Email is great for many tasks, but the inherent back-and-forth nature makes it inefficient (and just plain confusing) for scheduling. Fortunately, Texas A&M faculty and staff already have the ultimate solution at their fingertips: Microsoft Bookings.

As part of the campus Microsoft 365 environment, Bookings works seamlessly with Outlook and Teams. Using this tool, you can offer appointment slots to others so they can select a time that meets their availability. For example, faculty can allow students to find open office hours and staff can easily set meetings or reserve rooms. When someone schedules a time, everyone receives an email alert and the appointment syncs with their Outlook calendar. 

Lauren Dorsett, director of health promotion for the Division of Student Affairs, welcomed Bookings into her workflow to schedule meetings with students. She also uses Microsoft 365 to prepare her programs with Planner and flags her Outlook email to automatically add tasks to her to-do list.

“I really appreciate how the tools integrate with one another,” she said. “The fact I can access all of them through a browser wherever I am is helpful in so many ways.”

Bookings can also be used to schedule for a group. Jennifer Wuensche, director of academic technology and distance education with the College of Nursing, said the tool allows others to set meetings with the instructional design team.

“We set up 15-, 30- and 60-minute appointments with various rules governing how much notice to provide all members of my team that they have been booked,” she explained. “Users can book with a particular member or the first available team member. It works great.”

Meetings scheduled in Bookings can also be virtual with Microsoft Teams. Every appointment booked as an online meeting creates a meeting link that everyone can join virtually from anywhere. Bookings is also available as an app within Teams to help you create calendars, assign staff, schedule new appointments and meet without ever leaving Teams.