How Mazévo Makes It Easy To Share 1 Room Scheduling System Campuswide

It makes sense intuitively that having one, cohesive solution to handle the room scheduling needs for an entire campus is better for everyone. But how, specifically, does it improve scheduling operations and make users and customers happier? In many ways, including:

• A unified system makes it easier for people to get a comprehensive view of what’s going on. This “single source of truth” means they don’t have to go to multiple campus calendars in multiple systems to get a sense of activity campuswide or to drill down into a specific event.
• A campuswide solution provides a better way for customers to get information or submit reservation requests. Nothing is more frustrating for website visitors than having to jump from place to place to complete a task that should realistically only take a handful of clicks on a few windows.
• An advanced system has a shorter learning curve and more “portable” skills. With one, intuitive, campuswide scheduling solution like Mazévo, it’s easy for users to get productive quickly. And, because the same system is used in every campus department that schedules events, an event coordinator in the Athletics department who moves across campus to the Engineering department can be productive the minute they sit down at their desk.

Of course, if you’re trying to share a typical (read: old school) room scheduling system, it can be difficult. Why? There are multiple reasons:

• Everyone has to agree on the terminology that will be used and the meaning of those terms. Otherwise, it’s like people are speaking different languages.
• The system must have robust security that enables each department to dictate what information is available to the others. Some groups may not want other departments to see a list of their customers, for example, or they may want to be able to control who can see and request their rooms, but don’t have that capability.
• Modifying defined data or processes is challenging. In order to change things, everyone must agree to the modifications. You also have to understand the ramifications of making a change, including how it will affect other users.
• Many users have to contend with lots of information they don’t need. Specifically, departments with simple needs have to work through and around many features they don’t use.

But note that we said the above are concerns with a “typical room scheduling system.” Mazévo is not a typical room scheduling system—it works differently.

The Unique “Scheduling Departments” Concept in Mazévo

Mazévo is designed from the ground up to be an easier system to implement and manage. First, it’s a web-native solution—meaning that it was built from scratch for use on the web, unlike outdated client-server applications with web functionality “bolted on” as an afterthought.

And Mazévo’s focus on ease of use carries through to the concept of scheduling departments, which exist within a shared database but allow each group to:

• Determine which information they want to store and track
• Control who can see their information
• Decide who is allowed to make requests
• Share information with other departments for cumulative reporting purposes
• Provide access to their data to users in other departments, but typically with restricted roles and user rights

Essentially, it’s a best-of-both-worlds approach. People can easily get the “big picture” on campus activity—for operational planning, business strategy development, etc.—but departments retain control of their own space and their scheduling operations.

That includes departments having all the functionality they need, but only the functionality they need. For instance, if your department doesn’t charge for your space and therefore has no need for pricing, you won’t see pricing mentioned anywhere. Similarly, if you don’t reserve resources (equipment, catering, and so forth), it will be as if that functionality doesn’t exist. The same goes for statuses. You only need Confirmed and Canceled? That’s all you’ll see.

So, the system gracefully accommodates both departments that have minimal scheduling needs and those that need all the features a solution can deliver (and every department in between).

How Campuses Benefit From Mazévo Scheduling Departments

The availability of scheduling departments in Mazévo delivers many powerful benefits, including:

1. Significantly lower costs. When every campus department has a different scheduling system or a vastly different approach to using the one shared system, the time and expense of getting each group operational can be high. With Mazévo, the training and professional services are minimal, reducing related expenses. Plus, you can be up and running in a matter of days or weeks, rather than months or more. That means less downtime and greater productivity.
2. Phased implementation. All it takes to “go live” in Mazévo is first becoming familiar with the system and then entering your information. Consequently, there’s no pressure on departments to adopt the system at the same time as other groups. Each campus entity can get started whenever it’s convenient for them.
3. Simplified training and onboarding. Because each department can do things their own way, there’s no need to coordinate training across departments. The decisions made by one department on the terminology they’ll use, scheduling processes they’ll follow, etc., don’t affect other departments. There’s also no need for complicated security setups that ensure everyone “stays in their lane,” as Mazévo handles system access restrictions with ease.
4. Faster launches. Having unique scheduling departments means every campus entity can move at its own pace. Historically, implementations dragged on because it was hard to get everyone to reach a consensus on key issues. Now, if your department is ready to get scheduling, there’s nothing holding you back.
5. An easier “sell” to other campus entities. Smaller departments, which may have been reluctant in the past to adopt a feature-rich-but-complex system, are happy to leverage a solution that can be tailored to their specific needs and scheduling processes.
6. Full flexibility. With scheduling departments being independent from one another, it’s easy for a group to make changes to the system if their business processes change, since the modifications won’t impact others.

→Get more insights: Download our whitepaper: New Thinking in Campus-wide Scheduling

One Campus, Many Scheduling Scenarios

Small events. Big events. Events with resources. Events without resources. Classes. Extracurricular events. Meetings for campus staff. Meetings for off-campus organizations.

No two scheduling departments want to do things the same way—and they shouldn’t have to. The ability to create multiple scheduling departments in Mazévo makes it easy to accommodate every group’s needs:

• Registrar’s Office. The reason colleges exist is to educate students. Consequently, this department must have first priority to schedule classrooms. But when these rooms are available, they might be used by others for non-academic purposes. However, meetings and events may have to be “bumped” from a space if academic needs change. In short, it’s a “dance” that’s best handled with the registrar having ultimate authority but other departments being able to capitalize on unused space. And, typically classes don’t involve rental fees or any resources or services, so people in this office don’t need to see that functionality.

• Athletics department. This group typically schedules all sporting events, team practices, etc. They may also host large events like concerts, orientation sessions, and graduation-related events. But in general, their scheduling needs tend not to be as complex as those of some other departments. Here again, unneeded Mazévo features can be hidden from view.

• Conference Services department. This is often where Mazévo really gets to flex its “scheduling muscle.” Events coordinated by this group typically have significant requirements for resources—equipment, catering, personnel, etc. Consequently, they involve complex workflows that may involve multiple service providers and require approvals, and where an event moves through many statuses. The ability to apply different pricing plans and to track revenue is also crucial.

• Student Union. Like the Conference Services department, unions may host some events that are fairly resource/service-heavy and have detailed workflows. Often there is a mix of billable and non-billable use of space, so pricing plans and invoice tracking are key.

• Professional schools. Entities like business schools, law schools, and medical schools typically have a smaller number of spaces to manage but their utilization can be very high. They tend to host classes and other events, with not always as much need to track resources or services and no charges for the use of their rooms.

And these are, of course, just a few examples of groups that can benefit from an advanced scheduling solution like Mazévo, with its ability to address very unique requirements seamlessly.

Learn More About Scheduling Departments

If you have questions about Mazévo scheduling departments and how they make it easy to shift to a true campuswide approach to room scheduling and calendaring, let’s talk! Call us at 800-254-7615 or schedule a demo today.