EMS tells story for those who do not use it every day!
Updated September 18, 2019
EMS tells story for those who do not use it every day!
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with EMS Software
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.
Using EMS Software
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.
Evaluating EMS Software and Competitors
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.
EMS Software Implementation
- 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.
EMS Software Support
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Quick Resolution Good followup Knowledgeable team Problems get solved Kept well informed No escalation required Immediate help available Support cares about my success | Need to explain problems multiple times Slow Initial Response |
No - Unfortunately even if this was available, our budget would not allow it at this time
Using EMS Software
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Like to use Relatively simple Easy to use Technical support not required Well integrated Consistent Quick to learn Convenient Feel confident using | Lots to learn |
- 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