Source: University of Otago
Lead Administrator at the Otago Medical School Dean’s Office Corey Cunningham and Humanities Division Lead Administrator Marlene Robertson are some of those using Resource Booker.
Since its launch earlier this year Resource Booker has proven to be a great way to book a room or other meeting resource.
Resource Booker is easier to use and more transparent than the systems it replaced, such as Web Room Booker.
Currently, more than 90 meeting rooms have been configured in Resource Booker, and over 3000 bookings have been made using this system. Along with booking non-teaching meeting rooms there are various visitor parking spaces and some vehicles that Otago staff can request. This will expand as more rooms and resources throughout the University continue to become available in the system. When this happens, everyone across the University, including staff and students will benefit from improved access to meeting space.
Please note that room bookings for teaching activity continues to go through the Timetables team, as per the current process.
“It’s certainly made booking the two meeting rooms in my area easier. Though I do still find myself the go-to person to book a room for some people.”
Director Information Technology Services Mike Harte says he’s very pleased with the rollout of Resource Booker and encourages all staff who need to find a meeting space to try out the new room booking system.
Client Services Lead Administrator Michelle Moss says before Resource Booker was introduced administration staff had to try and work out what departments had rooms available to book. They had to check the in-house calendar system to see if the room was available at the day and time requested. If the room was available administration would book the room and send a confirmation email to the person requesting the booking. If the room wasn’t available, they would go back (and forth) to the person requesting the booking and try and find another time.
“You would email or ring to make a booking, once a time was agreed the booking would be made and a confirmation email sent to the person requesting the booking. However, if the room was not available you would have to start the process again. As you can imagine this process was very time consuming.”
Michelle says that she would highly recommend all staff try Resource Booker, as “the convenience and time saved is invaluable”.
She says the programme is very easy to use. Staff can see what rooms are available within the University, book them themselves from anywhere, with most rooms being approved straight away. “You no longer need to go through administration, which is great,” Michelle says.
Lead Administrator at the Otago Medical School Dean’s Office Corey Cunningham says he’s been using Resource Booker since April, but was involved in an earlier rollout of the project.
“It’s certainly made booking the two meeting rooms in my area easier. Though I do still find myself the go-to person to book a room for some people.”
Corey must do bookings for DHB staff who don’t have access to Resource Booker. He says for areas which he cannot see a booking available he contacts the department administrator.
He says he likes Resource Booker as it allows access to a variety of rooms and teaching spaces. “You can see if a room has Zoom capability etc, it cuts out the need to find out who you should ask.”
Corey says he still does most of the bookings for the meeting space in his department. “So hopefully over time more University staff will give it a go and find out how easy it is to use.”
Humanities Division Lead Administrator Marlene Robertson says that Resource Booker is far more efficient than the previous systems.
“It’s your own meeting space, you don’t have to wait for confirmation of your meeting room when planning and sending out meeting invitations. It’s a very efficient way of making one-off bookings.”
So why not try out Resource Booker then next time you need to find some meeting space or other resources for your meeting on campus?
Find further information about Resource Booker, including how-to videos and guides along with FAQs, here.
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