Baristas & Solicitors

Text:/ Brad Watts

AT LAST — AMX DOES COFFEE

Videopro arrived at a neat, AMX-based booking solution, that not only takes the hassle out of scheduling meetings but also the unpredictability out of ‘boardroom fuel’ requirements … yes, it’s a system that’ll make you a coffee!

AV: Matt, you’re responsible for the automation programming for the Minter Ellison install, can you elaborate on some of the requirements of the system?

Matt Brown: We’d installed an AMX automation system at Minter Ellison to control the existing audiovisual hardware we’d installed. There are a number of meeting rooms on their client floor that are set up with all the basic facilities like plasma screens, television, video and DVD playback systems. There’s also a larger room dedicated entirely to video conferencing. Four larger meeting rooms can all join together to create one large banquet room for functions — those rooms will link together in any combination for a variety of options.

Initially the AMX automation was to control the audiovisual systems in those meeting rooms, but after discussions with the client, architect and the electrical consultants, we went on to provide complete control over everything — from the lighting to the supplemental air conditioning systems. Eventually even a waiter service and coffee ordering system went in, allowing the lawyers and their clients to order drinks whenever they were in a meeting.

AV: A little like the hostess call button on aircraft?

MB: We went a little further than that. The specification grew to become a fully-automated ordering system that would go back to the kitchen or the butler’s pantry, collate the orders and get it to the correct room on time.

So now the system collates orders, tracks everything between rooms, how long each room is in use, and if the rooms need to be cleaned. It can also track the times that orders were placed, and how long it took for the order to be delivered — that’s primarily for staff and performance tracking purposes.

CAFFEINE PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

AV: So I’d assume that for such a large firm, keeping track of staff performance was a priority… like: hang on, this isn’t the double-shot macchiato I ordered.

MB: Very much so. It’s used to check on staffing levels — like whether there’s enough staff on particularly busy days, and to highlight any hold ups or bottlenecks that they need to address. It provides efficiencies, and therefore reduces operating costs.

AV: I’d imagine the turnover through the rooms would be quite high then?

MB: Oh yeah. This client floor is heavily in use. All the rooms on the client floor are pretty much booked out all day, every day. There’s a number of kitchen staff servicing the rooms, and backing them up is a fully-functioning kitchen for lunches and general catering — whatever is required for their larger functions.

AV: So was this a large job for Videopro to be tackling?

MB: It was certainly a healthy-sized job for us in regard to the actual hardware we installed. The coffee call and monitoring system was a large programming project for us. By the time we’d nutted out all the bugs, there were approximately 200 hours of programming involved, and that’s just the waiter service and the room tracking. Although AMX produce a product for this called RMS Suite, which lets you track and book room usage, there already was a system in place. Minter Ellison had already pursued that with another install company a couple of years ago, commissioning bespoke software that allowed them to log on from anywhere within, or, in fact, outside the building and book rooms when required. It would have been ludicrous to entirely ditch that investment. So what we did was create an AMX system that would do the tracking as to whether a room was in use or not, handle the room usage on an hour-to-hour basis, but remain interfaced with the custom software for long-term bookings. Then we made sure that  at the end of the week or month, whichever period suited, the file containing all that information could be extracted and the results imported into the main software as a .csv (comma separated values) data file.

AV: I notice there’s also heavy-duty AMX panels used in the kitchen areas. Are they a standard item or built specifically for Minter Ellison?

MB: They’re a standard AMX wall panel that we’ve modified. They generally don’t stand off the wall like the ones you’re seeing there. There’s another we devised ourselves that has an AMX panel connected to a retractable arm so that it can be accessed from around the kitchen. Those customised devices are resistant to moisture. Having said that, the standard panels are quite resilient and will stand up to typical water and dust attack.

IT DOES AV BETWEEN COFFEES?

AV: You’ve obviously had to supply a lot of equipment for the typical audiovisual systems as well. Apart from the AMX-based automation, what facilities were built into the conference rooms?

MB: The smaller rooms each have a plasma display, then a couple of computer inputs for laptops alongside the standard desktop machine in each room. Then there’s a DVD and VCR playback unit. The multifunction rooms that join together have widescreen projectors and radio microphones throughout. They also have cable television, VCR, DVD, and there’s the moveable lecterns. The lecterns include confidence monitors along with preview monitors. There’s also an audio system for background music, which is especially useful when the rooms are joined together for banquets or other such functions. When the rooms are joined there’s an additional plasma screen that flips out from the side wall for easier viewing from the rear of the room — everything you’d expect to find in any high-end conference setting. The video and telephone conferencing system is actually a portable trolley rig that can easily be moved to the smaller rooms.

Matt tells us that additions can be integrated into the ordering system due to the modular nature of the AMX programming. Changes can be made remotely and include the updating of graphics and buttons available via the AMX touch screens. Zealous lawyers can incorporate a soy latté or, dare I venture, any variety of decaffeinated options into the menu at any point. The wheels of justice must continue to turn — and the requisite lubrication is seamlessly dovetailed into the machinations at Minter Ellison.