After the Academy assessed the scheduling
solutions available, staff and student representatives
concluded that Hotdesk Manager best suited its requirements and the
Academy’s strategy for
deploying more Microsoft Windows-based and web-based teaching tools.
With its flexible rules
engine, easy integration and easy-to-tailor interface, Hotdesk Manager
enabled the Royal Academy
of Music to easily re-brand the solution as ‘Practice Room
Manager’.
Using Practice Room Manager, students
now pre-book practice rooms either from offsite PCs, or
from any of the Academy’s onsite computers. When a practice
room has been booked, students
receive a room booking confirmation either via email or SMS. On arrival
at the Academy, students
use one of four touch screen panels to confirm their arrival and
authorised use of the practice room.
If they do not confirm their arrival ten minutes after the time slot
the room was booked for, the
system will automatically release the room, making it available for
others students to use.
To the students, the benefits are
immediate; with their room booking confirmed, there is no longer
any confusion over who has access to a practice room at a given time
or date. Excess time and
expenses are reduced as travelling all the way to the Academy to
find that the room booking has
altered or lost and that they cannot access a preferred room, is
a thing of the past. An additional
benefit could positively impact their practice sessions and musical
ability; when pre-booking a
practice room, students can see which rooms other students have booked.
Therefore, a violin
player, for instance, can avoid booking a room next to a known drum
player. So far, 17 practice
rooms are live on the system, with more practice rooms to be added
in due course. In trials and
training days at the Academy, Practice Room Manager has been well
received by the students.
Chris Meaney, the Academy’s Head of Technology, commented: “The
Royal Academy of Music
attracts some of the world’s most promising musical talents.
It is right that the Academy should
provide them with the tools and resources they need to help them
optimise their essential
practice sessions.”
He added: “Both in principle
and in practice, Hotdesk Manager - re-branded as Practise Room
Manager - is the ideal scheduling solution to introduce to the Academy.
We are confident that it
will vastly increase the efficiency of the room booking process,
and help our students to maximise
the effectiveness of their time at the Academy.”
Introduced in June this year, BusinessSolve’s Hotdesk Manager – which
is currently available on a
no-obligation-to-buy free trial - has been successfully trialled
in the UK and across Europe, where
the user community has stated that the cost savings in terms of real
estate, energy and support
services are considerable.
The ability to pre-book a designated
hot desk, or associated resource, addresses the uncertainty
of knowing what work or education-related resources will be available
upon arrival.
Hotdesk Manager links effortlessly
with existing scheduling software, is platform independent,
and its interface can be customised to adhere to an organisation's
branding guidelines.
BusinessSolve’s scheduling solutions have already been successfully
deployed at the Welsh
Assembly and the Home Office, as well as in a broad range of private
sector sites.
Nigel Reading, BusinessSolve’s Business Development Director,
said: “The application at the Royal
Academy of Music is an excellent proof point of Hotdesk Manager’s
flexibility and functionality.
In time, we are confident that it will prove to be an invaluable
asset that will help the Academy’s
students to maximise their practice sessions.”
Author: Gino Mainolfi | 2007-01-31
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