DENVER--The updated scheduling software, EMS Enterprise 3.0, offers improved tools to manage events, rooms and resources, and to process charges for event-related services, according to a news release from Dean Evans & Associates.

The new 3.0 and its Web-based component, Virtual EMS, is the most advanced offering yet in Dean Evans' EMS product line. Thousands of organizations, including churches, rely on EMS software.

Version 3.0 uses the Microsoft .NET development platform.

"The biggest advantage of using .NET is that it allowed us to quickly and easily create a number of very specialized functions within the program," said Sean Nelson, lead developer on the desktop interface. "EMS users benefit from the enhanced functionality, as well as a significant increase in performance."

Among the tools available in this release is one called the Query Builder. Redesigned using .NET, this new version of a tool found in previous releases of the software allows users to develop ad-hoc queries, personalized browser displays and simple custom reports.

Another widely requested feature that is available in EMS Enterprise Version 3.0 is a change to user security that allows multiple departments to share space in a single database while keeping information on their events and room availability completely confidential.

Version 3.0 also simplifies the scheduling of cross-time zone events such as video conferences.

Both the desktop portion of the program and the Web-enabled component reportedly function better, according to pre-release feedback.

An overall redesign of the system accommodates an e-commerce model for room and resource selection that is familiar to most Internet users (adding items to a "cart," completing a "checkout" process, etc.).

Virtual EMS 3.0 also allows system administrators to modify help text online by simply following a link to an editing window. Organization-specific instructions can add to or replace the system's standard "how-to" information. That allows an organization to further customize Virtual EMS to its own business processes and procedures.