MS Bookings

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OP-MS-Bookings-ORG

M ICROSOFT B OOKINGS

About Microsoft Bookings

Microsoft Bookings makes scheduling and managing appointments a breeze. Bookings includes a web-based booking calendar and integrates with Outlook to optimize your staff’s calendar and give your customers flexibility to book a time that works best for them. Automated Email and SMS text notifications reduce no-shows and enhances customer satisfaction. Your organization saves time with a reduction in repetitive scheduling tasks. With built- in flexibility and ability to customize, Bookings can be designed to fit the situation and needs of many different parts of an organization.

The calendar is shared with clients, staff and customers by email or imbedding the calendar on a webpage. The calendar can be published to the public, the entire organization, or private access only. Access Microsoft Bookings You can access Microsoft Bookings from the Microsoft 365 App launcher or by going to MS Teams app.

Open Bookings Bookings is made up of two components; the web app that contains a set of web-based pages that owners can use to design, set up and manage, and a booking page where your customers and clients can schedule appointments with the appropriate staff member. Access Bookings Open from Office online 1. Go to office.com and sign in with your username and password. 2. Click the M365 app launcher 3. Select Open from MS Teams 1. Open MS Teams desktop app 2. Click the more added apps button 3. Type Bookings in the Find an app search field 4. Select Bookings icon

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Create a Bookings Page There are two types of booking pages: Personal booking page and Shared booking pages . The first time a Shared booking page is created, the creator inputs business information, staff information, and access rights; then a calendar is created. The IT administrator must grant access to users to the Bookings app and only the IT Admin can delete a Booking calendar. Create a New Page

A For a Personal booking page:

1. Click Go to booking page 2. Choose if your bookable meeting types will be Public or Private 3. Create a meeting type with: a. Title b. Description

c. Meeting location d. Default duration e. Schedule customization 4. Click Advanced options if you would like to program buffer times related to each appointment. 5. Click Save

B For a Shared Booking page: 1. Click Create

2. Select Create from scratch

or clone from an

existing booking page. 3. Follow the prompts for steps 1 to 4 to create the new shared booking page with business and staff information. a. This information will be used in default and automated communications to customers and clients. b. This information can be changed or adjusted in the future.

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Edit Business Information The Business Information page contains all the details you might find on the ‘About us’ page of a company website. The information input here will be displayed on the page customers and clients use to book appointments and in the automated messages sent from the app. Typically this business information is entered with the creation of a booking page (see page 2). Business Information can be updated after initial set up. See below.

To Edit the Business information

1. Click on the Shared booking page tile.

Setting Business Hours: There may be a need to block out time for previously scheduled meetings or other activities where no bookings should be available. To do this, split the business day into two or more open hours. 1. Select the business hours section of the Business information page. 2. Click the plus button to the right of the day hours. . 3. Adjust the end time on the first line, and the start time on the second line.

2. Select Business information from the left side booking page menu.

4. To remove a line, simply click the delete icon for that line, and adjust the end hour.

3. Click the dropdown arrow for each area of Business information to input: a. Business Address b. Privacy policy links to company resource c. Business ‘page’ logo d. Business hours

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Define Service Offerings Service offerings are like appointment types. Each offering has a different name. The appointment location, type, default duration, and associated staff member can be set up for each service. Automated confirmations, reminders and service notes can also be defined. After the initial set up of the Bookings 4 step process, more Services can be added. Create Service Offerings

1. Select Services from the left side booking page menu.

Availability options: 1. Set the default appointment Time increments, Minimum & Maximum lead times and General availability. Changes to these times will disable Default scheduling policy.

2. If there are normal business days where no appointments should be made, add a different availability time block. a. Click Set different availability for a date range at the bottom of the Availability options section.

2. Click Add new service . Basic details:

1. Input the unique Service Name, description, location, default duration, and internal notes into the Add Service dialog box.

b. Input the date range c. Choose the General availability.

Assign staff : If there are no staff members in the Select Staff list to choose from in the Assign staff page, names can be added from the Staff section of the bookings page.(See page 6 for more detail).

2. If this offering is an online meeting, select the Add online meeting option.

If privacy is required, select the check box for an anonymous meeting link.

3. If desired, the customer can manage this appointment even if a staff member booked it.

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Define Service Offerings (Continued)

Custom fields: Select what information should be collected when an appointment is being booked.

Keep the Send a meeting invite option selected in most cases.

To include additional forms or requests to the automatic email confirmation, click in the Add additional information field.

1. To capture additional information about the customer, select the Add a custom field option. 2. Choose the question type.

Create optional Email reminder by clicking Add an email reminder

i. After adding custom info click Craft an optional custom Email follow-up by clicking the Add a follow up email . ii. After adding custom info click Final Steps to Add service After all details have been added, from the left side of the Add service dialog box choose: 1. Default scheduling policy – apply settings that are set up in Business settings of the booking page. 2. Publishing options – only deselect if this service is not ready to be used by customers or staff. 3. Click Save changes to Add the Service to the bookings page. Update the Service at any time by clicking edit pencil icon in the service detail window.

3. Input the custom question and select Save Changes.

4. Click Save changes. 5. Click the Selected option.

Notifications: Set the automatic email and text messages.

Deselect the Notify the business via email when a booking is created so no email is sent to the email address input in the Business information section.

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Set Up Staff in Booking Create or add to the staffing list and manage staff member details such as name, phone number, and email address. Each staff entry can have unique working hours. Not all staff members are required to have a M365 account, but they must have a valid email address. Add staff to Bookings

1. Select Staff from the left side Booking page menu

4. Assign the staff member role:

2. Select Add new staff 3. In the Add staff dialog box

5. Set the booking Availability and meeting hours for this staff member. Deselecting the Events on Office calendar affect availability allows the system to book appointments over personal calendar entries.

a. search for staff inside your organization b. input initials c. assign a color identifier d. input Email and Phone number

Deselecting Use business hours allows bookings to be made a custom availability for this staff member.

6. Click Save changes to complete staff addition.

TIP: To change the way the Staff member name appears on the Booking calendar: 1. Select the Edit staff option. 2. Click the field with the exiting/default name. 3. Input the desired name.

1. 4. Click save changes.

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Configure and Manage the Booking Page Bookings is made up of two components; the web app that contains a set of web-based pages that owners can design, set up and manage, and a booking page where your customers and clients can schedule appointments with the appropriate staff member. From the web app, select the Booking page window to capture the link to share with customers and set the access control settings, default policies, page color and layout and region and time zone settings.

Web App

Booking Page

Submit Bookings

Book appointment as a customer These are the steps a customer would follow to book an appointment (service) from your Bookings page. Steps may vary since each booking page has custom settings. 1. Click or input shared link into web browser address bar. 2. Select a Service 3. Select a time 4. Input contact details 5. Click Book Book appointment for a customer 1. Select Calendar from the left side Booking page menu 2. Click New Booking 3. Choose the desired Service

Share your bookings page When all of the services are added to the bookings page, and all of the Business information is updated, share access to the Bookings page with your staff, clients and customers.

1. Go to office.com and sign in with your user name and password. 2. Click the M365 app launcher 3. Select 4. Select Share from the desired Shared booking page tile. 5. Select Link then select Copy beside the text box with the web address. 6. Paste the link where your audience can access the link.

4. Input Customer information 5. Select Staff 6. Click Create booking.

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Manage Calendar

The booking page calendar can be managed by any staff that has access to the booking page and has the role of Administrator or Scheduler. Manage your bookings calendar 1. Go to office.com and sign in with your username and password. 2. Click the M365 app launcher 3. Select 4. Select the desired Bookings Page

Notes: ____________________________ ____________________________ ____________________________ ____________________________ ____________________________ ____________________________ ____________________________ ____________________________ ____________________________ ____________________________ ____________________________ ____________________________ ____________________________ ____________________________ ____________________________ ____________________________ ____________________________

5. Select Calendar from the left side bookings menu.

6. Click on any entry to see detail of appointment. 7. Select Edit if any changes are required.

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