TrustRadius Insights
EMS, or Event Management System, is a versatile software solution widely adopted by colleges, universities, and organizations for …
Overview
What is Accruent EMS?
EMS Software is an enterprise space management, event, class and resource scheduling application acquired and now supported by Accruent in June 2018.
Recent Reviews
Awards
Products that are considered exceptional by their customers based on a variety of criteria win TrustRadius awards. Learn more about the types of TrustRadius awards to make the best purchase decision. More about TrustRadius Awards
Pricing
N/A
Unavailable
What is Accruent EMS?
EMS Software is an enterprise space management, event, class and resource scheduling application acquired and now supported by Accruent in June 2018.
Entry-level set up fee?
- Setup fee required
Offerings
- Free Trial
- Free/Freemium Version
- Premium Consulting/Integration Services
Would you like us to let the vendor know that you want pricing?
14 people also want pricing
Alternatives Pricing
What is Skedda?
Skedda is a space management platform that specializes in the management of office space, desks, meeting rooms and hybrid workplace scenarios.
What is WorkInSync?
WorkInSync is presented as a single app to manage all hybrid workplace needs. Globally, organizations have started adopting a hybrid workplace, with employees opting WFO/WFH as per their convenience.This has actually introduced new challenges in their life. WorkInSync enables companies to establish…
Product Details
- About
- Integrations
- Competitors
- Tech Details
- FAQs
What is Accruent EMS?
Accruent's EMS Software connects people with the right spaces, resources, and technology, solving today’s workspace and scheduling challenges and enabling organizations to get the most from their modern work and learning environments.
Employees want the flexibility to work from anywhere and to collaborate using their preferred technologies in a safe and social environment. At the same time, leaders need to drive value for their businesses by making the best possible use of their real estate footprint. Multi-use spaces, hoteling or hot desking, and open floor plans can provide efficiencies, but not when burdened with redundant, outdated tools, and processes disconnected from the rest of a business.
So EMS Software is provided as an intelligent, enterprise-class scheduling and resource management software platform, configured and integrated to a unique office environment. The vendor describes it as a management tool that offers the flexibility employees demand, while providing users the visibility, control and insights needed to drive value for the organization.The vendor further boasts deep industry expertise, with over 35 years in the business .
Accruent EMS Features
- Supported: Self-Service Meeting Booking
- Supported: Desk Hoteling
- Supported: Digital Signage
- Supported: Video Conferencing Integration
- Supported: Web-Based Booking
- Supported: Managed Space and Events Approval Workflow
- Supported: Invoicing and Billing
- Supported: Utilization Reporting and Custom Queries
- Supported: Catering Management
- Supported: Academic Planning and Optimization
Accruent EMS Integrations
- Microsoft Teams
- Google Workspace
- Workday Student
- Microsoft Outlook
- Crestron Room Signs
- IAdea Room Signs
- Embrava Desk Signs
- Envoy Visitor Mangement
- Zoom Video Conferencing
Accruent EMS Competitors
Accruent EMS Technical Details
| Deployment Types | On-premise, Software as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based |
|---|---|
| Operating Systems | Windows |
| Mobile Application | Apple iOS, Android, Mobile Web |
Frequently Asked Questions
EMS Software is an enterprise space management, event, class and resource scheduling application acquired and now supported by Accruent in June 2018.
Reviewers rate Availability highest, with a score of 9.1.
The most common users of Accruent EMS are from Enterprises (1,001+ employees).
Comparisons
Compare with
Reviews and Ratings
(403)
Community Insights
TrustRadius Insights are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, 3rd-party data sources. Have feedback on this content? Let us know!
- Business Problems Solved
EMS, or Event Management System, is a versatile software solution widely adopted by colleges, universities, and organizations for scheduling and managing events. The system efficiently books rooms, tracks conference room reservations, and facilitates communication between service providers. Users appreciate EMS for streamlining scheduling processes across the organization, from classes and meetings to events. It also helps with work assignment delegation and managing services for internal and external events.
Hospitals also benefit from EMS by using it to schedule conference rooms and manage room and catering requests. For example, TIAA integrates EMS with Outlook, creating a one-stop booking experience that includes features like Webex and attachments. EMS goes beyond room reservations and effectively manages non-room items like banner spaces and van usage.
EMS provides comprehensive support for academic scheduling, event management, and non-academic space management within universities. Many departments already use EMS for event scheduling, with plans to implement it in more departments in the future. In fact, the University of Kentucky relies on EMS more than any other university in the nation for scheduling across all buildings.
EMS is invaluable for risk management and logistical planning. It is utilized in conference centers and other school units with unique spaces. Real-time utilization data allows users to evaluate meeting spaces and classrooms' efficiency. By effectively managing resource allocation and service allocation, EMS enables efficient operations across different departments.
EMS plays a crucial role in enhancing safety and security efforts through essential reporting capabilities. It is used campus-wide for managing catering orders, facilities requests, IT requests, and room reservations. Various groups within an institution benefit from EMS implementation, including the Registrar's Office, Athletics Department, Performing Arts Department, Auxiliary & Event Services, among others.
Overall, EMS receives high praise from users due to its ability to streamline scheduling processes, allocate resources efficiently, and optimize space management within organizations. Its wide range of use cases makes it a valuable tool in educational institutions, conference centers, and organizations requiring efficient scheduling and event management.
Attribute Ratings
Reviews
(1-5 of 5)Companies can't remove reviews or game the system. Here's why
Accruent EMS is used by our organization to schedule meetings and events (on and offsite), visitor offices, and apartments. It is also used to manage technology, catering, and facility needs. It is used across the entire company by coordinators to schedule requests, service teams, and employees to submit requests. It allows us to use one platform for all events throughout our firm, as well as to report on meetings and events and billing.
- Multifunctional. Offers a variety of functions for different purposes.
- Wide array of reporting, from basic simple reports to complex reports including all details and billing. Reports can also be customizable and are very easy to follow.
- Easy to learn and train on--it's very easy to understand and follow.
- Notifications could be more customizable.
- When adding a new room or resource, there are multiple places to go to be sure it has been added to all the appropriate areas, templates, etc. Would be great if that could all be addressed in one place when initially adding the item.
- Accruent EMS is very robust, which is great. But it would have been great to know the different ways it can be used prior to the configuration process to help better determine the best configuration and setup for our company.
- Accruent EMS is very efficient. Allows users to complete a task in as a little a few seconds speeding up the workflow process.
- Ease of use cuts down on training times drastically.
I was unable to select our last software used (Meeting Room Manager - MRM), but Accruent EMS is a whole other ballgame. We had so many issues with our previous scheduling software that we welcomed EMS tremendously. EMS is much more efficient and effective. It's easy to use and train on and allows to you reach an outcome through different steps based on your preference or the type of reservation you are making. It is customizable and can be configured to suit your organization.
200
Conference Room Planners, Receptionists, AV technicians, Caterers, Facilities, some supervisors and managers
10
Technology and EMS savvy. Often a technical person or EMS administrator/trainer.
- The ease for a scheduler to schedule a meeting/conference rooms and send a confirmation in a short amount of time
- Building and running reports, then sending them to multiple service groups
- We use digital signage with Accruent EMS to allow employees to reserve their own space (without services) directly from the conference room.
- We just upgraded so we are looking to implement the automated reporting as we have several users who manually send multiple reports a day/week.
Yes
Meeting Room Manager (MRM). The software was getting worse over time with several bugs and the support was horrible. They were no longer fixing some bugs. Work was having to be redone due to the random loss of data from the system. Ultimately, we decided the time had come for a new product.
- Price
- Product Features
- Product Usability
- Product Reputation
We needed a product that could manage all of our spaces as well as the services we needed to track. We needed a product that was easy to learn as well as train on but also budget-friendly.
I don't know that I would change anything. We evaluated three software products and Accruent EMS was ultimately the best software for us, checked the most boxes, and was by far the most user-friendly.
- Implemented in-house
Yes
We began with all the conference rooms. Then moved to visitor offices, then to added apartments. Different users schedule these so we brought different groups on board through each phase.
Change management was a big part of the implementation and was well-handled
- Different trainings for different types of users
- Getting users to shift their mindset from what we used to have and called items to what we now have and the new terminology used
- Scheduling a room
- Running reports
- Adding services to single or multi-resource reservations
- Adding a new room, it seems like I have to go to multiple areas to be sure I have added it to all views, templates, etc.
Yes, but I don't use it
September 18, 2019
EMS tells story for those who do not use it every day!
We are currently using EMS in the business school at our university. We are also in the midst of bringing it onboard to use it across campus. We use EMS to book rooms, block rooms, upload classroom schedules, hoteling, breakout rooms bookings to host a variety of bookings (workshops, classes, internal meetings etc).
- EMS has the ability to create reports on room usage and booking rates. This assistance us in justifying expansions in our building.
- EMS also has the ability to show the rate of bookings, how many bookings are being creating, and by who. This allows us to hire more resouraces based on these stats.
- EMS can improve on their copy and paste feature. Currently you can not copy and paste on multiple bookings without losing the original content of the copy. I have made a report regarding this.
- Have more than two contacts on a reservation. For example, if there are three leads on a event, then we can only input 2 contact info
- I would not be able to answer this question but it has been a great tool since we implement in the business school since 5 years ago. We now have it across campus and invested even more into EMS.
I can’t remember the name but I do remember it was useless. It did basic bookings without anything else. For example - could not generate reports or even show booking history. Once the bookings were deleted by mistake, we could not retrieve it since there was no booking or reservation number.
30
Some people use EMS to book rooms, see what rooms are available, gather data on room usage, send set-ups, tear downs, changes in attendance on a booking.
1
They need know EMS inside and out. They would need to know how to solve errors or problems. How to change configuration, add more people to the system. They would need to know how a reservation works (just the basics) and how to input different data so the system works unique for what is needed.
- For students to see what rooms are available prior to requesting a room.
- For our executive team to have a better vision as to what is taking place on campus
- For us to coordinate events, book rooms, set-ups and tear downs
- We were able to place a "new room" section and places a notification to reminder coordinators that all set-ups need to be submitted 10 business days prior to the event date .
- Its been working great and it is in bright yellow so everyone who logs into EMS can see that notification prior to booking a room.
- I would love to see EMS integrated into our room signs outside each boardroom, classroom and event space. One day have them display which event is taking place inside that room. Or even notify students if the room is available.
Yes
RU Reserve. RU reserve was very basic and did not display history of bookings. It was great for when we started the department but we have outgrown it.
- Price
- Product Features
- Product Usability
- Prior Experience with the Product
- Existing Relationship with the Vendor
- Analyst Reports
Product Usability was very important to us. We wanted a unique/up to date software that would do what we needed to do but yet was using friendly and easy to use by all ages.
I think we would have upgraded from the very start when the budget was there. Now unfortunately we have so many cut backs that we can not upgrade like we want to.
- Implemented in-house
- Third-party professional services
We hired someone who was very knowledge with this software and software in general. He was partnered up with someone from the EMS support team. With them two, we were able to implement the software.
Yes
Yes, it was broken into actually stetting up the software (back end), then set-up and inputting all the data and then actually starting to use it.
Change management was a small part of the implementation and was well-handled
- One big issue we has as a time was, having to relearn or learn how to use EMS esp. since we came from such a basic and easy older software
- One big issue we has as a time was, was people did not take to the change of a new software and were hesitate of using a new software
- Lastly, One big issue we has as a time was, not all people were learning during the same pace. Some learned faster than others.
No
Unfortunately even if this was available, our budget would not allow it at this time
No
- Booking a room
- Submitting a set-up and tear down
- Adjusting a confirmation letter
- Adjusting reminder letter
- When submitting multiple set-ups under one booking. When I go to email the 1st set-up, all the other set-up show up in the set-up confirmation email. This is very difficult because I have to manually adjust it.
Yes
I only use the mobile or web base interface to view bookings or the "Book" when I am on the go. Not easy to actually work on it
September 04, 2019
Review from a Guy "Behind the Scenes"
We use EMS Software primarily for room scheduling across our campus. Our courses are imported into EMS, which gives department heads the ability to see how their rooms are utilized. They can use this information to determine if more sections to a course can be added. It also allows other users across campus to search for and book a room without the worry of conflicting with a course. We started using EMS due to our old method of keeping track of room utilization becoming obsolete and no longer being supported.
- Being able to import our courses from our SIS system makes it really easy to see which rooms are getting used the most.
- The Virtual EMS component makes it really easy for anyone to search for and book a room on campus.
- When setting up new users, there is an option to allow Single Sign-On, which means users have one less password to remember (and log ins are faster).
- A few years ago, the automatic synchronization between EMS and our SIS system stopped working after an update. Support couldn't figure out the problem, so we were forced to use flat files, which is better than nothing but still a little annoying.
- If I recall correctly, you can't really delete bookings in EMS. That may be a good thing in terms of keeping track of room utilization and such, but it'd be nice to be able to delete bookings that are either several years old or were used for testing.
- The primary positive impact is that it gives our department heads an easy way to see how their rooms are utilized, which has an impact on which courses and how many sections of each course to offer.
- I'm not sure how much our previous room management solution cost, so I can't say either way on ROI.
- I think the only "negative" impact was that it required the key users to get acquainted with a new system, which meant a lot of frustration and changes to how they were used to doing things.
I wasn't involved in the selection process when we purchased EMS, so I have no idea which other solutions were considered nor why we chose EMS over others.
10
The primary users of EMS are the office assistants for our division deans. They use EMS to print room charts to be placed by each classroom so that everyone can see which classes are being taught and when. They also use it to confirm or deny requests for conference rooms within their area/building, as well as an analytic tool to see how rooms are being utilized.
1
I am the sole back-end administrator for EMS, but it doesn't require an extensive amount of work to maintain. Our installation runs on a physical Windows Server (as of now it's on 2008 R2), and runs with minimal intervention/maintenance. I am aware that EMS offers a cloud version where all of the hardware and software updates will be handled by EMS instead of the client. The only reason we will not be utilizing that option is the additional cost associated with it.
- Ability to see room utilization, which helps determine when and where more or less courses should be held.
- Ability for staff to request rooms for various functions without conflicting with courses.
- Ability for security to know which rooms on campus should be open and available and which ones should be locked for the day/night.
- We haven't discovered any unexpected or innovative ways to use EMS yet.
- We would like to incorporate our campus maintenance and building services into EMS so that staff will no longer have to send a separate email to the work order staff when an event requires their services.
No
- Price
- Product Features
- Product Usability
I was not on the committee that selected EMS, but I can imagine that our biggest factor was most likely a combination of price and product features.
I would form a committee that would include all logical users of the software, get at least one demo session from each vendor, get at least 2 or 3 business references per vendor, and look up reviews for each vendor online. Then the committee would form a recommendation based on the data.
- Implemented in-house
No
Change management was a minor issue with the implementation
Naturally, some people don't like change. Luckily there are some that embrace change. Most of our EMS users were kind of in the middle, not really wanting to change but were okay with doing it if it would be easier on them in the long run. We tried to incorporate our work order system into EMS, but the director of that department was (and still is) very much against change. Because of this, we are not even close to using EMS to it's full potential.
- One of our biggest mistakes was letting one user handle essentially all of the configuration with EMS. Now that person is no longer with our College, so a lot of that knowledge left with them.
- Another mistake was not implementing a testing environment/database for users to use for training and practice.
No
We are looking to migrate our outdated EMS installation from a old physical server to a virtual server. When I contacted support to get some advice, they were quick to respond and even setup a call with me to go over some options. During the call, they described 3 different options that we could go with: upgrade then migrate old data, upgrade and install a clean copy without old data, or go to their cloud platform. They described the steps involved with each option, and provided a breakdown in written form so that I could take it to our Vice President of Finance for review. It made the task of migrating much less daunting.
- I believe adding a new reservation is pretty easy and straightforward.
- Running reports are easy to use and understand.
- Giving users various levels of access is pretty straightforward.
- I can't really think of any functions that are difficult.
August 20, 2019
Bucknell University Review
EMS is used across our institution. We use it for managing all classes and event spaces. We also use it to communicate needs with service providers - catering, event and classroom tech support, facilities, card services, guest housing, public safety, transportation, and card services.
- EMS allows us to communicate with our campus partners in a number of ways - via auto reporting, notifications or reminders, depending on the preference of each user/group.
- The customer service team is always well versed and extremely helpful in knowing the software so they can help us tailor the system to best suit our needs when we have questions.
- Reporting options are really flexible. Having the option to create queries outside of the canned report options is truly helpful.
- One area that needs to be better developed or looked into is the Master Calendar. As universities continue to looks for ways to provide one-stop shopping, it would be helpful to have a place that easily streamlines event data and event marketing in one place. Students want to go to one place to see events and plan events. Master Calendar was a good start but it is ancient and very disjointed from EMS.
- We would love to have the webclient back. We have several users that use an ipad or apple computer and the webclient allowed that functionality.
- One area for improvement is managing system changes. As the EMS administrator for the university, it would be great to be able to add a new building or category to EMS and add those items to all existing templates, reports, etc in one place.
- We have seen a significant cost savings in time management. The time it takes to communicate about event needs as a whole is drastically reduced through use of the software.
- The system allows us to do a significant amount of reporting, reducing the need to export and/or manually manipulate the data to get reports regarding events, resources, classes, etc.
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.
94
Events Management
Library & Technology
Registrar
Catering
Facilities
Campus Theater
Card Services
Athletics
Campus Activities & Programs
Transportation Services
Public Safety
Library & Technology
Registrar
Catering
Facilities
Campus Theater
Card Services
Athletics
Campus Activities & Programs
Transportation Services
Public Safety
4
Tech support
Flexible
Someone who can see the bigger picture
Collaborator
Organized
Flexible
Someone who can see the bigger picture
Collaborator
Organized
- Events Scheduling
- Clase Scheduling
- Resource Management
- Service Provider Management
- Metric Data
- Managing university vehicle fleet
- Managing guest housing
- Emergency Planning
- Understanding energy use/sustainability efforts
Yes
Resource25 - limited capabilities in managing resources, classes and events
- Product Features
- Product Usability
- Third-party Reviews
It was important that we found a system that could manage class scheduling, service/resource schedule, and event scheduling.
I would ask more questions about future product developments and enhancements, including timing.
- Third-party professional services
Dean Evans/EMS implementation team
No
Change management was a big part of the implementation and was well-handled
- since the system is used for classes, events, and summer conference schedule, deciding the best time to transition took some discussions
- cleaning up internal processes to make the best use of the system
Yes
no
When we upgraded to 4.0 Patrick and others were amazing!!! We called often as we work to prep things in our test data base before going live and the tech team was simply amazing, patient, knowledgeable, and able to assist us.
- General scheduling
- using the dashboard to manage event statuses
- adding resources
- making event changes
- on the end user side for web requests - reserving events over multiple days with different times
Yes
N/A
February 01, 2019
EMS is the best!
It is being used for scheduling trainings and meetings for hospital employees. EMS is used across our campus location and it helps with managing multiple scheduling events and organizes them.
- Confirmation tool
- Notifications
- Reports
- I love that things come in instantly, there is often no lag. This is such a productive tool for door signage, online room managing and reservations.
- Adding multiple rooms to one booking instead of copying
- More beginner tutorials on website
- Less of a cost for upgrades
- I wish there was a way to combine two rooms into one reservation if they are connected rooms that separate by a wall.
- Provides structure and communication to clients
- User-friendly
Easier to use and less people involved in the booking/scheduling process, and the fact that it is user-friendly.
400
Our users are using EMS Software to book space for conferences, meetings and trainings. We are representing a children's hospital and all the functions of trainings, meetings, and conferences.
7
Making sure you know how to add people in, train and help people through the scheduling process of they are new. Upgrades can require a lot of attention to detail.
- That you cannot double book a room
- That this is available on the web and user friendly
- The function works across different softwares
- The reporting is great for data and that you can put it into an excel document
- the room cards are great to help guide people
- Outlook is great too because my organization uses it widely.
- The mobile app would be great for those who are constantly on the go
- The kiosk is something that I am excited about and hopefully we can get at my organization because when I am away from my desk it can quickly help someone find an available space.
- we might be able to add rooms on in other parts of the building because it is so effective.
Yes
We were primarily using Outlook for Scheduling but it was not effective and we made the switch to EMS.
- Price
- Product Features
- Product Usability
- Product Reputation
- Prior Experience with the Product
The main factor was the effectiveness of this software and that it would not double book rooms.
No I would not change my evaluation if I had to do it again.
- Don't know
No
Change management was a major issue with the implementation
This was key because the way it was being done before on Outlook was not working.
- Upgrade was difficult
- downloading it to my computer for the first time was difficult too.
No
When I was getting the software downloaded, my organizational help desk team could not support or help with the troubleshooting. I was able to get support through EMS and they walked me through each step and were really helpful along the way.
- The booking process on the Admin side is easy to use
- I think that it is great that you can add a second contact if there are multiple people involved
- I think finding data and exporting it is easy to use.
- I always forget to add in the everyday user when I am creating an event for someone, it would be nice itf it automatically did that once the first contact has been added.
- It can be difficult to send change a header or footer.
- I still can't figure out how to do automatic email reminders.
Yes, but I don't use it