ACUI Open Forum

Hi all,
We will not be renewing with our current diagram software vendor.  I was wondering what vendors everyone is using and what your experiences have been.

Thanks in advance!

------------------------------
Ellen Malito
Assistant to the Vice President for Student Affairs
Indiana State University
Terre Haute IN
------------------------------

Hi Ellen,

We've been using Microsoft Visio for a number of years now.  Originally it wasn't part of our campus' MS Office package so there was a small licensing fee per install. SU/Microsoft eventually began including it so now there's no charge to us as a department.

It's a little cumbersome to get up and running because you have to build all your rooms and furniture, but once you get some stock diagrams and templates built it's very easy to edit and update, and you can save them as pdf files to send to the users.  Some of our more savvy colleagues ask for the visio files and make their own edits to send back. 

All of our professional staff in the operations/event support side use it frequently and everyone new masters it pretty quick.  Our student office staff use it as well and they're typically more adept at learning it and discovering new things than we are. 

Happy to answer any questions you may have!

Scott

------------------------------
Scott Casanova
Associate Director
Syracuse University
Syracuse NY
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 12-21-2022 13:59
From: Ellen Malito
Subject: Diagram software

Hi all,
We will not be renewing with our current diagram software vendor.  I was wondering what vendors everyone is using and what your experiences have been.

Thanks in advance!

------------------------------
Ellen Malito
Assistant to the Vice President for Student Affairs
Indiana State University
Terre Haute IN
------------------------------

Hi Scott, Can you share with us some example diagrams? and how you setup your templates?

Thanks!

------------------------------
Julie Eatley
Events Coordinator
West Texas A&M University
Canyon TX
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 12-22-2022 09:44
From: Scott Casanova
Subject: Diagram software

Hi Ellen,

We've been using Microsoft Visio for a number of years now.  Originally it wasn't part of our campus' MS Office package so there was a small licensing fee per install. SU/Microsoft eventually began including it so now there's no charge to us as a department.

It's a little cumbersome to get up and running because you have to build all your rooms and furniture, but once you get some stock diagrams and templates built it's very easy to edit and update, and you can save them as pdf files to send to the users.  Some of our more savvy colleagues ask for the visio files and make their own edits to send back. 

All of our professional staff in the operations/event support side use it frequently and everyone new masters it pretty quick.  Our student office staff use it as well and they're typically more adept at learning it and discovering new things than we are. 

Happy to answer any questions you may have!

Scott

------------------------------
Scott Casanova
Associate Director
Syracuse University
Syracuse NY

Original Message:
Sent: 12-21-2022 13:59
From: Ellen Malito
Subject: Diagram software

Hi all,
We will not be renewing with our current diagram software vendor.  I was wondering what vendors everyone is using and what your experiences have been.

Thanks in advance!

------------------------------
Ellen Malito
Assistant to the Vice President for Student Affairs
Indiana State University
Terre Haute IN
------------------------------

Hi Julie,

I've attached a number of "stock" diagrams.  Stock meaning these are some of the most common set ups we use, and if not sticking exactly to these they're the starting point for any edits.  We're still printing out diagrams for the students so everything is formatted to print on 8.5 x 11 so the scale varies from room to room to get it to fit on the page.  I don't think this comes through on the pdf but we have each diagram saved individually as a visio file with the filename a reference to the set up style and sponsor.  Once we start editing we save as, changing the filename to the date and sponsor and saving it into our folder system.  That leaves the template unchanged (not that no one hasn't accidentally saved over it).

Creating the rooms as a lot harder to explain through text so I'd be happy to set up a zoom to give you any anyone else interested a little demo if you're interested?

Scott

------------------------------
Scott Casanova
Associate Director
Syracuse University
Syracuse NY
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 01-09-2023 11:17
From: Julie Eatley
Subject: Diagram software

Hi Scott, Can you share with us some example diagrams? and how you setup your templates?

Thanks!

------------------------------
Julie Eatley
Events Coordinator
West Texas A&M University
Canyon TX

Original Message:
Sent: 12-22-2022 09:44
From: Scott Casanova
Subject: Diagram software

Hi Ellen,

We've been using Microsoft Visio for a number of years now.  Originally it wasn't part of our campus' MS Office package so there was a small licensing fee per install. SU/Microsoft eventually began including it so now there's no charge to us as a department.

It's a little cumbersome to get up and running because you have to build all your rooms and furniture, but once you get some stock diagrams and templates built it's very easy to edit and update, and you can save them as pdf files to send to the users.  Some of our more savvy colleagues ask for the visio files and make their own edits to send back. 

All of our professional staff in the operations/event support side use it frequently and everyone new masters it pretty quick.  Our student office staff use it as well and they're typically more adept at learning it and discovering new things than we are. 

Happy to answer any questions you may have!

Scott

------------------------------
Scott Casanova
Associate Director
Syracuse University
Syracuse NY

Original Message:
Sent: 12-21-2022 13:59
From: Ellen Malito
Subject: Diagram software

Hi all,
We will not be renewing with our current diagram software vendor.  I was wondering what vendors everyone is using and what your experiences have been.

Thanks in advance!

------------------------------
Ellen Malito
Assistant to the Vice President for Student Affairs
Indiana State University
Terre Haute IN
------------------------------

WOW, How long did it take you all to get that setup? 

------------------------------
Julie Eatley
Events Coordinator
West Texas A&M University
jeatley@wtamu.edu
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 01-10-2023 09:03
From: Scott Casanova
Subject: Diagram software

Hi Julie,

I've attached a number of "stock" diagrams.  Stock meaning these are some of the most common set ups we use, and if not sticking exactly to these they're the starting point for any edits.  We're still printing out diagrams for the students so everything is formatted to print on 8.5 x 11 so the scale varies from room to room to get it to fit on the page.  I don't think this comes through on the pdf but we have each diagram saved individually as a visio file with the filename a reference to the set up style and sponsor.  Once we start editing we save as, changing the filename to the date and sponsor and saving it into our folder system.  That leaves the template unchanged (not that no one hasn't accidentally saved over it).

Creating the rooms as a lot harder to explain through text so I'd be happy to set up a zoom to give you any anyone else interested a little demo if you're interested?

Scott

------------------------------
Scott Casanova
Associate Director
Syracuse University
Syracuse NY

Original Message:
Sent: 01-09-2023 11:17
From: Julie Eatley
Subject: Diagram software

Hi Scott, Can you share with us some example diagrams? and how you setup your templates?

Thanks!

------------------------------
Julie Eatley
Events Coordinator
West Texas A&M University
Canyon TX

Original Message:
Sent: 12-22-2022 09:44
From: Scott Casanova
Subject: Diagram software

Hi Ellen,

We've been using Microsoft Visio for a number of years now.  Originally it wasn't part of our campus' MS Office package so there was a small licensing fee per install. SU/Microsoft eventually began including it so now there's no charge to us as a department.

It's a little cumbersome to get up and running because you have to build all your rooms and furniture, but once you get some stock diagrams and templates built it's very easy to edit and update, and you can save them as pdf files to send to the users.  Some of our more savvy colleagues ask for the visio files and make their own edits to send back. 

All of our professional staff in the operations/event support side use it frequently and everyone new masters it pretty quick.  Our student office staff use it as well and they're typically more adept at learning it and discovering new things than we are. 

Happy to answer any questions you may have!

Scott

------------------------------
Scott Casanova
Associate Director
Syracuse University
Syracuse NY

Original Message:
Sent: 12-21-2022 13:59
From: Ellen Malito
Subject: Diagram software

Hi all,
We will not be renewing with our current diagram software vendor.  I was wondering what vendors everyone is using and what your experiences have been.

Thanks in advance!

------------------------------
Ellen Malito
Assistant to the Vice President for Student Affairs
Indiana State University
Terre Haute IN
------------------------------

Hello Ellen,  

This is a highly talked about subject in both our forum as well as the Technology and Open Forums.   Here is a link to one particular post in the open Forum in which I tried to tie as many of the replies together for everyone.  Personally, I have found the search function at the top of the site to be helpful in looking up topics like this.  Because it is talked about so often, I like the search function as you can narrow your search by Discussions / Forums and year to find the most recent posts.  However, here is one of the more recent posts which may be helpful to you: Diagramming Software Recommendations - Open Forum


And below is my reply to that post.  I hope it helps!  Please reach out with any questions you may have.  

Over the course I time, I have used MeetingMatrix and Social Tables.  I really liked the options and available items I could place on the diagram quickly and easily with Meeting Matrix, but they were not keeping up with some of the wants I had.  I did not like that Meeting Matrix was PC based and needed to be installed on my machine.  Social Tables was quite new when we moved to that system, I loved that the system is Web Based and we could have multiple users creating diagrams all in one location.  It was very helpful in working with my staff.  The ability to share diagrams with event planners and both be looking and editing the diagram together from two locations is fantastic.  My one gripe is that the price of subscription has sky rocketed since we started with Social Tables.  I too have been looking for an alternative, but am having a hard time finding other web based solutions.  

Your question is one that comes up often in both the Facilities & Operations and the Technology communities.  Here are some links to related posts over the past couple of years.

Diagraming Software - https://mycommunity.acui.org/communitieslist/community-home/digestviewer/viewthread?GroupId=115&MessageKey=925db978-b487-45e4-852c-251316502229&CommunityKey=298ce16c-9af0-4ffe-aa50-cbffb8cc4b15&tab=digestviewer

Amadeus Hospitality Room Diagramming - https://mycommunity.acui.org/communitieslist/community-home/digestviewer/viewthread?GroupId=115&MessageKey=5f23400a-29c2-47af-8a51-5d47a75e9b4e&CommunityKey=298ce16c-9af0-4ffe-aa50-cbffb8cc4b15&tab=digestviewer

Diagramming Software Recommendations - https://mycommunity.acui.org/communitieslist/community-home/digestviewer/viewthread?GroupId=31&MessageKey=50189e58-1339-4584-bc2c-b0b0f75cb401&CommunityKey=1375588f-c522-4090-897f-688170ac6ce2&tab=digestviewer

Room Diagraming Software - https://mycommunity.acui.org/communitieslist/community-home/digestviewer/viewthread?GroupId=31&MessageKey=6e0103f0-3e2f-47de-9eb0-4388d6c61dc9&CommunityKey=1375588f-c522-4090-897f-688170ac6ce2&tab=digestviewer

Online Diagramming Software - https://mycommunity.acui.org/communitieslist/community-home/digestviewer/viewthread?GroupId=31&MessageKey=68aa8c67-b578-46d7-967a-1fb1030787d7&CommunityKey=1375588f-c522-4090-897f-688170ac6ce2&tab=digestviewer

Room Diagramming Software - https://mycommunity.acui.org/communitieslist/community-home/digestviewer/viewthread?GroupId=31&MessageKey=5a864c80-688f-4be9-9453-83e01bba2c18&CommunityKey=1375588f-c522-4090-897f-688170ac6ce2&tab=digestviewer

Social Tables - https://mycommunity.acui.org/communitieslist/community-home/digestviewer/viewthread?GroupId=31&MessageKey=bdb4cbc8-c203-4f26-91c0-31a551af4400&CommunityKey=1375588f-c522-4090-897f-688170ac6ce2&tab=digestviewer

I realize I put in many links, but it shows just how popular this topic is for many people.  From what I can see in most of the posts, many people have either gone to Visio or are with Social Tables.  Some of us with Social Tables are not necessarily happy with the service or support of the product after it was purchased by Cvent. I know I feel a bit stuck with my history of diagrams there, but am truly unhappy about the price. 

I am sure there are more, but here is a listing of the options I can remember seeing in all of the various posts.

Microsoft Visio - https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/visio/flowchart-software
Social Tables - https://www.socialtables.com/
All Seated - https://www.allseated.com/
Meeting Matrix - https://customers.meetingmatrix.com/
Room Viewer - http://www.roomviewer.com/
Amadeus - https://www.amadeus-hospitality.com/distribution-diagramming-software/hospitality-diagramming/
Ungerboeck - https://ungerboeck.com/products/room-diagramming 


------------------------------
Braden Kuznia
Assistant Director of Event Services
Minnesota State University Moorhead
Moorhead MN
braden.kuznia@mnstate.edu
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 12-21-2022 13:59
From: Ellen Malito
Subject: Diagram software

Hi all,
We will not be renewing with our current diagram software vendor.  I was wondering what vendors everyone is using and what your experiences have been.

Thanks in advance!

------------------------------
Ellen Malito
Assistant to the Vice President for Student Affairs
Indiana State University
Terre Haute IN
------------------------------

Hi Brian, I have not found a way to search the forums. when I use the search bar at the top of the website, it just shows me website content and nothing from the forums. 

------------------------------
Julie Eatley
Events Coordinator
West Texas A&M University
jeatley@wtamu.edu
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 12-22-2022 11:29
From: Braden Kuznia
Subject: Diagram software

Hello Ellen,  

This is a highly talked about subject in both our forum as well as the Technology and Open Forums.   Here is a link to one particular post in the open Forum in which I tried to tie as many of the replies together for everyone.  Personally, I have found the search function at the top of the site to be helpful in looking up topics like this.  Because it is talked about so often, I like the search function as you can narrow your search by Discussions / Forums and year to find the most recent posts.  However, here is one of the more recent posts which may be helpful to you: Diagramming Software Recommendations - Open Forum


And below is my reply to that post.  I hope it helps!  Please reach out with any questions you may have.  

Over the course I time, I have used MeetingMatrix and Social Tables.  I really liked the options and available items I could place on the diagram quickly and easily with Meeting Matrix, but they were not keeping up with some of the wants I had.  I did not like that Meeting Matrix was PC based and needed to be installed on my machine.  Social Tables was quite new when we moved to that system, I loved that the system is Web Based and we could have multiple users creating diagrams all in one location.  It was very helpful in working with my staff.  The ability to share diagrams with event planners and both be looking and editing the diagram together from two locations is fantastic.  My one gripe is that the price of subscription has sky rocketed since we started with Social Tables.  I too have been looking for an alternative, but am having a hard time finding other web based solutions.  

Your question is one that comes up often in both the Facilities & Operations and the Technology communities.  Here are some links to related posts over the past couple of years.

Diagraming Software - https://mycommunity.acui.org/communitieslist/community-home/digestviewer/viewthread?GroupId=115&MessageKey=925db978-b487-45e4-852c-251316502229&CommunityKey=298ce16c-9af0-4ffe-aa50-cbffb8cc4b15&tab=digestviewer

Amadeus Hospitality Room Diagramming - https://mycommunity.acui.org/communitieslist/community-home/digestviewer/viewthread?GroupId=115&MessageKey=5f23400a-29c2-47af-8a51-5d47a75e9b4e&CommunityKey=298ce16c-9af0-4ffe-aa50-cbffb8cc4b15&tab=digestviewer

Diagramming Software Recommendations - https://mycommunity.acui.org/communitieslist/community-home/digestviewer/viewthread?GroupId=31&MessageKey=50189e58-1339-4584-bc2c-b0b0f75cb401&CommunityKey=1375588f-c522-4090-897f-688170ac6ce2&tab=digestviewer

Room Diagraming Software - https://mycommunity.acui.org/communitieslist/community-home/digestviewer/viewthread?GroupId=31&MessageKey=6e0103f0-3e2f-47de-9eb0-4388d6c61dc9&CommunityKey=1375588f-c522-4090-897f-688170ac6ce2&tab=digestviewer

Online Diagramming Software - https://mycommunity.acui.org/communitieslist/community-home/digestviewer/viewthread?GroupId=31&MessageKey=68aa8c67-b578-46d7-967a-1fb1030787d7&CommunityKey=1375588f-c522-4090-897f-688170ac6ce2&tab=digestviewer

Room Diagramming Software - https://mycommunity.acui.org/communitieslist/community-home/digestviewer/viewthread?GroupId=31&MessageKey=5a864c80-688f-4be9-9453-83e01bba2c18&CommunityKey=1375588f-c522-4090-897f-688170ac6ce2&tab=digestviewer

Social Tables - https://mycommunity.acui.org/communitieslist/community-home/digestviewer/viewthread?GroupId=31&MessageKey=bdb4cbc8-c203-4f26-91c0-31a551af4400&CommunityKey=1375588f-c522-4090-897f-688170ac6ce2&tab=digestviewer

I realize I put in many links, but it shows just how popular this topic is for many people.  From what I can see in most of the posts, many people have either gone to Visio or are with Social Tables.  Some of us with Social Tables are not necessarily happy with the service or support of the product after it was purchased by Cvent. I know I feel a bit stuck with my history of diagrams there, but am truly unhappy about the price. 

I am sure there are more, but here is a listing of the options I can remember seeing in all of the various posts.

Microsoft Visio - https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/visio/flowchart-software
Social Tables - https://www.socialtables.com/
All Seated - https://www.allseated.com/
Meeting Matrix - https://customers.meetingmatrix.com/
Room Viewer - http://www.roomviewer.com/
Amadeus - https://www.amadeus-hospitality.com/distribution-diagramming-software/hospitality-diagramming/
Ungerboeck - https://ungerboeck.com/products/room-diagramming 


------------------------------
Braden Kuznia
Assistant Director of Event Services
Minnesota State University Moorhead
Moorhead MN
braden.kuznia@mnstate.edu

Original Message:
Sent: 12-21-2022 13:59
From: Ellen Malito
Subject: Diagram software

Hi all,
We will not be renewing with our current diagram software vendor.  I was wondering what vendors everyone is using and what your experiences have been.

Thanks in advance!

------------------------------
Ellen Malito
Assistant to the Vice President for Student Affairs
Indiana State University
Terre Haute IN
------------------------------

It is not the most intuitive option to search, but, when you are logged in, you should be able to click the search icon at the top of the page, then options should show up to select different communities and types of content.  Unfortunately, the search is not tied in to the Communities themselves, but more as a whole site search.  The attached screen shot may help.  Please let me know if I can be of any help finding information for you.

------------------------------
Braden Kuznia
ACUI Facilities & Operations Community Lead
Assistant Director of Event Services
Minnesota State University Moorhead
Moorhead MN
braden.kuznia@mnstate.edu
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 02-28-2023 12:50
From: Julie Eatley
Subject: Diagram software

Hi Brian, I have not found a way to search the forums. when I use the search bar at the top of the website, it just shows me website content and nothing from the forums. 

------------------------------
Julie Eatley
Events Coordinator
West Texas A&M University
jeatley@wtamu.edu

Original Message:
Sent: 12-22-2022 11:29
From: Braden Kuznia
Subject: Diagram software

Hello Ellen,  

This is a highly talked about subject in both our forum as well as the Technology and Open Forums.   Here is a link to one particular post in the open Forum in which I tried to tie as many of the replies together for everyone.  Personally, I have found the search function at the top of the site to be helpful in looking up topics like this.  Because it is talked about so often, I like the search function as you can narrow your search by Discussions / Forums and year to find the most recent posts.  However, here is one of the more recent posts which may be helpful to you: Diagramming Software Recommendations - Open Forum


And below is my reply to that post.  I hope it helps!  Please reach out with any questions you may have.  

Over the course I time, I have used MeetingMatrix and Social Tables.  I really liked the options and available items I could place on the diagram quickly and easily with Meeting Matrix, but they were not keeping up with some of the wants I had.  I did not like that Meeting Matrix was PC based and needed to be installed on my machine.  Social Tables was quite new when we moved to that system, I loved that the system is Web Based and we could have multiple users creating diagrams all in one location.  It was very helpful in working with my staff.  The ability to share diagrams with event planners and both be looking and editing the diagram together from two locations is fantastic.  My one gripe is that the price of subscription has sky rocketed since we started with Social Tables.  I too have been looking for an alternative, but am having a hard time finding other web based solutions.  

Your question is one that comes up often in both the Facilities & Operations and the Technology communities.  Here are some links to related posts over the past couple of years.

Diagraming Software - https://mycommunity.acui.org/communitieslist/community-home/digestviewer/viewthread?GroupId=115&MessageKey=925db978-b487-45e4-852c-251316502229&CommunityKey=298ce16c-9af0-4ffe-aa50-cbffb8cc4b15&tab=digestviewer

Amadeus Hospitality Room Diagramming - https://mycommunity.acui.org/communitieslist/community-home/digestviewer/viewthread?GroupId=115&MessageKey=5f23400a-29c2-47af-8a51-5d47a75e9b4e&CommunityKey=298ce16c-9af0-4ffe-aa50-cbffb8cc4b15&tab=digestviewer

Diagramming Software Recommendations - https://mycommunity.acui.org/communitieslist/community-home/digestviewer/viewthread?GroupId=31&MessageKey=50189e58-1339-4584-bc2c-b0b0f75cb401&CommunityKey=1375588f-c522-4090-897f-688170ac6ce2&tab=digestviewer

Room Diagraming Software - https://mycommunity.acui.org/communitieslist/community-home/digestviewer/viewthread?GroupId=31&MessageKey=6e0103f0-3e2f-47de-9eb0-4388d6c61dc9&CommunityKey=1375588f-c522-4090-897f-688170ac6ce2&tab=digestviewer

Online Diagramming Software - https://mycommunity.acui.org/communitieslist/community-home/digestviewer/viewthread?GroupId=31&MessageKey=68aa8c67-b578-46d7-967a-1fb1030787d7&CommunityKey=1375588f-c522-4090-897f-688170ac6ce2&tab=digestviewer

Room Diagramming Software - https://mycommunity.acui.org/communitieslist/community-home/digestviewer/viewthread?GroupId=31&MessageKey=5a864c80-688f-4be9-9453-83e01bba2c18&CommunityKey=1375588f-c522-4090-897f-688170ac6ce2&tab=digestviewer

Social Tables - https://mycommunity.acui.org/communitieslist/community-home/digestviewer/viewthread?GroupId=31&MessageKey=bdb4cbc8-c203-4f26-91c0-31a551af4400&CommunityKey=1375588f-c522-4090-897f-688170ac6ce2&tab=digestviewer

I realize I put in many links, but it shows just how popular this topic is for many people.  From what I can see in most of the posts, many people have either gone to Visio or are with Social Tables.  Some of us with Social Tables are not necessarily happy with the service or support of the product after it was purchased by Cvent. I know I feel a bit stuck with my history of diagrams there, but am truly unhappy about the price. 

I am sure there are more, but here is a listing of the options I can remember seeing in all of the various posts.

Microsoft Visio - https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/visio/flowchart-software
Social Tables - https://www.socialtables.com/
All Seated - https://www.allseated.com/
Meeting Matrix - https://customers.meetingmatrix.com/
Room Viewer - http://www.roomviewer.com/
Amadeus - https://www.amadeus-hospitality.com/distribution-diagramming-software/hospitality-diagramming/
Ungerboeck - https://ungerboeck.com/products/room-diagramming 


------------------------------
Braden Kuznia
Assistant Director of Event Services
Minnesota State University Moorhead
Moorhead MN
braden.kuznia@mnstate.edu

Original Message:
Sent: 12-21-2022 13:59
From: Ellen Malito
Subject: Diagram software

Hi all,
We will not be renewing with our current diagram software vendor.  I was wondering what vendors everyone is using and what your experiences have been.

Thanks in advance!

------------------------------
Ellen Malito
Assistant to the Vice President for Student Affairs
Indiana State University
Terre Haute IN
------------------------------