Meeting room bookings software?

[BerylM]

I have been asked to find a way in which we can:
<UL><LI>Book meeting rooms, including inviting required staff through Outlook
<LI>Check availability of partners etc (whose diaries are not necessarily kept on Outlook)
<LI>Make sure the support team know who's where, when etc
<LI>Keep records of which customers come in to see who(m), for what function, when, how often, etc
<LI>Inform reception who's coming in when, for whom and whether they require a drink
<LI>Inform catering if food is necessary (and keep an eye on the number of functions within a period of a few days so they're not overloaded), and
<LI>Do all this from a number of different workstations (ie multiple concurrent users, and networked or perhaps browser-based)[/list]Have any Loungers got experience of something that might do all this?! I've never so much as seen booking software in operation, but I've found a few by Googling - Business Careware's 'CABS', NFS' 'Rendezvous', Network Simplicity's 'Meeting Room Manager 2002' and Kalamazoo's 'Sentinel Meeting Point' - and I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed by them all - if anyone could help me with information about these (and any others that you feel are worth considering), I would be most grateful.

Many thanks

[cowboydawg]

Yeah, pay me and I'll do it. <img src=/S/grin.gif border=0 alt=grin width=15 height=15>

[jscher2000]

Some of this comes with Exchange Server, and since e-mail integration is desired, you might start with that platform and see what add-ons are available for that. Unfortunately, with a new version coming out, there might be some transition pains after the first year...

[BerylM]

Thanks for the offer, Cowboy - so how much would you charge?!

[BerylM]

Hi Jefferson, yes, unfortunately *some* of this comes with several different ways of doing it - different bits come with different ways. That is the confusing and easily broken chain of events we use at the moment, involving Outlook, Excel, phone calls, manual entry in a book and several different people doing different things!

We're hoping to try to find something that will include it all - I mean, surely it's the sort of information big conference centres, hotels, etc have to keep track of all the time?

[Brian Swann]

Beryl, I think you'll find major conference centres etc. will allow access to the information , but the actual interface is funnelled through a person or persons responsible for the down stream provision of facilities and services (food, drink, required presentation materials etc.) Once a person or department is made responsible, it's a simple matter to choose a comfortable software solution, Outlook is very good at this or you could create a custom msAccess database for example. Although software can track the dates and attendees, you can't avoid the need for a person. As you indicate, there is no standard in your organization and some folk will need to be telephoned while others will receive email. If you're looking for an autonomys piece of software to be utilized by any and all convenors and attendees, that borders on artificial intelligence (not to mention the robotic drinks server). Bottom line, I think you need to put someone in charge of the room or rooms.

[BerylM]

You're probably right. <img src=/S/sigh.gif border=0 alt=sigh width=15 height=15> Oh, well, it was worth a try!