Event Management System (EMS)

is an enterprise application from Dean Evans & Associates (DEA) that supports academic classroom scheduling, facilities and other space planning needs. For academic scheduling EMS replaced a tool called Resource 25 (R25).

EMS is currently in use and overseen by Finance and Business and the Registrar's Office. UAlbany's ITS manages the servers with application support from DEA. The need for a campus-wide dedicated event management administrator has been identified.

Most users will rely on the component called Virtual EMS (VEMS) to access campus event information. 

The client installation (Windows only) is for venue managers and power users of the system. Venue managers etc. can also use the system over the web using what is called EMS WSebClient.

Venue Managers use the web client to manage the meetings and events that take place in their facilities. Standard features include:
• The Reservation Wizard room booking tool
• A graphical reservation book
• The Browser and month-at-a-glance Calendar Inquiry

A web user is a registered user who can submit requests for reservations or schedule reservations in Virtual EMS. Albany Faculty Staff and Students affiliated with a student group are already in the system.  It is possible to create duplicates.  Please exercise caution as duplicate accounts prevent the user from logging in.

When you create a web user, you can also specify one or more delegates for the web user. A delegate is a web user who can create and view reservations on behalf of another web user. 

Creating the VEMS Web User

These steps are the same whether we are using the EMS Web Client or the EMS Campus 4.0 desktop client with one difference:   within the desktop client we can optionally click Spelling to spell check any information manually entered for the user.

Note: Before adding a Web User search to verify they have not already been created.

On the EMS menu bar go to Configuration > Web > Web Users

Click New

Enter the information for the web user in these required fields:  Name, Password, Email Address, Status, Security Template, and Time Zone.  

The External Reference for Albany members is our Network ID and it connects us to our HR record in PeopleSoft.  External users are not Faculty Staff or Students and so we will leave the External Reference field empty, as well as Email Opt Out and Network ID.   

Open the Groups tab

Click Display to produce a list of all groups. In the Available list, select a group, or CTRL-click to select multiple groups, and then click the Move button (>) to move the selected groups to the “Selected” list window.

Open the Delegates tab à  it appears that we most often do not use this feature.  When you create a web user, you can also specify one or more delegates for the web user. A delegate is a web user who can create and view reservations on behalf of another web user.

Click OK.

The dialog box for creating a web user closes and a message opens indicating that the web user was created successfully.

Note:  User-defined fields are additional fields that store custom data for a reservation. UA's EMS Administrator configures the types of fields that are available as well as the allowed values for these fields.

Search for a Web User

We search to verify they have not already been created.

On the EMS menu bar go to Configuration > Web > Web Users

In the Web Users window, the number of web users currently in use for Virtual EMS (VEMS) is displayed.

Search for users based User Name then search for them by Email Address by entering a search string in the Find field

Ensure we are not just looking for Active accounts as there may be an Inactive account already in existence. Avoid this by ensuring the Status field says (all). 

We can use the wildcard % in the Find

Click Display; the web users who meet your search criteria are displayed in the lower pane of the Web Users window.

NOTE: The User Defined Fields tab displays questions that a web user would be required to answer when they requested an account through VEMS. UA does not use this feature and so it is not relevant.

On the EMS menu bar go to Configuration > Web > Web Users

In the Web Users window, the number of web users currently in use for Virtual EMS (VEMS) is displayed.

Search for users based User Name then search for them by Email Address by entering a search string in the Find field

Ensure we are not just looking for Active accounts as there may be an Inactive account already in existence. Avoid this by ensuring the Status field says (all). 

We can use the wildcard % in the Find

Click Display; the web users who meet your search criteria are displayed in the lower pane of the Web Users window.

NOTE: The User Defined Fields tab displays the questions that a web user was required to answer when the user requested to create an account through VEMS and it is not relevant.

Changing your Password

When your EMS administrator first sets up your user account, your password is predefined for you. You can change this password if you want.

1. On the EMS menu bar, click Settings > Change Password. 

The Change Password dialog box opens. 

2. Do the following:

• In the Old Password field, enter your current EMS password.

• In the New Password field, enter the new password.

• In the Re-enter New Password field, enter your new password again, exactly as you entered it in the New Password field.

3. Click OK to close the Change Password dialog box.

The next time that you log in to EMS, you must use your new password.