Microsoft Bookings

Bookings is a scheduling tool built directly into Microsoft Office Suite.

Microsoft Bookings Tutorials link - https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/bookings/bookings-overview?view=o365-worldwide

Users can create a Bookings calendar and add team members to it, build new appointment types, and create and manage in-person and virtual visits for your staff and attendees.

Best For:

Clients already utilizing Microsoft Office Suite, specifically Outlook/Teams
Clients with limited technical skill sets for system interaction and maintenance

Use Cases:

Many employees need to be scheduled for many meetings
Email confirmation and virtual meeting setup for high meeting volumes

Pro’s:

Packaged solution and no code
Included in the basic Office 365 E1 subscription which many businesses subscribe to
Offers internal-only self-service calendar and booking management as well as public client self-service booking management.
Ability to work with Power Automate to build connectors to different applications

Con’s:

Since it is a packaged solution you can’t add additional features or change any of the software
A user can enter bad data when creating a staff member or customer
Not all settings on a service can be edited once it has been created
A admin user can book a staff member for multiple appointments at the same date and time

Tips for Power Automate:

Power Automate is a well integrated tool within the Microsoft Office ecosystem and can work with various Apps
Power Automate can be triggered manually or based on automatic triggers which allows for lots of customization
If you are struggling to build within Power Automate there is an AI builder that can translate English into discrete steps
The best way in our experience to learn and use power automate is just with trial and error
- As you add steps into Power automate they save over time and will notify you of issues
- You can then test and verify the step passed or detailed error logs to find what failed