MS Bookings - FAQs

• Q: What Bookings resource guides exist on the Microsoft website for me to review? 
  A: See this training page
• Q: Why is there a new email address listed in the Active Directory for my Bookings calendar?
  Each booking calendar will have an associated email address in the Global Address List. Messages sent to the Bookings address are forwarded to the primary Bookings calendar owner. These addresses can be hidden from the Global Address List, but doing so prevents other Bookings admins from searching for the Bookings calendar in the admin interface. For more information, see: Admin Interface Not Available if Hidden from the Global Address List
• Q: Why is the language used in Bookings so business-focused and not geared specifically for education? (e.g. “customers” vs. “students”) 
  A: Microsoft originally designed Bookings for small business use. 
• Q: What technology do I need in order to use Bookings?
  A: The Bookings web application can be accessed through your web browser. There are also mobile apps you can download if you prefer to use Bookings on the go; visit your app store on your phone and search for "Microsoft Bookings".
• Q: Can I create different appointment "service" types?  
  A: Yes. You can have multiple different appointment “service” types, which you can create and manage through the “Services” tab. 
• Q: How can the people who book with me let me know where they’d like to meet? (In person vs. Zoom vs. Phone call) 
  A: You could add a drop-down intake question to your appointments that asks, "Where would you like to meet?" and then provide the options and make it required so the person would choose where they'd like to meet. Then, you could add the details about how to join you in any of those options in the confirmation and reminder emails.
  OR: you could set up different service types with different locations and name them accordingly (e.g. "30-minute in person" service vs. "30-minute Zoom call").
• Q: Can I customize my Booking page design? 
  A: Yes. You can edit the color of your Booking page banner under the "Booking Page" tab, and add your logo, as well as the details of your office through the “Business Information” tab. If you want to use the OSU brand colors, select "Set custom color scheme for your booking page" and use the following colors: Beaver Orange (#D73F09), Black (#000000), White (#FFFFFF).
• Q: Can I edit my own appointment booking page and options? Or, do I need to go through an IT Administrator? 
  A: You have complete control of your own Booking page and do not need to go through an IT Administrator. You may wish to sync up the appointment name, descriptions, and details with your team for consistency.
• Q: Does my Outlook calendar availability sync with Bookings? 
  A: Yes. If you have your availability setting set to “Bookable when staff are free” within the Booking Page tab and have the “Events on Office calendar affect availability” within your Staff tab, your availability will be based on your Outlook calendar. You will not see all your Outlook calendar events on the Calendar tab within Bookings, but with those two settings, it will only be showing bookable times based on your availability within Outlook. 
• Q: What's the difference between "buffer" and "lead time"?
   A: "Buffer" means that an appointment must have X amount of hours open before the appointment can be scheduled free. "Lead time" means how many hours prior to a given day/time an appointment can be booked. For example, if I want 30-minutes free before any appointment - I would use "Buffer," but if I want 24 hours to prepare for an appointment - I would use "Lead time."
• Q: Will students need to login with ONID to use Bookings?  
  A: No. Students will only need to login with their ONIDs if you select “Request a Microsoft 365 or Office 365 account from my organization to book” within the "Booking Page" tab. Non-ONID users can book appointments if you do not select that feature by sharing your booking page link with them. For more information, see: Students can't access my Bookings page
• Q: My staff member got a new email account. How do I update this in Bookings?
  A: Delete the original staff entry in the Bookings web app, then add a new staff entry with the udpated email address.
• Q: Can I use my Zoom room for my Booking appointments? 
  A: Yes. You can use your PMI link by listing it in the location field of a service and copy/paste in the invitation into the Email Confirmation.
  • Make sure you have the waiting room feature in your Zoom room turned on for privacy. Bookings cannot auto-create new Zoom meetings for each individual appointment.
• Q: Can I have a unique online meeting room created for each appointment that is booked with me? 
  A: Yes. You can turn on the “Add online meeting” setting within a service. This will auto-create a unique Teams meeting space for your appointment. The appointment confirmation email will have the link to join the Teams meeting space, as will your Outlook calendar appointment for that time. If you choose this option, you can list “Teams Meeting” in the default location area of the service for clarity and add a note about it in the Email Confirmation and/or reminder messages.
• Q: Can I ask students Intake Questions (e.g. ID number, preferred way to meet, notes, etc)? 
  A: Yes. You can add drop-down multiple-choice questions or fill in the blank open text entry questions to your Services intake forms. You can choose the order the questions show up and if they are required or not.
• Q: Can my student workers be added as Staff to Bookings? 
  A: Yes. "Guests" can be added to Bookings pages (e.g. Student Staff, Graduate Teaching Assistants, volunteers) even if they do not have an Exchange email account. As a guest they can be booked with, but cannot edit the Bookings page. For more information, see: Adding Student Employees To Your Bookings Calendar
• Q: How do I tell Bookings when my student staff are available for meetings? 
  A: You can edit the available times for any given service through the Services tab and assign it to the appropriate student staff. Therefore, you could have it so “book an appointment with XYZ student staff” is only available during their set working hours.
• Q: Can Bookings distribute a service type to multiple people? 
  A: Yes. If you have multiple staff members assigned to a service type, you can keep the box “Allow customers to choose a specific person for the booking” unchecked, so who the customer meets with will depend on what time they choose for their appointment. 
• Q: Can I give other people access to book my time via Bookings? (e.g. administrative support, head advisor) 
  A: Yes. You can add "Guests" that can book via your Bookings page. You also could share your booking link with your administrative staff who could use the website like a “customer” would to book for someone who calls in/ stops by your office. You can also set it so the person who the appointment is made for can edit the appointment by selecting the option of “Enable customers to manage their appointment when it was booked by you or your staff on their behalf.” within the Services tab.
• Q: Can I reassign which staff member a student's appointment is going to be with after it is booked?
  A: Yes you can reassign an appointment after it is made in Bookings to a different staff member. Heres's how: You can go into the bookings website and open an appointment then reassign the staff member by unchecking the currently selected staff and selecting the new staff. This will put the event onto the new staff members calendar and cancel it on the previous staff members calendar. It will NOT send an email to the new staff person notifying them of this change - so that would need to be communicated in another way. 
• Q: Will students receive an appointment reminder that includes a Calendar appointment they can sync to their personal calendar? 
  A: Yes. Confirmation emails include an ICS file, which is a calendar file saved in a universal calendar format used by several email and calendar programs, including Microsoft Outlook, Google Calendar, and Apple Calendar.
• Q: Can I shorten the link to my Bookings page? 
  A: Yes. You can log in to Beav.es and use it to shorten your bookings links.
• Q. Will my customers see my personal or business calendar? 
  A. No. Your customers will only see the Bookings calendar that you publish online. You specify the services, times and staff that are visible on that calendar.
• Q. Do my customers need to download an app to book an appointment? 
  A. No. Your customers access your web-based booking page from any browser in a mobile device, tablet or laptop. 
• Q: If I'm the only one who's getting scheduled, is there a way to not have to put me in the service provider field? 
  A: Yes. On the service page you can uncheck the "Allow customers to choose a specific person for the bookings" on the "Service" info for that appointment type under "Staff" (close to the bottom), you may need to uncheck "Use the default scheduling policy" to make this setting editable.

Assistance

For assistance, contact the Service Desk.