My EMS Snapshot
October 03, 2018
My EMS Snapshot
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with EMS Software
EMS schedules all of our facility space for Carmichael Complex. It is a 350,000 square foot wellness center that houses informal recreation, academic classes and varsity athletics. All facility spaces are in EMS for users (internal and external) to reserve space. EMS helps us reserve, schedule and bill organizations for utilizing Carmichael Complex.
- Web Requests: Our organization uses web requests from two different groups (1. Academics 2. Programming). It allows the user to easily find and request space. On the back end it is easy for our Reservations Manager to view, modify and confirm the requests.
- Dashboard: The Dashboard feature has been a great resource for our organization. We have built work flow processes and integrated them into the Dashboard. This allows our Reservations Manager to know where all the requests or changes to requests stand.
- Room Availability Navigation from Desktop Client: Carmichael Complex is comprised of 350,000 square feet (3 indoor buildings) and 18 acres (3 outdoor complexes) we have to manage. The Desktop Client allows to easily see what is available and navigate through days, weeks and months at a time.
- Visually Intimidating: As the supervisor of the staff utilizing EMS on a day-to-day basis, I only am in the system 2-3 days a week. Therefore, I am a novice user and I do not have the experience of using the product a lot. When I first started using the software, it was visually intimating with all of the tabs, drop downs, and options. It seemed very complex and not easy to navigate. It has gotten easier with more experience, but it is not my favorite interface.
- G Suite Integration: Our institution is a G Suite client so we are excited about the possibilities once the G Suite Integration happens later this year! We had difficulties with individuals reserving space on Google Calendar and not reserving it through EMS.
- Tutorials: It would be helpful to have access to tutorial videos to help individuals who do not use the software everyday. I am a fan of the 24/7 customer service support. It has been helpful.
- Billing: The EMS Software has allowed us to reserve and bill clients all from one software.
- Efficiency: The EMS Software has increased productivity of the staff who use EMS everyday. They have found ways to approve users requests faster and improve customer service.
- Add-Ons: As more and more add-ons and integrations, I worry about the upcharge on all of the products and software extensions.
At my past institution, I started when 25Live was being introduced to the campus. Even though the scheduling software was easier (visually) to navigate, I find EMS has more potential - billing, requests, analytics, etc. I think EMS has the capability to do a lot - but it just takes time to figure out how to set up the framework.