Overview

Microsoft Bookings is an online access-only application within Microsoft 365 that will assist your customers to quickly find available times and avoid double-booking. 

Before delving into the process for configuring Bookings to work within your department, let's review some Bookings terminology first.

Business - Think of the business as your department

Staff - Staff are the members within your department whose time can booked

Services - These are the types of appointments being offered to customers

Customers - The individuals using the Booking page to schedule an appointment for a specific service

Configuring Bookings

Create a Bookings Calendar

NOTE: Once a bookings calendar is created, it cannot be deleted by the user and a ticket must be opened in ServiceNow to have a Microsoft 365 administrator remove it. Learn more about Deleting a Booking Calendar in Bookings. 

1. Navigate to Microsoft Bookings and click the Sign In button 
2. Log in with your UCSF username and password 
3. Click the Create New Calendar button
4. Select the Create from scratch link
5. Enter the following information on the Create a new Bookings Calendar screen:
   1. Name (This will be the name associated with the Bookings Calendar)
   2. Add a logo (e.g. Your department's logo)
   3. Select a Business type (e.g. Education)
6. Click the Next button
7. On the Invite Staff screen:
   1. Enter the name of individuals within the organization to add as Staff
   2. Select a Role next to their name (e.g. Administrator, Team Member, Scheduler, Viewer or Guest)
8. Click the Next button
9. On the Set up a service screen:
   1. Select the Change link
      1. Update the Service name to fit your service
      2. Set the Service Duration (e.g. 30 mins or 1 hr)
      3. Select the Service Availability (e.g. Days) 
      4. Enter a Start and End Time for the service (These are the hours that an individual can book for this service) 
      5. Check or uncheck Make this a Teams meeting (Leave this checked if you want to include a Teams meeting in the meeting invite sent to the customer)
10. Select the Update Service button
11. Click the Next button
12. On the Choose who can book appointments screen, set who can book appointments:
    1. No self-service - Appointments scheduled from the Bookings app
    2. People in my organization - Appointments scheduled through internal self-service page
    3. Anyone - Appointments scheduled through public self-service page
13. Click the Create Calendar button
14. Congratulations! You have successfully configured your Bookings Calendar!

Add Staff to Support your Service

When you offer a bookable service, you will need to have staff support the service that you are providing to customers.

1. Log into Microsoft Bookings 
2. Select the Staff link
3. Select the Add new staff link
4. On the Add Staff screen, set the following information:
   1. Enter the name of the Staff Member in the Search for people or groups field
   2. Select the Role from the dropdown to set the level of access (e.g. Administrator, Team Member, Scheduler, Viewer or Guest)
   3. Leave the notification when a booking is assigned and Events on Office calendar affect availability options enabled
   4. Leave the Use business hours toggle enabled to have the staff availability mirror that of the business
5. Click the Save Changes button to add the staff member

Add a Service to your Business

The service is appointment or activity that people will schedule through Bookings. During the initial setup, a service will be configured but you can add additional services at time using the following steps:

1. Log into Microsoft Bookings
2. Select the Services link
3. Select the Add new service link
4. On the Basic Details screen, enter the following:
   1. Enter a Service Name
   2. Add a Description for the service
   3. Add a Location (e.g. A Zoom link if one staff member is supporting this service)
   4. Set the Duration for the service
   5. Enter Notes to add context to the service
5. On the Availability Options screen, set the following:
   1. Set the Time Increments for available time (This should reflect the duration of the service)
   2. Set the Minimum Lead Time (e.g. Minimum lead time for bookings and cancellations)
   3. Set the Maximum Lead Time (e.g. Maximum days a booking can be made advanced in)
   4. Select the availability from either Bookable when staff are free or Custom hours (recurring weekly)
6. On the Assign staff screen, enter the name for a staff member to support the service 
7. On the Notifications screen, set the following fields:
   1. Select the Notify the business via email when a booking is created or changed checkbox
   2. Select the Send a meeting invite to the customer, in addition to the confirmation email checkbox
   3. Add context or links to the Add additional information field to add context or information to email confirmation
8. Click the Save Changes button to add the service