Overview

EMS is the software used to manage campus meeting and event spaces.

Looking to book a space on campus for a meeting or an event?  Look no further than EMS (also called RoomFinder).  EMS allows users to see space availability, and find out the capacity and amenities of those spaces.  And when those reservation requests come in, space managers can use EMS to approve or deny the request.

An EMS account is required for space approvers; no account is required for users who want to request/reserve spaces via roomfinder.spu.edu. EMS is also used by Student Academic Services to reserve spaces for classes, and by Conference Services for guest accommodations.

An Outlook Calendar plugin allows employees to access RoomFinder via their Outlook Calendar on their SPU-owned machines.  (Software installation required.)

Any current employee or student with a web browser can use roomfinder.spu.edu to submit space requests. 

Features

EMS plays nicely with Outlook, and allows an employee who is setting up a meeting to request a meeting space directly from their Outlook calendar; no separate phone call or email is required.  This functionality can be configured to work for folks who are acting as delegates for others, too.  (If you need to be set up as a delegate or if you need someone else to be set up as your delegate, please submit a request for this by going to Banner > Personal Menu > Computer Accounts Menu > Request Additional Accounts and choose EMS Client.  In the comments section indicate your delegate request and identify the other person.)

Students can reserve spaces in the library, the gym, and for academic purposes (such as inviting a guest speaker or arranging a Q&A session with a professor).  Students will use roomfinder.spu.edu to accomplish this.

Designed For

In the days before EMS, a person might not know what meeting spaces exist on campus, let alone who to contact to request to use a space.  EMS makes it easy for users to learn about meeting spaces all across campus, see availability, confirm capacity and amenities, and submit a request to use a space.  A space approver can easily approve (or deny) a space request, and the space calendar and the user's Outlook calendar are automatically updated to reflect those approved reservations.

Getting Started

The web version of EMS, roomfinder.spu.edu, is available to users without any special installation required. 

Faculty/Staff users who want to have RoomFinder added to their Outlook calendar on their SPU-owned machine can download from Software Center the EMS for Outlook application.  

Technical Support and Training

Space approvers can get more information via the EMS Client wiki page.

Administration and Maintenance

The EMS software and servers are maintained by CIS.   Users request an account via Banner.  New spaces or modifications to existing spaces within EMS are managed by CIS.