Forum Discussion

dkgcb's avatar
dkgcb
Copper Contributor
Dec 07, 2022

Booking customers page

Hi,

I'm trying to test Booking app for our use case:

  1. - Limit access to the booking published page to book services(Rooms) to a specific customers
    •  we have a rotating group of students every term that need to schedule the rooms for sessions, so is it possible to limit access to the "Booking page" via email distribution group or some other means?  - We are trying to see if we can make it easier for admins to manage students lists. I'm assuming customers >import is an option, but with such a high turn around it would me time consuming to remove old then add new students.
  2. Is there anyway to prevent the default confirmation email from going out when the customer books a service?
    • The use case is that admin has to approve the booking before its confirmed and once they get the email, they might think its approved.
Bookings
  • Teresa_Cyrus's avatar
    Teresa_Cyrus
    MVP
    Dec 09, 2022

    dkgcb 

     

     

    I am an independent contractor addressing Microsoft Booking questions. 

     

    After reading your use case, here are several options for handling the setup.

     

    Requirement 1: Limit access to the booking published page 

    It appears that you are creating services for internal students who may be in your Azure Active Directory. If this is the case, you can share the Bookings page with only people in your organization. See the image below. 

     

    Note: The share functionality is not the same as it is in OneDrive, SharePoint, Teams, etc. where you share with specific people, teams, or groups. (Oo, you may be onto something here.) Check out the alternative method below. 

     

     

    Option 1:  

    Encrypted Email: Once the booking page is configured, submit an encrypted email with the Bookings Page link to the current Term Students via any existing organization’s email distribution lists or groups. An encrypted email can not be forwarded to others.  However, any previous term students will have access to the Bookings page.

     

    Option 2: My Preference

    Clone a Booking Calendar: By cloning the previous term's Booking calendar and services, you can keep the history of previous bookings and students. This way, for the current term, you can adjust any settings, custom fields, staff, etc., and retain the history of the previous term. As a best practice, you can keep a rolling four terms (12 months).  

     

    Encrypted Email: This time, you will include the cloned Bookings page link in the encrypted email to the current term students via existing organization’s email distribution lists or groups. 

     

     

     

    Let’s address Requirement #2. 

    Yes, you can prevent students from receiving a confirmation email. In my opinion, it is not the best practice. Students need some form of acknowledgment that the appointment was successfully created/submitted. If you continue down this path, as a suggestion, you can include a disclaimer, instructions, or expectations in the service's description field.  

     

    Important: The Staff must confirm or cancel service appointments through the Bookings Calendar only and not Outlook. This functionality has caused confusion. Check out this post. 

     

     

    Also, the reminder emails will be the same message for all messages. You can not customize individual messages. Keep in mind, Booking is used for consistent actions and messaging.  

     

     

     

     

    Well, dkgcb, I hope this helps you with your decision about Microsoft Bookings. If you find this information helpful, please mark this post as the best response which will assist others with the same questions.  

     

    If you have any other questions, feel free to submit a private message.

     

    /Teresa

    #traccreations4e

     

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