Can you meet about the project?

Sure. What day is best for you?

Monday would be good.

What time?

How about 10 a.m.?

Nope. Already have a meeting. How about 1 p.m.

No can do. I have to leave early for an appointment.

Well, how about …

Does this conversation look familiar? Not very efficient — especially when a large group needs to coordinate a meeting time. What if you could just share a link to your calendar and availability, allowing others to pick a time that fits their schedule? With Microsoft Bookings, that ability is just a click away.

When a researcher is interested in the cloud-based offerings of Secure Technologies for Aggie Researchers (STAR), they fill out a survey sent to the STAR channel in Microsoft Teams. Users then receive two forms and a request to schedule a discovery meeting/consultation through Bookings.

“We need to meet with a number of different researchers with a very limited amount of time, “ said Health Research Technologies Analyst David Daniel. “Just trying to coordinate all that over email would get very confusing. Bookings really shines in keeping everything straight.”

Earlier in the year, the STAR team conducted a promotional trip to the College of Dentistry in Dallas. Since clients could also schedule discovery meetings, they wanted to ensure the events were registered separately to avoid conflict and confusion. Bookings made it simple to create separate scheduling pages for different audiences and avoid overlap.

While the STAR team used another scheduling program in the past, they never turned back after discovering Bookings. The program integrates smoothly with other Microsoft 365 apps, such as Outlook and Teams.

“I can see us adding additional services to Bookings in the future so we can send customers to the portal and they can see the times available for each service,” said Brad Thornton, Texas A&M Health Research Technologies Manager. “The nice thing is that Bookings will always keep our calendars straight.”