, our team was able to synthesize the vision, principles, key evaluation criteria and future state (opening day) initiatives.

Systems Architecture

Additional workshops were held to gain a better understanding of the current systems and network architecture, with attendant discussions on gaps/pain points and ongoing projects. Using the outputs from the visioning workshops and the systems architecture workshops, our team developed a conceptual model of systems architecture with a basis of design report to guide the client from their network today to the network they need for the future Smart Campus.

SickKids Hospital

Digital Strategy and ICAT Roadmap

Project Horizon is a massive campus redevelopment that will transform the experience of patients and healthcare professionals, and enable the state-of-the-art healthcare facility to embrace new technologies and processes.

Angus Connect was engaged by the world-renowned paediatric clinical and research hospital to develop a comprehensive digital strategy and ICAT roadmap to support Project Horizon - New Patient Care Tower. This new facility is expected to be 22 stories on the existing SickKids campus in downtown Toronto, and to be integrated with the existing facilities.

Angus Connect is developing the Digital Strategy, Vision and Guiding Principles in accordance with the Project Horizon Vision and SickKids’ Strategic Plan. This will culminate in an ICAT Roadmap, which will inform SickKids of current and upcoming technologies to support the delivery of patient care integrated with research and learning. Once complete, the Roadmap will include a high-level Implementation Plan and Budget for incorporation into SickKids’ Project Horizon Stage 2: Functional Program Submission, and to form the basis of future stages of Project Horizon. The outputs of our Design Program will inform the specifications for the project.

Project Horizon is a multi-year project with the objective to transform SickKids’ physical facilities in order to support the future delivery of paediatric care and address myriad infrastructure deficiencies and limitations that impact quality and safety. The project will consist of the demolition of three buildings and the construction of two new buildings in a complex sequence that will span more than a decade before patients can be accommodated in the new facilities. With extensive experience delivering ICAT digital strategic plans for hospitals across Canada, our team is collaborating closely with SickKids to deep dive into the future of healthcare delivery and understanding their organizational needs today and those anticipated for the future in order to deliver a comprehensive and flexible ICAT roadmap to support Project Horizon. The team is also able to draw on HH Angus’ decades-long experience with large P3 healthcare design and construction projects.

SERVICES
ICAT strategic visioning and planning

PROJECT FEATURES
Size: 22 stories on existing downtown campus | Status: Ongoing

LOCATION
Toronto, Ontario

KEY SCOPE ELEMENTS
Comprehensive digital strategy and ICAT roadmap | Integration with existing facilities | High-level implementation plan and budget | Functional Program Submission | Jurisdictional Scan

Boy with broken arm and cast playing in hospital on a modern tv set.

Visioning for the future

Angus Connect is providing SickKids with a Jurisdictional Scan of peer organizations from countries around the globe. We worked with our network of global partners (Subject Matter Experts) to understand and identify leading organizations in particular technologies and to make contacts. A market scan of the current and emerging technologies that will change the way healthcare is delivered in 10, 20 and 30 years was also developed as the basis for a Visioning Session with the Leadership Group. This includes concepts such as virtual care, artificial intelligence, robotics, machine learning and 4D printing.