EMS Software is an enterprise space management, event, class and resource scheduling application acquired and now supported by Accruent in June 2018.
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Cvent Event Diagramming
Score 9.4 out of 10
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Cvent Event Diagramming (Social Tables) is a software application that allows event planners and properties to work together online. Cvent's cloud-based hospitality software positions event properties to increase sales and work more collaboratively and efficiently with their event, and meeting customers. The vendor boasts over 175,000 unique users who rely on Social Tables and state that over 4 million events have been planned within the platform.
I previously had to use Google Suite apps, e.g. Sheets and Forms, to track and manage space and facility resources - those two factors having to be tracked separately made it incredibly difficult. EMS allows us to seamlessly and automatically track the use of our spaces and our …
EMS is much more advanced that R25 and allows more reporting capabilities. Communications with services providers is also leaps and bounds above their capabilities as well. EMS is considered to be the industry leader and standard for most higher-ed institutions.
Accruent EMS is well-suited when it comes to room utilization and transparency but with regards to onboarding other departments such as A/V and Catering, it becomes a challenge because there are other software that meets the needs of these departments that EMS does not have. The use of multiple systems for other departments is a nuisance especially with inventory mangement.
It's the best software I've used. It allowed me to collaborate on a huge event with multiple stakeholders to ensure the main planner understood the venue and capacity issues. It's also allowed me to realize the scope of venue needs and abilities. Very helpful in visualizing a space
It's user friendly. By doing a little self-exploration one can find out the many features that EMS offers.
It is simple to add or remove conference rooms and provide details of the conference rooms.
I appreciate that there are different ways of reserving conference rooms. This allows each user to feel comfortable in their use of EMS by finding what works best for them.
Scaling - I love that you can scale a layout in the program, and it tends to be pretty spot on. For example, we could have 20 different measurements for a street, once we type in a single measurement the rest auto fills (and is REALLY close to accurate).
Uploading - I love that you can upload images and mark all over them. Particularly, you can upload google earth images for outside festivals, and scale them accordingly.
Creating - In the program you can create a diagram based on the size of the room. For example, if you know you have a 40x80 tent, you can make a custom layout and build the whole thing.
Setup Templates - These templates make it easy for you to auto fill an entire room with rounds, rectangles or other formations without having to fill them all in individually.
Incredible complexity on the back end. While its highly configurable nature lends to flexibility, it also makes it a challenge to manage.
Support has not been as quick as we'd like when we've needed to reach out.
Most likely due to the company recently changing hands, we had real trouble with their billing department attempting to double charge us for our services, and sorting it out took 6 months of back and forth.
A development that would be useful would be the ability to reorder the diagrams to a custom order in one event so that when exported as one document, they are in an order that can be customized to flow well for the meeting planner.
Accruent EMS has always been a one-stop-shop for our organization when it comes to scheduling conference rooms, offices, apartments, services, etc. It has a wide array of reporting, and what isn't set up as a standard report, can usually be created as a query to report on the information you are looking for. Accruent EMS has pushed out new releases with updates to bugs and other add-ins and stays current and up-to-date with market trends.
Most new users would greatly benefit from (or possibly require) at least some training on how to use EMS, but the training doesn't need to be extensive for the users to get comfortable with it. Most functions are easy and straightforward, so users tend to not have many issues with it.
Cvent Diagramming really does cover the bases for us. It's an easy to use program that anyone can figure out. It's got collaboration features so we can share with clients and they can make their own edits. Venues can send us there floorplans and send directly to us for edits. Overall: their templates, table numbering feature, measuring, scaling and shape/object tools make building floorplans easy
Currently I can only access EMS from my work computer, from in my office, on campus. While I'm sure this isn't an Accruent issue, and mostly our IT issue, Accruent hasn't exactly stepped up and tried to help when these issues have been addressed.
The only other software we use in conjunction with EMS is Epaper Signs by Visix. Once we worked out the initial bugs, the integration has been seamless. It does not slow down our software or cause any errors. Our signs are updated every 15 minutes with any problems.
Since the merger, our team has found that there are a select few of the tech team that can actually support our questions. More often than not, we have already tried the suggestions that they give us and they are either unable to answer our questions and submit them as update suggestions or they have to be sent to supervisor for an answer. Once or twice in the last year we have received bad advice that resulted in system issues. Prior to last year, the customer support system was at the top of the list of tech support departments that I have ever had to deal with, especially during our upgrade to 4.0.
The support was exceptional, and they remained an arm's reach away for when we ran into any questions after we began using the tool. Overall, we experienced phenomenal customer service. We also had more than one web-based call where their team would walk us through examples and answer any questions we had.
It was great but could have been a little better. I feel like there are different ways to use some of the software and some of that was not explained. I think at the time the training was great but now that we are more experienced with the product I can see we missed training based on what part of EMS the instructor thought we were going to use.
I think one of the biggest things is to step back and see how you want your organization to function and use the product prior to quickly diving in and configuring. I think some (based on some EMS Live conference sessions I attended) built their systems on how they used their old systems or old processes, but thinking about how you want your organization to function moving forward will help you configure it the best way and make the necessary changes from the start rather than having to go back and adjust.
[Accruent] EMS is very robust, and a great all in one solution for hospitality and Event management needs. I have dealt with a few other software solutions in the past that try to handle event planning and management, but have run into the need to have multiple solutions to handle all those needs.
It has similar tools that MeetingMatrix has, but the Collaboration, or allowing vendors access is the feature that I appreciate the most that Cvent Event Diagraming offers that MeetingMatrix did not have. It is also easier to save as a PDF to print and email a version to vendors as well
We purchased the client, web version, and Outlook plug-in. I'll be honest, we haven't pushed the email part, but I did test it and liked it. After the old program we placed, I have simply been gun-shy about implementing another email plug-in. However, the client for the super users to get department alerts, etc. and the web version for all users to create reservations has been fabulous and easy to use and understand.
The most noticeable improvements in our usage of EMS is our ability to process requests more efficiently using a standardized form that has a professional presentation. Before we began using EMS, we processed our parking requests by simply typing an email with a few details. Pricing was jumbled in with the wording and clients often did not read the fine print. EMS has definitely made an impact with projecting a professional image to our clients when they receive confirmations and invoices.
Has streamlined our registration and check-in process, saving us an hour+ on-site, plus ensuring a safer and more enjoyable experience for staff and attendees.
Has saved us up to $1,000+ for signature events when managing F&B budget items.
