Dear EMS Customer,

Welcome to the first edition of the Reservation Times for 2006, in which it seems appropriate to both reflect on the past and look ahead to the future. Thanks to wonderful customers like you, 2005 was an incredible year for us at EMS – we added hundreds of new customers and grew by 21%, making it one of our best years ever. In response to this growth, we’ve added staff in a number of areas to ensure that we continue providing a level of customer service and support that not only meets your needs but exceeds your expectations.

Looking ahead, 2006 will be full of highlights… We just released three new versions of EMS including EMS Enterprise 4.0, EMS Professional 10.0 and EMS Lite 6.0. Coming soon is version 2.0 of the EMS Master Calendar, which is now scheduled for release in May to accommodate some last minute feature suggestions that we know you’ll be pleased with. And finally, development of our new academic scheduling system is in full-swing and we’re looking forward to launching it in late summer or early fall. You’ll find a feature article in this newsletter on the academic scheduling project – stay tuned for more information in the coming months.

In addition to everything else, we’re proud to say that 2006 is our 20th anniversary. Please join us in celebrating this milestone with various events throughout the year, the culmination of which will be our Users Conference in October. We hope you can join us for a toast to the occasion.

So, read on. And as always, if you have an idea for a topic that you’d like to see covered in a future newsletter, we’d love to hear about it. Just shoot an email to kelly@dea.com or tom@dea.com.

Sincerely,

Kevin Raasch
Dean Evans & Associates, Inc.

Table of Contents

Feedback Fuels New EMS Releases

It’s a fairly significant statement – even for a company that prides itself on having a product development “partnership” with its customers – but Kevin Raasch, our executive vice president, says of the latest versions of EMS Enterprise, Professional and Lite (4.0, 10.0, and 6.0 respectively) and their optional Virtual EMS components: “In our 20 years of writing software for the event management industry, we’ve never put out a release that more heavily relied upon, and responded to, customer feedback. Every new feature and every enhancement on our development list resulted from user input.”

• Global Address List functionality – Email Address fields in EMS now provide search capability that can access your organization’s Global Address List.
• Enhanced Reservation Book – Improved navigation, highlighting of rooms that are free all day, the option to identify rooms by code or description, and more.
• Integrated authentication – Also known as “single sign-on”, this function speeds access to the system for users who’ve already identified themselves to the network.
• Streamlined printing/emailing of Confirmations – Settings on the Navigator window allow for simplified printing or emailing of Confirmations.
• Customizable toolbar – The EMS toolbar can now be customized to display buttons for the functions you use most, in whatever order you choose.
• Password encryption – EMS passwords are now encrypted.
• Saved filter preferences in Virtual EMS – Search criteria used in filters can now be saved to simplify future searches.
• New booking and cancellation cutoff settings in Virtual EMS – New settings on web templates allow you to control how much in advance of the event date bookings must be created or cancelled.

“Betting that you know what’s best for your customers – without ever having talked to them – tends to be a losing proposition,” says company president Dean Evans. “Soliciting input from users on a regular basis, getting a consensus and moving forward from there is a formula that has helped us develop products that address customer needs today while understanding that those needs may be different in six to nine months. It’s a continuous cycle and a partnership that I think has benefited everyone involved.”

Users with a current Annual Service Agreement can download the new release of their product, installation instructions, and product documentation (including a detailed What’s New document listing all of the new features and enhancements) by going to the Customers Only area of our website (www.dea.com/users.aspx), logging in and following the instructions.

EMS Campus – The First Name in Collaborative Higher Ed Scheduling

College and university campuses frequently struggle with the complexities of simultaneously scheduling both their academic classes and the wide variety of non-academic meetings and events that they host. A number of procedural and political issues converge to make the fast, effective and fair allocation of space a major challenge.

Specifically, the process of assigning academic space for classes is often a back-and-forth, paper-laden exercise between academic departments and the registrar. Next, throw into the mix the preferences and priorities associated with the multitude of meetings, special events and community programs that comprise a large portion of campus activities. The result, oftentimes, is fragmented communication, inefficient use of valuable resources and tedious procedures for staff, faculty, students and external customers.

For the past six months, our development team has worked hand-in-hand with colleges and universities across the country to design an all-new, landmark software product to simplify “complete campus scheduling”. According to company president Dean Evans, “There is great anticipation and demand for an academic scheduling product from EMS. In fact, the entire project has been driven by our customers.” Coding on EMS Campus™ has begun, with an eye toward shipping the completed product later this year.

A fixture on college campuses for 20 years, EMS has the scheduling of non-academic events down to a science. How will that experience be leveraged in the development of an academic scheduling solution and what will differentiate EMS Campus from other academic scheduling products already on the market? “EMS Campus will follow in the footsteps of our highly successful EMS suite in terms of flexibility, robust features and ease of use,” says Evans. “It will stand out from the crowd because we are taking a fresh approach to the entire process of academic scheduling.”

“’Collaboration’ is a bit of a buzzword these days,” says Kevin Raasch, DEA executive vice president, “But that’s where EMS Campus will excel. The system will simplify complete campus scheduling by not only supplying the powerful data processing capability needed to put thousands of classes into the appropriate room/date/time slots, but perhaps more importantly by providing automated notification and other communication features that will allow academic departments, the registrar’s office and other campus entities to correspond online in a clear, concise, standardized manner. Our goal is to deliver a product that is highly automated and virtually paperless.”

One important concern raised by scheduling experts who have contributed their insights is the need for a fluid interface between the campus scheduling tool and ERP/SIS systems like SCT Banner, Datatel, PeopleSoft and others. EMS Campus will deliver this key capability, as well as:

• Facilitating the creation of the campus academic schedule.
• Streamlining communication between the registrar and academic departments.
• Automating the assignment and optimization of classrooms.
• Addressing all of the scheduling needs for the entire campus.

A side benefit of the EMS Campus project has been the enhancement of our existing EMS Academic Interface product. Raasch explains, “Data gathered for the EMS Campus product led to the development of two new, very important features in the EMS Academic Interface. First, the interface has improved identification and flagging of cross-listed courses. Second, users will have the option to ‘bump’ meetings or events when importing the academic schedule.”

Look for updates on the EMS Campus project on our website (www.dea.com/campus/campus.aspx). Or contact our sales team (sales@dea.com) for more information.

Office “Hoteling”: Where the Mobile Workforce Hangs Its Hat

White sand beaches… sparkling blue water… swaying palm trees. You’ve always wanted your own Caribbean hideaway. The problem is you’d only be able to get there for a handful of days each year – not enough to justify the cost of buying a place. Enter the “timeshare” concept: A place that’s all yours… one week a year.

More and more these days, businesses are adopting this way of thinking (a concept often referred to as “hoteling”) for their office space. Consulting companies and corporations with large traveling sales forces led the way, realizing decades ago that offices that sat idle while their “owners” were on the road were wasted space. Today, organizations of all kinds are reaping the benefits of hoteling, including reduced real estate costs and increased productivity for their mobile workforces.

In order to successfully implement hoteling within an organization, powerful and flexible resource scheduling software is required. EMS Hoteling™ was created to provide organizations with an intuitive, easy-to-use system to manage even the most complex hoteling requirements.

“The hoteling concept makes perfect sense, in theory,” says Kevin Raasch, our executive vice president. “But drop the ball even once, leaving a staff member temporarily ‘homeless’, and your employees will quickly begin to question whether you’ve made the right decision. If you want to make hoteling work, you’ve got to have a system specifically designed for it.”

EMS Hoteling – which takes advantage of all of the time-tested functionality in EMS Enterprise – has a number of features developed solely for the purpose of managing shared space:

• Kiosk interface for onsite check-in
• Group Check In Status utility for monitoring arrivals
• No Show Wizard for changing the status of missed bookings and emailing reservation holders
• An array of hoteling-specific reports including the Early Checkout Report, Room Occupancy Summary, Transition Report and Booking Notice Statistics

Decreasing real estate budgets and rising head counts have many companies considering new strategies for getting the most out of their facilities. EMS Hoteling makes the shared work space concept a very attractive option.

In the next Reservation Times: More on the hoteling concept and how EMS customers are benefiting from it.

Employee Profile: Chris Meyers, Software Developer

Software developer Chris Meyers is one of the driving forces behind the EMS Master Calendar system, one of Dean Evans & Associates’ newest products. Surprisingly, this talented programmer has an educational background not in computer science but in political science and public relations.

A native of Orlando, Chris later moved to Denver with his family, ultimately attending Colorado State University. After graduating, he began working his way up the corporate ladder, from the proverbial start in the mailroom to a position in customer service management. It was at that time that he was approached by a friend who asked him to join his start-up software company. Chris jumped at the chance, first handling the fledgling company’s marketing and then making the switch to product development, teaching himself a variety of programming languages along the way. Today he works in the .NET development environment, enhancing and expanding the capabilities of the Master Calendar.

Asked what he enjoys most about his work, Chris explains that while customer input drives our development efforts, it’s up to the developer to turn that input into product features. “I love having the freedom to be creative in my job,” he says. “Working in an overly-structured environment can really become monotonous.” As for the future of the Master Calendar product, Chris feels the sky is the limit. “Users have only started to scratch the surface of its potential,” he says.

Always busy at the office, Chris is just as busy away from it. An avid biker, he frequently rides to work and also likes to get off the pavement on challenging mountain bike treks, often with fellow DEA employee Bryan Peck. When he’s not pedaling his way up a mountain, skiing down one, or just generally enjoying the great outdoors, he can sometimes be found bluffing his way around a card table. His analytical mind and practiced poker face make him a formidable Texas Hold ‘Em opponent!

But all of his hobbies have recently taken a back seat to his newest passion: two-month-old daughter Alyson. Chris and wife Jennifer are thoroughly enjoying their beautiful baby girl, even though they’re not enjoying a whole lot of sleep! Thank goodness for what Chris considers to be one of the greatest perks of his job – the gourmet coffee machine in the break room.

Conference/Tradeshow Calendar

We are looking forward to an active 2006 tradeshow season. This year, we will be crisscrossing the country to demonstrate the latest enhancements in EMS products as well as to stay in tune with our customers. If you plan to attend any of the shows listed, please stop by the EMS booth to say hello! We’d love to know more about how you are using EMS or how we can make EMS an even more effective scheduling tool.

2006 EMS Tradeshow Schedule

• ACUI, March 17-19, Kansas City
• ACCED-I, March 26-29, Dallas
• SunGard Summit, April 1-4, Orlando
• AACRAO, April 17-20, San Diego
• CoreNet Global, April 23-25, Philadelphia
• InfoComm, June 7-9, Orlando
• Campus of the Future, July 8-11, Honolulu
• AACRAO Technology Conference, July 23-25, Denver
• NACBA, July 25-29, Chicago
• IAAM, August 5-7, San Antonio
• IFMA, October 8-10, San Diego
• Educause, October 9-12, Dallas
• ASBO, October 13-16, Pittsburgh
• EMS Users Conference, October 16-19, Denver

2006 EMS Users Conference

Also, we are pleased to invite EMS customers to the 2006 EMS Users Conference. The 2005 conference at the Beaver Creek mountain resort in Colorado was an enormous success, from the educational sessions to the entertainment and social events. This fall, the conference returns to the heart of downtown Denver. The 2 ½ day event will help you and your organization get the most out of EMS through training sessions, product demonstrations, one-on-one discussions with our support staff, and EMS customer “best practice” presentations.

For more information and to register, please visit the Users Conference area of our website at (www.dea.com/usersconference/conf.aspx). We look forward to seeing you – on the road and here in Denver – this year!.

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