Using Microsoft Bookings to Manage Individual or Group Appointments

Microsoft Bookings is an online and mobile app to create and manage appointments. Examples of how it is used on campus:

• Distributed Education has students and faculty book virtual support meetings for eLearn.
• Student Services in the Upper Cumberland is using it to manage appointments for new student advising sessions.
• The Language Center is making appointments for students with tutors.
• The Library is connecting students to Research Librarians to aid with course research projects.
• A faculty member uses it to create one-on-one video conference meetings with online students during his virtual office hours. 

Bookings is especially helpful for virtual/online meetings as it uses the power of Microsoft Teams to provide all participants with the meeting link automatically.

Bookings has three primary components:

• A booking page where your customers (faculty, staff, students, potential students) can schedule appointments with the faculty/staff member who should provide the service. You can share the page via a link to the booking page, embedding it in website, sharing it on Facebook, etc.

• A set of web-based dashboards where you can record customer preferences, manage staff lists and schedules, define services and pricing, set business hours, and customize how services and staff are scheduled.

• A business-facing mobile app where business owners can see all of their bookings, access customer lists and contact information, and make manual bookings.

Here is a 2-minute overview of Microsoft Bookings:

Set-up a Bookings Calendar

Login to portal.office.com, click on All apps and select Bookings. 

Note: Bookings is turned on by default for most Vol State employees; if you do not see Bookings in your apps, submit a Software Request ticket and select Office 365 A3 Account under the Requested Application dropdown.

Microsoft has created a guide for setting up your own Bookings site. You may find these links helpful as you create your bookings calendar.

Step 1: Enter your business information

Step 2: Set your scheduling policies

Step 3: Define your service offerings

Step 4: Create your staff list

Step 5: Set employee working hours

Step 6: Schedule business closures, time off, and vacation time

Step 7: Publish or unpublish your booking page

Step 8: Create and staff your bookings