Purpose:
Bookings is an extension of Microsoft Outlook and thus inherits much of the same functionality
but with a more streamlined interface for appointment scheduling with external users (i.e.
clients).
Integration:
Bookings integrates with Microsoft Teams and Outlook.
Pricing:
Figuring out the licensing for Microsoft Bookings can be tricky and will also depend on if your client has an existing Microsoft license and if that license includes Microsoft Bookings. There’s an option where you can add privileged users in your Microsoft Bookings account for a monthly fee/user.
Technical Knowledge Required:
This is a no-code solution that is very intuitive to use and has plenty of documentation. You must be very careful when creating new Bookings pages, templates, and appointments to ensure you are setting it up properly, but otherwise it is very easy to use.
Resources:
If you have questions about a specific process, there are many forums and documentation you can find by searching on Google. You can also talk to a representative in Bookings sales if you have questions on licensing or what you can do with 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