You may have heard how Microsoft Bookings manages your calendar while allowing others to book available times. But did you know it can also be used to reserve rooms, equipment and other resources?

The lightboard video studio at the Texas A&M College of Science is in high demand, as it allows faculty and staff to create videos using a glass “chalkboard” to illuminate writing. Since the studio is shared with the Math Learning Center, a scheduling program was needed that would allow reservations to be made while ensuring the appropriate staff members were available.

Shawn Eyre, multimedia production specialist for the Dean of Science, tried creating a shared mailbox and calendar with Google Calendar and Outlook. When sharing permissions with other groups on campus became an obstacle, Eyre reached out to the Dean of Science Director of Information Technology Wilson Waldrop, who contacted the Division of IT.

“After a number of discussions, we realized Bookings was a good solution for this scenario,” said William Deigaard, Associate vice president for enterprise platforms, cloud and shared services. “In this case, it allows the studio to be set up as an entity with its own calendar. Then the administrators can set up the parameters and make sure it also checks availability of the staff required.”

Eyre said Bookings is “exactly what he was looking for” and could eventually be used to loan out equipment.

“Bookings is extremely flexible in that I can prevent users from booking more than two weeks in advance,” he said. “Once users schedule a date and time, I am notified by email and the user is informed as well.”

Learn ways Microsoft 365 can help you keep everything on schedule.