The Office365 Resource Admin Tool is furnished by ITS for creating and modifying resource accounts, often referred to as "shared mailboxes".

Resource Account Basics

Resource Types

There are 3 types of resource account that can be created:

• Room
• Equipment
• Shared mailbox

Access Permissions

There are 3 levels of access to a resource account that can be granted to a user:

• Full Access
• Send As
• Send on Behalf

Full Access

Users with this permission can view the mailbox and calendar associated with the resource account.

Send As

Users with this permission can send emails from the email address associated with the resource account.

Send on Behalf

Users with this permission can send emails via the email address associated with the resource account, with an additional detail noting which user wrote the content of the email, e.g., "j.doe@austin.utexas.edu on behalf of LAITS@austin.utexas.edu".

Manager Permissions

Additionally, individual users and/or distribution lists can be designated a Manager, which allows them to access the O365 Resource Admin Tool and modify that resource account. Depending on the type of resource account, this may appear as "Shared Mailbox Manager", "Room Resource Manager", or "Equipment Resource Manager".

If you are the first LAITS Team member to gain access to a Shared Resource or you create one please add DL.LAITS.O365.Admins@austin.utexas.edu to the Manager List.

Resource Admin Tool Functions

Creating New Resource Accounts

Required Information

Requests for new resource accounts must include the following:

• Type: "room", "equipment", or "shared mailbox"
• Display Name: readable name of the resource in the Global Address List
  • Can be changed at any time
• Email Address: desired email address
  • Must not be an existing address
  • Can use vanity email domains, e.g., @blantonmuseum.org
  • Cannot be changed after creation without intervention from postmaster@utexas.edu
• Managers: EIDs of user(s) that should be granted Manager permissions

Requests may also include the following, but they are not required to create the mailbox:

• Full Access users: EIDs of user(s) that should be granted Full Access permissions
• Send As users: EIDs of user(s) that should be granted Send As permissions
• Send on Behalf users: EIDs of user(s) that should be granted Send on Behalf permissions

Process for Creating New Resource Account

Request Resource Creation

1. Click the appropriate "Create / Delete" tool link for the requested resource type
   1. "Create / Delete Room" for a room resource, etc.
2. In the "Create" section, begin by entering the requested email address and select the desired vanity domain, if any, from the dropdown menu
3. Enter the requested display name for the new resource
4. In the "Resource Manager" field, enter your EID
   1. You will modify the resource account after creation to include the LAITS O365 Admin distribution list (DL.LAITS.O365.Admins@austin.utexas.edu) and any Mailbox Managers requested by the user

5. Click the "Create" button to schedule the resource for creation

   Resource Creation Processing Time

   The creation process may take up to 30 minutes to complete, and the resource account will be at least partially inaccessible during that time.

Modifying Newly-Created Resource

Depending on the type of resource account, the options for modifying the account will vary.

To add LAITS as a Manager:

1. Click the appropriate "Modify" tool link for the resource type
2. Locate the desired resource from the list
   1. CTRL+F/CMD+F works best
3. Click "Select Resource" and wait for the page to load
4. Once the page has loaded, the details of the selected resource should now be displayed
5. In the "Managers" section, enter the LAITS O365 Admins distribution list, DL.LAITS.O365.Admins@austin.utexas.edu
6. Click "Add Manager" and wait for the page to reload
7. After the page has reloaded, confirm that "DL-LAITS-O365-Admins" is in the Managers list
   1. If it is not in the list, repeat from step 5 until successfully added
8. Continue processing the creation request
   1. Optionally, you may remove your own EID from the Managers list before proceeding

Common Resource Options

Each resource account type has a section titled "Mailbox Permissions". This is where individual users can be granted any requested access.

For each requested user:

1. Enter their EID in the text field near the bottom of "Mailbox Permissions"
2. Click the corresponding "Add to" button for their requested access
   1. It will take a moment for the change to process, after which the page will refresh
3. After the refresh, confirm that the user is now listed in the appropriate section of "Mailbox Permissions"
4. Repeat this process for each access type requested for this user

Room and Equipment Resource Options

Room and equipment resources both have additional functionality related to calendaring. Namely, these are "Calendar Booking Options" and "Booking Delegates".

"Calendar Booking Options" include the following:

• Default
  • All incoming calendar requests are added as "tentative", pending direct approval from the resource account login
• Delegate Approval for all requests
  • All incoming calendar requests are added as "tentative", pending direct approval or approval by delegate
• Delegate Approval only for out-of-policy requests
  • Incoming calendar requests that match the resource account's policies are added automatically; others require direct or delegate approval
• Automatically Approve All
  • Incoming calendar requests are automatically approved on a first-come, first-served basis
• Manual
  • No automatic processing will be performed for this calendar
• This resource has custom settings
  • This option is disabled by default; if required, contact postmaster@utexas.edu

The "Booking Delegates" section allows individuals, added by EID, to perform the delegate functions described above.

Modifying an Existing Resource Account

Add/Remove Users

Users can be granted permissions or have them revoked as needed.

1. Click the appropriate "Modify" link for the type of the existing resource account
2. Select the existing resource account from the list and click "Select Resource"
3. If adding a new user or granting additional permissions for a user:
   1. Enter their EID in the text field near the bottom of "Mailbox Permissions"
   2. Click the corresponding "Add to" button for their requested access
      1. It will take a moment for the change to process, after which the page will refresh
   3. After the refresh, confirm that the user is now listed in the appropriate section of "Mailbox Permissions"
   4. Repeat this process for each access type requested for this user
4. If removing a user or revoking specific permissions:
   1. In the "Mailbox Permissions" section, locate and select the user in the list corresponding to the specified access type
   2. Click "Remove User"
      1. It will take a moment for the change to process, after which the page will refresh
   3. After the refresh, confirm that the user is no longer listed for that access
   4. Repeat this process for each access type to be revoked for this user

Change Display Name

Modifying the display name of an existing resource account is trivial and can be done at any time.

1. Click the appropriate "Modify" link for the type of the existing resource account
2. Select the existing resource account from the list
3. In the "Resource Display Name" or "Shared Mailbox Display Name" section, enter the desired display name
4. Click "Save Display Name Changes"

Change Resource Account Email Address

This is a non-trivial change, and cannot be directly performed by LAITS without data loss.

If the user needs to retain the existing resource account data, contact postmaster@utexas.edu with all relevant details, including at least the existing resource account email address and the desired email address.

Related Processes

Publishing Room/Equipment Resource Calendars

Room/equipment resources' calendars can also be "Published", which creates an HTML or ICS link to the calendar. This also publishes the calendar on the web and allows people who have the URL to view it live. 

To publish a resource account calendar:

1. Login to OWA
2. Click your name in the upper-right and choose "Open another mailbox"
3. Enter the name of the resource, or its email address, and click "OK"
4. When the mailbox has loaded, click the gear icon in the upper-right to open the "Settings" sidebar
5. Search for "publish a calendar"
6. In the dialog that appears, under "Publish a calendar", select the calendar you wish to publish from the dropdown menu
7. Select the desired permissions for the published calendar
   1. Can view when I'm busy
   2. Can view titles and locations
   3. Can view all details
8. Click "Publish", and wait a moment for the request to be completed
9. The newly-published calendar will appear below the calendar-selection dropdown, along with an HTML and ICS link
10. Distribute either link to the desired individuals