Microsoft Bookings Guide (Account Managers/Business Developers)
- Stacey Verhaeghe
- 1 Microsoft Bookings Setup
- 2 Find your public facing page
- 3 Use buffer time
- 4 Cancel/reschedule an appointment
- 5 Book an appointment for a customer (employer)
- 6 Send a direct link for a specific service type (i.e., 30-min discussion)
- 7 Set custom hours for a specific service type
- 8 Set custom dates for a specific service type
- 9 Set custom dates and hours for a specific service type
- 10 Make service types not visible (unpublished)/visible (published)
- 11 Related articles
Microsoft Bookings Setup
Sign in at https://uwaterloo.atlassian.net/servicedesk/customer/portal/137/group/401/create/1670 to request your bookings calendar. This can take up to 24-48 hours, and this is the current naming scheme to follow:
Bookings Name: Dept Job Title - Full Name (Co-op Account Manager - John Doe)
Bookings Type: Education
Sign into Microsoft Bookings once you receive an email stating your calendar was created.
Select the tile under Shared booking pages (not Personal booking page).
Navigate to the Business Information tab:
Under the drop-down Basic details
Business name: This should be Full Name - Job Title (John Doe - Account Manager), if you made an error when first creating the calendar, this is where you can correct it.
Business address: This field can be left blank since you are not providing a location for hosting in-person meetings.
Business phone: This should be the University's phone number, followed by a period, then your extension. E.g., 519-888-4567.xxxxx.
Website URL: The Hire Waterloo website can be entered here Hire From University of Waterloo | Register & Start Recruiting | Co-operative Education
Privacy Policy URL: The University's privacy website can be entered here Home | Information and Privacy
Terms and conditions URL: Leave this field blank
Under the drop-down Business hours
Set the daily hours you wish to be available to be booked. These hours are recurring and cannot be set on a per-week basis. You will want to ensure that you schedule breaks and lunch, as needed. You can use the plus sign to add more breaks if needed.
E.g., if your day is 8:30a.m. – 4:30p.m. ET, with a 30-minute admin break at the beginning and end of the day, and lunch from 12-1p.m., this is what your daily schedule of bookable time would look like:
You can set different availability on different days of the week.
Under the drop-down Business logo
Use the logo provided below and be sure to select the white background when uploading to eliminate the coloured bars around the logo.
*Very important* - Click Save at the top of the webpage
Navigate to the Staff tab:
Select your name under My profile and click edit staff (under your name and “Administrator” title).
Check the box for “Events on Office calendar affect availability”.
Ensure the Use business hours toggle is on and select Save changes.
Navigate to the Services tab:
Select Add new service and enter the following details
Under the Basic details tab
Service Name: 30-min discussion
Description: [add a brief description the first 7 words will be visible on public facing page]
Default location: Leave this blank
Add online meeting: Click to toggle on. This will automatically generate a Teams meeting and add it to the meeting invite.
Default duration: 30 minutes
Price: drop-down should be Price not set
Notes: leave blank
Maximum attendees: 1 (note: if you add more than 1, you may have multiple employers book the same meeting which is not preferred)
Toggle for 'Let customers manage their appointment when it was booked by you or your staff on their behalf” can be on.
Language: English (Canada or US)
Under the Availability options tab (left-side within Edit service)
Time increments, set to 15-minutes (this shows when appointments are available, i.e., 9:00, 9:15, 9:30)
Minimum lead time, set to 24 hours (this means appointments can only be booked after 24 hours+)
Maximum lead time, set to 30 days (this means appointments can only be booked 30 days from today)
General availability - Bookable when staff are free (will follow the Business hours you set)
Under the Assign staff tab
Assign any of your selected staff for an appointment should be selected
The toggle should be off for Allow customers to choose a particular staff for booking
Under Select Staff, check the circle beside your name
Under the Custom fields tab
Deselect the default customer information field Customer address
Select the default customer information fields Phone number and Customer email and turn the Required toggle on. Note: Customer email is tied to sending meeting invitations in the backend, so this field is very important to be selected and required.
Select the default customer information field Customer Notes but it does not need to be Required
Click Add a custom field, Add a text question, then enter “Organization name”
From the custom field list, select Organization name, turn the Required toggle on.
Click Add a custom field, Add a text question, then enter “What would you like to discuss?”
From the custom field list, select What would you like to discuss?, turn the Required toggle on.
Under the Notifications tab
Email confirmation, Settings -
Notify the business via email when a booking is created or changed is checked
Send a meeting invite to the customer, in addition to the confirmation email is checked
Email reminders - there should be a default automatically added, click the pencil icon to edit.
Timing: 1 day before reminder
Send to: Customer
Message: (first delete the default message), then add -
A quick reminder that your appointment is coming up tomorrow.
If you need to reschedule or cancel your appointment:
From your confirmation email - Select the Reschedule button. This will take you to the bookings page with options to reschedule or cancel the appointment.
From the calendar meeting invitation - Open the meeting invitation, in the body you’ll see "Manage Booking" with a link that will take you to the booking page with options to reschedule or cancel the appointment.
Email follow-up - delete the default email setting using the garbage bin icon
Default scheduling policy the toggle should be off
Publishing options the toggle should be on
*Very important* click Save changes
Follow steps 6.a.i. - viii, for any additional services you would like to add.
An Initial consult service is created by default. Delete this service by moving your cursor over it, then clicking the garbage bin icon that appears.
You can drag and drop your your services so that appear in the order of your preference.
Navigate to the Booking Page tab to setup your shareable bookings page:
Within the Configure bookings page section – the drop-down should be set to ‘Available to anyone’
Under the Business page access control drop-down
Ensure that the “Disable direct search engine indexing of booking page” is checked
Under the Customer data usage consent drop-down
Ensure that the “Show a personal data collection and usage consent toggle along with a message on my booking page” is unchecked
Under the Default scheduling policy drop-down
Time increments: This sets the increment of available time slots in your calendar. For example, if set to 1 hour then users will only be able to book a time slot every hour during your business hours. Recommended: 15 minutes
Minimum lead time: Minimum time (in hours) before a time slot can be booked or canceled Default: 6 hours Recommended: 24 hours
Maximum lead time: Maximum time (in days) before a time slot can be booked Default: 60 days Recommended: 30 days
Email notifications - Both “Notify the business via email when a booking is created or changed” and “Send a meeting invite to customer” are checked
Staff control - “Allow customers to choose a specific person for the booking” is unchecked
General Availability - Bookable when staff are free: bookable in any open slots in your calendar during business hours
Under the Customize your page drop-down
Page template - New
Colour Theme - Set custom color scheme for your booking page should be checked with Highlight color #E4B429 and Header color #FFFFFF (this may not always work, in that case, select the top-right gold colour to match the UW theme)
Logo - Display business logo for your booking page should be checked
Under the Region and time zone settings drop-down
Ensure that the 'Current time zone' is Eastern Time
The “Always show time slots in business time zone” is unchecked
*Very important*- Click Save in the top left to confirm your booking page updates
After you save, you’ll see the link for your public facing bookings page. Email or copy your bookings page link. It is a good idea to bookmark this page for ease of sharing in future.
You must provide Microsoft Bookings access to your calendar to allow your calendars to sync and ensure appointments do not overlap.
Provide Bookings Calendar Access
Open Outlook, and navigate to the calendar tab.
Right-click on your personal calendar under the 'My Calendars' heading and select Properties.
Select the Permissions tab and set the Permission Level for either the 'Default' group or the 'My Organization' group to 'Can view when I am busy' and hit OK
Find your public facing page
After you are signed into your MS 365 Bookings account, select the tile under Shared booking pages (not Personal booking page).
Navigate to the Booking page tab:
You’ll see a box with your hyperlink - this is your public facing page link, you can select the rectangle box to copy the link, email or embed
Use buffer time
After you are signed into your MS 365 Bookings account, select the tile under Shared booking pages (not Personal booking page).
Navigate to the Services tab:
Select which service (i.e., 30-min discussion, etc.) you want to set a buffer time for and select the Edit service (or pencil icon)
Under the Basic details left-side tab:
Under Duration, toggle on the Buffer time and choose using the arrows how many minutes of Before or After buffer time. (Note: Before buffer time will make your appointment start times appear at odd timings, e.g., 9:05, 9:25, etc. It is recommended to only use the After buffer time and make the Duration + Buffer time an even 15-min interval, e.g., duration at 25 mins + buffer at 5 mins = 30 mins, duration at 30 mins + buffer at 15 mins = 45 mins.)
Select Save changes
Cancel/reschedule an appointment
After you are signed into your MS 365 Bookings account, select the tile under Shared booking pages (not Personal booking page).
Navigate to the Calendar tab:
On the left-side menu under Staff, ensure the circle beside your name is checked
Select the appointment in the calendar that you would like to cancel or reschedule, you will see a pop-up window with appointment details
To cancel, select the Cancel button, you may enter a customized message to the customer (employer), then select Send cancellation
To reschedule, select the Edit button, make any time/date changes, then select the Update booking button
Book an appointment for a customer (employer)
After you are signed into your MS 365 Bookings account, select the tile under Shared booking pages (not Personal booking page).
Navigate to the Calendar tab:
On the left-side menu under Staff, ensure the circle beside your name is checked
Select the date/time when you would like to schedule the appointment in your calendar, you will see a pop-up window with appointment details
Choose from the header drop-down which type of service (appointment types)
Add the Service Details and Customer Information, *very important* to add an email or the customer will not receive the meeting invite
Under Staff, check the circle beside your name
Select Create booking
Send a direct link for a specific service type (i.e., 30-min discussion)
After you are signed into your MS 365 Bookings account, select the tile under Shared booking pages (not Personal booking page).
Navigate to the Services tab:
Select which service (i.e., 30-min discussion) that you want to send a direct link
Under Service Details, hover over Service booking page and a rectangle will appear to select to copy the link. Tip: you can hyperlink this in your messages sent to employers to ensure they book the right type of appointment.
Set custom hours for a specific service type
After you are signed into your MS 365 Bookings account, select the tile under Shared booking pages (not Personal booking page).
Navigate to the Services tab:
Select which service (i.e., 30-min discussion, quick discussion, etc.) you want to set custom hours and select the Edit service (or pencil icon)
Under the Availability options left-side tab, go to General availability, and choose ‘Custom hours (recurring weekly)’ from the drop-down menu
Set your adjusted hours and select Save changes
Set custom dates for a specific service type
After you are signed into your MS 365 Bookings account, select the tile under Shared booking pages (not Personal booking page).
Navigate to the Services tab:
Select which service (i.e., 30-min discussion, quick discussion, etc.) you want to set custom dates and select the Edit service (or pencil icon)
Under the Availability options left-side tab, go to General availability, and choose ‘Not bookable’ from the drop-down menu
Select the hyperlink ‘Set different availability for a date range’, choose the start and end dates, the drop-down should be set to ‘Bookable when staff are free’
Select Save changes
Set custom dates and hours for a specific service type
After you are signed into your MS 365 Bookings account, select the tile under Shared booking pages (not Personal booking page).
Navigate to the Services tab:
Select which service (i.e., 30-min discussion, quick discussion, etc.) you want to set custom dates and hours and select the Edit service (or pencil icon)
Under the Availability options left-side tab, go to General availability, and choose ‘Not bookable’ from the drop-down menu
Select the hyperlink ‘Set different availability for a date range’, choose the start and end dates, the drop-down should be set to ‘Custom hours (recurring weekly)’ from the drop-down menu
Set your adjusted hours and select Save changes
Make service types not visible (unpublished)/visible (published)
After you are signed into your MS 365 Bookings account, select the tile under Shared booking pages (not Personal booking page).
Navigate to the Services tab:
Select which service (i.e., 30-min discussion, quick discussion, etc.) you want to make not visible/visible and select the Edit service (or pencil icon)
On the left-side of the pop-up window, you’ll see a Publishing options toggle. When the toggle is on, that means the service is visible (published). When the toggle is off, that means the service is not visible (not published). Tip: It may be useful to make certain service types not published (not visible) at certain times in the term so employers have fewer options on display to choose from.
Select Save changes
