When teams move, new employees join, and workspace layouts change at the same time, workplace operations can unravel quickly. MAC exists to manage exactly that kind of complexity in a structured way.
A 200-person engineering team is being reorganized into four product squads. Forty employees need new desks, eight new hires start Monday, and one wing is shifting from assigned seating to shared neighborhoods. That is a classic MAC event, and without a coordinated process, it quickly turns into operational drag.
MAC stands for Moves, Adds, and Changes. It is the process workplace teams use to manage employee relocations, onboard new occupants into physical spaces, and update workspace configurations as teams, layouts, and business needs change.It helps HR, IT, and facilities stay aligned as the workplace evolves.
Moves: Relocating People
A move happens when an employee or team relocates from one workspace to another, whether that is a desk swap, a floor move, or a building migration. Even a simple move affects multiple systems at once: access control, IT provisioning, desk booking, mail routing, and workplace wayfinding. The core principle is simple: if a move is not recorded in the system, it creates a gap between the floor plan and reality. When a move happens outside the MAC process, the workplace record stops matching the real world and every later decision becomes less reliable.
Adds: Onboarding Into Physical Space
An add happens when a new employee, contractor, or team member is introduced into the workplace. That usually includes assigning a workspace, setting up IT equipment, granting building access, and, in hybrid environments, making sure booking permissions align with how the team uses the office. A well-managed add ensures someone can arrive and work productively on day one, without last-minute coordination across HR, IT, and facilities.
Changes: Modifying What Exists
Changes are the updates made to existing workspace setups, team allocations, or workplace conditions over time. These can range from equipment upgrades and desk reassignments to accessibility improvements and neighborhood restructuring. While often less visible than moves or adds, changes are critical to track because they keep workplace data accurate as the office evolves.
| Term | Scope | Primary Domain |
|---|---|---|
|
MAC
|
People and workspaces: employee seating, teams, space configurations
|
Workplace operations and facility management
|
|
IMAC
|
Hardware and software: Install, Move, Add, Change for IT assets
|
IT asset management and data center operations
|
MAC is where workplace systems either work together or break down. If HR, booking, IT, and access tools are not connected, even simple requests become manual coordination exercises.
| When This Happens | These Systems Must Respond |
|---|---|
|
Employee moves to new floor
|
Badge access, IT network, desk-booking neighborhood, mail routing, floor plan, wayfinding
|
|
New hire starts
|
HRIS record, desk assignment, booking permissions, IT provisioning, badge activation, welcome comms
|
|
Floor converts to hot-desking
|
Booking system configuration, capacity calculations, stack plan, utilization dashboards, fire safety data
|
That is often the difference between a fast, controlled workflow and a slow, fragmented one.
Explore Kadence Move Management
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