Millennial user in an office of Gen X'ers
Updated December 18, 2018
Millennial user in an office of Gen X'ers
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Modules Used
- Project Management
- Facilities Management
Overall Satisfaction with EMS Software
EMS is rolled out through our entire university. We have our media center as well as our catering and dining services and we are working on getting our facilities office rolled into the fold. Space reservation was fragmented prior to the implementation of the software.
- Classroom utilization: this process used to take months to do and now it can be done in a week.
- Getting granular with particular groups and events to find out any info you need
- Creating custom templates for web users to grant the access that is applicable to all parties involved
- Mobile usage for v43 and v44.0 is just non-existent
- Better ability to use on a Mac! This is a huge downfall as my university is heavy into the Apple ecosystem
- Managing services can sometimes be difficult as when prices with resources don't always coordinate
- We have had difficulties with EMS in regards to the university changing other software on campus. We just moved to Workday and it seems that, with the staging table, it is becoming more and more difficult to sort the info and have it appear in EMS without a total shift in the way the user data is presented.
- We have been able to pull any report senior administration needs, which has proven its worth.
- Data is only as good as what you put into it and humans and tracking of events becomes difficult sometimes
Banner is a mess and very hard to navigate unless you are a wizard with the info codes, and EMS is just much much easier.
Using EMS Software
150 - the registers office, conference & Event management, facilities and grounds crew. Anything from booking classes, to taking building or rooms offline to do maintenance to the area, to booking rooms for events to happen, both university related or outside clients who want to have an event on campus with us.
4 - there are a hand full of people who on campus do a majority of the software support for ems. myself and a colleague do all the coding of new classes and spaces on campus as well as assigning new templates to new employees as well as dealing with end users and their inability to do certain things and do continued training on the software to have a great workflow and make sure people are using the software and not going around it to get things done. we then have a DBA who applys all the backend software updated and patches
- room reservations
- classroom utilization
- determining the needs and helping shape the growth of the campus
- rolling work orders into ems for events from school dude
- using web template to allow people to manage their own spaces within certain buildings
- using rss feeds to feed digital displays on campus within different buildings for events that are going on within that building
- optimize heating and cooling based on reservations
- automating athletic field lights based on reservations
- using ems to unlock and lock automated doors based on reservations
Evaluating EMS Software and Competitors
Yes - the university was using a homegrown system that was clunky as well as hard to maintain as well as the registers office was using R25 and I knew that they were so happy when we published the first semester in ems as it only took a couple hours instead of a couple days
- Product Features
- Product Usability
- Product Reputation
the features! meaning that we needed one platform that can pretty much do it all and help people from across campus, log onto on system and get all the info they need from service providers to prices of things
I personally did not have a say as I started at the university two months after they made the decision to purchase it. but the software know as the Cadillac of room reservation software. need I say more
EMS Software Implementation
- Implemented in-house
Yes - it was over the coarse of 3-5 years where we started with building the system then using it in house out office only, then booking classes within the system,. then we moved event workorders within the system but each step took 6-9 months before we moved on to the next to make sure that we could focus on the task at hand
- getting the campus community on board
- moving workorders into the system
- getting people to read and show up to training
EMS Software Training
- Online training
- In-person training
- Self-taught
nooo, it is worth every penny to have a consultant in person
Configuring EMS Software
take your time, each campus is different with different needs there is no need to rush it. and TEST, TEST, TEST make sure things are working before moving forward as it can really mess you up if it is not working before
No - we have not done any customization to the interface
No - we have not done any custom code
we have HRToolkit that we have implements from our HR software that activates and deactivates the users and it has been so helpful
EMS Software Support
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Quick Resolution Knowledgeable team Problems get solved Kept well informed Immediate help available Quick Initial Response | Need to explain problems multiple times |
No - no way. the software is already a ton of money and the amount of times that we have issues does not warrant the need for us to spend any more money
have not had an issue with ems really since the purchase by accruent
Using EMS Software
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Like to use Well integrated | Requires technical support Slow to learn Lots to learn |
- using the book to see spaces
- using the wizard to book a space
- running caned reports within the system
- notifications can be tricky when adding new spaces to campus
- manage services when multiple people are changing states
- the query builder. you need to know what you are looking for or else you are looking for days
Yes, but I don't use it
EMS Software Reliability
Integrating EMS Software
- workday HR software
- Banner
workday is ongoing but banner was integrated very easily and still do so with the classes
- social tables
- school dude, work order software
at this time I do not believe so
- File import/export
- API (e.g. SOAP or REST)
- Javascript widgets
API's are the best I just with you had more partners that would be down for the plug and play functions of the APIs
Relationship with Accruent
the time needed to for implementation and hours needed with a consultant for building out the system
none come to the top of my head. ems was very much a small family company and I would hate to see that go away with the new parent company changing the culture
Upgrading EMS Software
- we are not on it yet but here are the three that we at looking forward to when we do upgrade
- mobile app
- the new web app
- more services integration and ease of use for end users
- using desktop on a MAC without needing windows