Bookings: Quick Reference Guide

Princeton University - Office of Information Technology Page 1

Additional Resources

• Service-Now KB Article ID: KB0013416

• Microsoft Documentation: MS Bookings Resources

• Checklist/Questionnaire: Getting Started Checklist/Questionnaire

• MS Teams Site Bookings Channel: Bookings Training SPOT

• Princeton’s Bookings Website: bookings.princeton.edu

• 1-1 Bookings Support: Book time with Bookings specialist

Quick Reference Directory

Function Page

Resources & Quick Function Lookup 1

Recommended Order of Steps 2

Step 1. Setup Wizard 2

Step 2. Business Information 3

Step 3. Booking Page 4, 5

Step 4. Add Staff 6

Step 5. Define Services 7, 8, 9

Step 6. Schedule Closures and Time Off 10

Microsoft Bookings - Quick Reference Guide

Quick Function Lookup

Once the Bookings calendar has been setup, it may need to be updated/

changed based on changes to availability. Use the table below to quickly

navigate to actions you may take to manage your calendar.

Quick Function Page

Update Office Hours

Unpublish Calendar

Date/Time Sync

Change Staff Role

Set Max Number of Attendees

Assign Staff to Service

Customize email Confirmation

Open Blocks of Time on the Fly

Time Off and Closures

Update Staff Hours

Note: All the resources listed above can be found within the Princeton Bookings

website: bookings.princeton.edu.

Step 1 - Create a New Bookings

Calendar – Setup Wizard

1. Navigate to Princeton’s Microsoft Portal

(portal.office.com) and login in with your

Princeton NETID and Password.

2. From the App Launcher, locate and select

Bookings.

Note: The first time you use Bookings, you’ll be

asked to click Get it Now to get started.

3. From the Bookings Landing Page, click

Create New Calendar

A Wizard will launch, walking you through steps to

create a new Calendar. Only the first step is

required. We recommend skipping to Step 4 by

clicking Next on the bottom-right of the Wizard

window.

Microsoft Bookings - Quick Reference Guide

Wizard Step 1 of 4 – Create a New

Bookings Calendar

Name: This is a required field. The information

entered here is used to create a Bookings

Mailbox and a unique public-facing Booking Page

for appointment management. Only the Name

field is required. This URL cannot be changed

once created.

Your Calendar is created and ready for custom

configuration. It contains left-navigation menu items

for which we recommend a specific order:

Wizard Step 4 of 4 (Optional) –

Choose who can Book Appointments

This step allows you to set permissions for whom

should be able to access the Bookings Page and book

appointments with you.

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Recommended Order of Steps

1. Create a Bookings Calendar - Wizard (Step 1)

2. Enter Business Information

3. Customize the Booking Page*

4. Add Staff

5. Define Services

6. Schedule Closures and Time Off

*Booking Page – The default scheduling

configuration is setup here. Additional modifications

to the schedule can be made in the Services section.

Note: Completion of the wizard will not result in

a finalized calendar.

The following other fields in this step can be

skipped and added later.

• Add a Logo

• Business Type

• Business Hours

Note: While the URL cannot be changed, the

Business Name (as seen by the end-user on the

Bookings Page) can be modified. See Business

Information section of this guide (Step 2).

Note: This option can be modified in the future.

See Booking Page section of this guide (Step 3).

The Business Hours are intended to indicate all hours

of operation. These are the windows in which you or

those you support are accepting appointments and

are generally expected to be working. The approach

you take to these fields are contingent on how you

intend to use Bookings:

• Single User: If you are only scheduling one type of

appointment for yourself only, you can define your

Business Hours as the hours you want to accept

appointments.

• Multiple Users: If you are offering multiple

appointment types at different times/days of the

week and have multiple colleagues associated with

each appointment type, you will need to define

your Business Hours in terms of the working hours

comprising all availability for all of your Services

and Staff.

Use the icons found in the columns to the right to

Add/Delete windows of time or remove days of the

week that should not be bookable by any Staff. Scroll

to the top of the page to Save (upper-left), when you

are finished.

Step 2: Enter Business Information

Click Business Information from the left-navigation

pane. The information entered here will be visible

on the public-facing Bookings Page to anyone

seeking to book time with you.

Enter Business Information

The Business Information tab lists five sections that

help you set up your Calendar. It is recommended

that you review the fields in two essential areas:

Basic Details and Business Hours.

Microsoft Bookings - Quick Reference Guide

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Pull down the caret in each section to reveal the

fields in each section.

Business Name

By default, Bookings pre-populates the Business

Name field with the name you gave your Calendar.

This information is displayed as a heading/calendar

title on the public-facing Booking Page and can be

modified.

Note: Changes to the Business Name field will

only be reflected at the top of your published

Booking Page. Your calendar cannot be renamed

on the backend.

Send Customer Replies To

The email address entered here will receive

notifications regarding activity on the Calendar.

This could be the Administrator (owner) of the

Calendar, a listserv, a Service Account, etc.

Note: At this time, this field cannot exceed one

email address.

Basic Details

The information entered in this section provides

users with at-a-glance information you wish to

share on the Booking Page such as office location,

phone number, and website URL. There are two

main components of the Basic Details section to be

aware of:

Business Hours

Microsoft Bookings - Quick Reference Guide

Set or modify permissions for who should be able to see the Bookings

Page, check availability, and book appointments.

• Available to anyone: Anyone with the link and internet access

can view the Booking Page.

• No self-service: Your calendar will not be published. You can

use this option to ‘unpublish’ your calendar as well.

• Available to people in your organization: Only individuals that

authenticate through Princeton CAS can access the page.

Step 3: Customize Booking Page

Click Booking Page from the left-navigation pane to

make edits to the configuration of your Booking

Page. Here you can set access, retrieve your unique

Booking Page URL to be shared, set your Default

Scheduling Policy, set your time zone, and

customize the look and feel for those who land on

your page to book an appointment with you.

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Note: The settings found in the Default Scheduling

Policy are also the default settings in place for

each of the Services (appointment types) you

create. Each new Service can either take the

defaults created here, or you can override the

default scheduling policy with unique settings you

define (see Step 3, D2: Default Scheduling Policy).

Configure Booking Page

Note: Students may be trying to book time with you via their personal device, which may not be logged into the Princeton

network. Choosing to make this Available to Anyone will allow anyone with the link to book time with you.

Manage your Booking Page

The fields in the Manage your Booking Page section provide an opportunity to further manage access and data usage

consent. The two main components to focus on are under the Business Page Access Control section:

• Disable direct search engine indexing of booking page:

This setting prevents your page from appearing in the

search results for Google, Bing, and other search engines.

Selecting this box will ensure access to the page is limited

to the generated page link. If this feature is not disabled,

anyone

can find the Bookings Page on the open web and

book time on the calendar.

Business Page Access Control

Step 3 Continued: Customize Booking Page

• Require a one-time password to create bookings:

When this option is enabled, the user will be prompted to verify their email

address by retrieving and entering the verification code sent to the email address

provided in order to proceed with the booking.

Microsoft Bookings - Quick Reference Guide

• Time Increments: You can set up the increments for appointment times in increments of 5

minutes to 4 hours.

• Minimum Lead Time: This is how many hours you want in advance to prepare for an appointment.

For example, are you able to respond to same day appointments? If not, consider allowing for a

24-hour minimum lead time.

• Maximum Lead Time: How far in advance should users be able to book appointment with you?

Should you have your calendar bookable for a semester? The default is 365 days.

Email Notifications

• Notify the business via email when a booking is created or changed: When this option is selected,

notifications are sent to the ‘business’ email address provided in the Send Customer Replies to

field in the Business Information section.

• Send a meeting invite to the customer: This option allows those booking time with you to add a

placeholder for this appointment to their personal calendar.

Staff Control

• Allow customers to choose a specific person for the booking: If you have multiple Staff members

setup for a Service, this setting allows for users to select from a list of those available Staff to meet

with.

Availability

In general, a Service can be booked when its Staff are free. If you wish to customize this further, you

have the option to change the General Availability or set custom availability for a specific date range.

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Default Scheduling Policy

The settings found here are the default settings you determine for each of the Services (appointment types) you create in the Calendar. Each subsequent Service create

can either take the defaults you create here, or you can override the default scheduling policy with unique settings you define.

Region and Time Zone Settings

Use this section to verify the current time zone reflects your current geographic location.

Select the option to Always show time slots in business time zone.

Note: Use caution when applying the Default Scheduling Policy to other Services created, as this will affect

availability for those Services.

Microsoft Bookings - Quick Reference Guide

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The Staff page is where you add and manage staff member details and their specific availability.

Step 4: Add Staff

Note: By default, the creator of the Calendar is pre-populated in this area with the role of

Administrator.

Click Staff from the left-navigation and click the Add New Staff button.

Upon adding a new Staff member, assign them an appropriate role.

• Administrator: Can edit all settings, add and remove staff, and create, edit and delete

bookings.

• Scheduler: Can manage bookings and customer details on the calendar, itself. They have

‘read-only’ access to settings, staff, and services.

• Team member: Can manage their own bookings calendar and can edit their own

availability. When adding or editing a booking in their calendar, they’ll be assigned as

Staff.

• Viewer: Can view all the bookings on the calendar but cannot modify or delete.

Permissions are set to ‘read-only’.

• Guest: Can be assigned to bookings but cannot open the Bookings mailbox.

Email notifications:

Checking this box will enable the Staff member to receive emails when a booking with them is made or

changed.

Availability:

Select Events on Office calendar affect availability if you want the free/busy information from Staff

members’ Outlook calendars to reflect availability in Bookings.

If the Staff member’s availability differs from the Business Hours

entered in the Business Information section, toggle the Use

Business Hours off and edit the hours of availability as

appropriate.

Note: It is a best practice to have more than one Administrator of the Calendar.

Microsoft Bookings - Quick Reference Guide

Step 5 – Define Services

In this section, set the details of each of the Services you

plan to offer. Select the Services tab from the left-

navigation. Here, you can add new services or edit existing

services.

To add a new Service, click the Add New Service button.

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• Copy/Clone a Service: If an additional Service should be

created that is very similar to an existing Service, hover

over an existing Service and click the Copy Service icon.

Edit the Service details as appropriate.

Note: If only one Service is listed, you will not be able to

delete it. There must be at least one Service listed at all

times.

At a minimum, one service is required at all times. By

default, Bookings has created a Service which should be

edited to suit your needs or deleted once another Service

has been created.

• Edit service: Hover over an existing Service and click

the Edit Service icon, revealed to the right of the

Service name.

• Deleting a Service: Hover over an existing Service and

click the Delete Service icon, revealed to the right of

the Service name.

Adding/Editing a Service is comprised of 5 sections. The details in each

section will help you further define your Service.

Be sure to go through each of the options listed to ensure your Service, its

availability, Staff members, custom fields, reminders and notifications are

reflected appropriately on the Calendar.

Basic Details

Give your Service a name and description to ensure

those who book time with you are selecting the

correct offering.

In the Location field, choose whether this appointment

should take place in a physical location or choose to

Add an Online Meeting.

Note: Choosing Add Online Meeting will provision

a meeting link in Microsoft Teams. If you wish for

the online meeting to take place in Zoom, a PMI

can be added in the Location field or added to

your confirmation email.

• Duration: Choose the appropriate amount of time for the appointment.

• Buffer Time: Enabling this setting allows for the addition of extra time to the Staff members calendar

before and/or after each appointment to prepare or debrief, as necessary.

• Maximum number of Attendees: This setting allows you to create services that require the ability for

multiple people to book the same appointment date/time with the same staff member. The

appointment time slot for the selected service, staff, and time will be available to book until the

maximum number of attendees, specified by you, has been reached.

Note: It is important to determine whether this is a single-attendee service or multi-attendee service prior

to saving the service. Once the Service is saved for a single attendee, the Max Number of Attendees

cannot be changed to allow for more than one attendee. Likewise, if the Service is saved for multi-

attendees, it cannot be changed to less than 2.

Step 5 Continued: Define Services

Don’t Save until all

sections are complete.

Microsoft Bookings - Quick Reference Guide

This section allows you to determine which of

the canned information fields should be

captured on the Booking Page for the user to

provide and whether the fields should be

required or optional. Additionally, Bookings lets

you create custom questions associated with

your Service

Select each of the default fields under Customer

Information that should be visible on the

Booking Page and determine which should be

required by toggling on/off.

If additional information should be collected,

click Add a Custom Field. Once the question has

been created, you will need to select it and

determine whether the field should be required.

Make sure to add the appropriate Staff member(s) to

their corresponding Service.

If you wish for those booking time with you to choose

from a list of multiple Staff members, toggle the switch

below ON.

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Default Scheduling Policy:

Determine whether this

Service should take the

Default Scheduling Policy. If

not, turn this setting off and

edit details accordingly.

Publishing Options: If a

specific Service should not be

shown on the Booking Page

for a period of time, simply

toggle this setting OFF.

As you continue to define your Services, you’ll notice

there are two additional switches under the five

sections:

Availability Options

The options here will default to the scheduling details

you provided on the Booking Page. If this Service is

NOT taking the Default Scheduling Policy, use the

fields in this section to customize your availability

settings as appropriate. See Page 5: Booking

Page >

Default

Scheduling Policy

Assign Staff

Custom Fields

Notifications

Here, you can set up reminders and notifications which can be sent to those booking appointments with you,

the Staff member(s) associated with the appointment types, or both, at a specified time before the

appointment. Multiple messages can be created for each appointment, according to your preference. By

default, a reminder is sent those who book time with you one day before. You can customize this message

and determine the number of reminders that go out and when.

Text Message Notifications: If you’re requiring a phone number, decide whether notifications should be sent

via text message.

Email Notifications: Determine whether the business should be notified when an appointment is created or

changed and whether the person booking time with you should receive a meeting invite to add to their

calendar.

Email Confirmation: You can include any additional text you would like here, such as information about

rescheduling or what should be brought to the appointment.

When all information has been entered, click Save Changes button.

Microsoft Bookings - Quick Reference Guide

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Users may find it more appropriate to quickly open blocks of time strictly for specific (non-recurring) dates/times outside of their general availability. Because this is not

how Bookings was initially designed to work, some modifications to the Availability Options for the appointment type (or Service) being offered must be made.

The steps below will assist with the necessary configuration:

1. Click Services from the left navigation menu.

2. Choose to either create a new Service OR edit an existing Service.

Each section on the Service menu should be reviewed and edited as appropriate (see

more info), but the main elements to pay attention to are:

Opening Blocks of Time (Ad-hoc Hours) for Faculty Advising on the Fly

3. Under Basic Details:

• Duration: Set your appointments to the appropriate timeframe.

4. Under Availability Options:

• Time Increments: Enter the appropriate number of minutes for which your Booking Page should show availability.

• Minimum Lead Time: Enter the amount of advance notice you’ll need prior to an appointment being booked.

3. Under Assign Staff:

• Make sure to assign yourself

(or the appropriate Staff

member) to this appointment

type (Service) by checking the

box next to your name.

Note: Be careful to limit the blocks of unique availability to one week at a time only, making sure that dates line

up to days of the week. You may need to delete days if your blocks of time start later in the week.

• General Availability: Set this to Not Bookable.

• Click and enter the appropriate availability during these dates.

 Repeat this for each week of time you wish to open up.

 Use the + to add more than one block of time for a given day.

 Use the trash icon to delete a day during the timeframe selected.

4. Ensure that the Service is published

on the Booking page by toggling the

switch ON, if it’s not on by default.

5. Click Save Changes.

Microsoft Bookings - Quick Reference Guide

Step 6: Schedule Closures and Time Off

Occasionally, you'll want to close your business for holidays or team events, or your employees will need time off when they're sick, on vacation, or unavailable for other

reasons. You can schedule time off from the Microsoft Bookings calendar, and the employee will be unavailable for bookings during the specified time. Once the business

reopens or employees return to work, everyone will be listed on the booking page according to their established work hours.

Schedule Employee Time Off

1. Fill in any necessary fields under Time Off Details.

2. If the employee will be gone for a full day or for several days, switch the

toggle for All day ON.

3. Select the Staff member(s) who will be taking the time off.

4. Click Create Time Off to save changes.

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Click Calendar from the left-navigation. Locate and select Add Time Off from the top menu, above the calendar.

Schedule Business Closures

1. Fill in any necessary fields under Time Off Details.

2. If the ‘business’ will be closed for a full day or for several days, switch the

toggle for All day ON.

3. Select ALL Staff members listed to ensure no availability is open.

4. Click Create Time Off to save changes.