UCD Estate Services ‘making better’ story: UCD Clubs and Societies booking form

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By Matt Jones, UCD Estate Services

UCD Clubs, UCD Societies & UCD Students’ Union (CSSU) room bookings are managed by Campus Services, UCD Estate Services.

Previously, CSSU had to make bookings in person in Campus Services. This resulted in:

  • Increased foot-traffic and queries to Campus Services.
  • Inability to book past the close of Campus Services (18:30).
  • High frequency of erroneous bookings or bookings with insufficient information.
  • Lack of real-time metrics.

A new form was developed over the summer months which could be accessed remotely on any internet-connected device with clear and accessible guidelines. The form was addition

ally structured with drop-down menus to aid the group making the booking through the form. The form can be completed in full in under three minutes.

The revised form has resulted in:

  • A decrease in foot-traffic to Campus Services as the form is hosted online.
  • A decrease in booking-related queries as clear and transparent guidelines are available at the time of booking along with how the form is constructed. This has tangentially decreased the number of erroneous bookings made.
  • The ability to book at all hours of the day.
  • Real-time metrics due to the form hosting software.

On the back end, there are real-time metrics which can be viewed such as most common event ‘type’, most active groups, average expected attendance etc. This information along with further raw-data can be analysed to inform data-driven decisions and further process improvements.

Ultimately, the process improvement of revising the CSSU booking system has resulted in:

  • Qualitatively, improvement for both the provider and end-user as per feedback.
  • Quantitatively, a 38% increase in bookings made and processed for the same time period as last year.