Carleton College is “Thrilled” with 25Live’s Integrated and Automated Scheduling System
Carleton College
Northfield, Minnesota
Products
25Live® Integrated Academic and Event Scheduling System
Why 25Live?
“25Live offered us all the capabilities we weren’t getting from our old system, plus far superior customer service.” — Noel Ponder, Manager of Conferences and Event Services
Benefits
• Integrated academic and events scheduling
• Automated reporting and communication
• Complete resource management
• Easy user interface for all departments
• Mobile compatibility
• Google Calendar integration
• Workday SIS integration
• Maintenance-free SaaS

The Challenge
For more than 20 years, Carleton relied on an EMS/Accruent event scheduling software that wasn’t meeting the College’s needs. The resources interface was cumbersome, and few people used it. For a workaround, Carleton staff created a separate WordPress form to collect basic information such as event name, number of people, AV and custodial requirements, and so on. Without automated communication or report generation, site administrators had to manually create and distribute multiple sets of WordPress forms among various departments. Software updates were problematic, too. Because the system operated on separate web and desktop versions, every update required an IT patch followed by individual users updating their desktop version. According to Noel Ponder, manager of conferences and event services, once the EMS system was sold to another company, software updates stopped. The system had become “familiar but stagnant.” To make matters worse, tech support was typically unresponsive. Disappointment led to frustration. “We wanted better service; we wanted more efficient reporting and a more modern user interface; we wanted mobile capability and Google Calendar integration,” Ponder said. “We were also looking to implement academic scheduling, but EMS’s offering was not very impressive and would have cost us more.” Finally, when the College decided it was time to shutter its aging on-site database and move to a hosted SaaS system, the Carleton ITS team looked to 25Live.
The Solution
Carleton’s events management and ITS teams received in-depth product demos from CollegeNET’s scheduling professionals before selecting the 25Live comprehensive scheduling system. College staff were immediately impressed with how the platform integrates and streamlines every aspect of academic and events scheduling, including automated reporting, communication, and resource management. 25Live provides the mobile compatibility and Google Calendar integration the College wanted. It also enabled Carleton to easily jettison its old database for a secure and maintenance-free SaaS solution. The fact that 25Live provides seamless integration with the College’s new Workday SIS was another huge plus. And then there’s the customer service: “It was such a smooth transition to 25Live,” said Ponder. “Our CollegeNET Account Manager was always available, and online support has been outstanding. We get lightning-fast responses from real, live people with in-depth answers. I cannot emphasize enough how much I appreciate [their] swift responses to our questions! Sooo much better than EMS!”
The Results
The Carleton events team immediately noticed major improvements, now that their ITS team was no longer burdened with database maintenance. All scheduling is centralized, and all software updates are automatic. Events staff are no longer burdened with mountains of manually generated reporting, and communication is now a breeze. “We’re very thrilled,” said Ponder. “So many people love the new system: Events, Security, Residential Life, the academic departments — even Custodial, who always refused to use EMS because it was so cumbersome. Now, everyone can easily go into 25Live and find the information they need.” According to Jana Lelm, campus scheduling administrator, 25Live reporting and automation have made a dramatic improvement. “There used to be so much I had to do manually,” said Lelm. “Now, instead of generating and sending out multiple reports, I get them automatically delivered to me. And, instead of manually creating and distributing room cards to administrators in each building, I can now rely on 25Live to do it for me. I don’t have to go into the system to make updates when things change; all stakeholder departments are notified — it’s all automated. And it’s so much more user-friendly and intuitive,” Lelm added. “With EMS, we were limited to 25 licensed users, so I had to be careful who I gave access to. Now, we have unlimited licensing. EMS never had a way to identify who anyone was, so I had to create individual credentials to get people into the system. Now, users don’t have to wait 48 hours for username approval, and I don’t have to follow up with event organizers anymore — the dashboard reminds them of what’s coming up and what they need to complete. It’s all so much faster and efficient.”
What’s Next: Campus-wide Scheduling and Calendaring
According to Lelm, “25Live is such a searchable system that everyone wants dibs on it now.” With the new scheduling system catching on across campus, Carleton ITS quickly recognized they could respond to professors’ requests for a new, dedicated room-search website by simply leveraging the flexible search tools already available in 25Live.
The organizers of Carleton’s annual Reunion have also begun using 25Live to schedule events and will soon become the first group to post their dates on campus calendars using the 25Live Publisher tool.
About Carleton College

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