Mar 17 2021 03:11 PM - edited Mar 17 2021 03:24 PM
We just switched over to Office 365 at work and I want to understand if Microsoft Bookings will be able to work for us or not. We are a charity that runs nature education programs.
I have always used multiple shared calendars in order to schedule my staff for classroom programs (two 1-hour programs on separate days), workshops (1-hour programs) and outdoor programs (full day hikes and snowshoes). I have one shared calendar for classroom/workshop programs and one for outdoor programs. Can Bookings book into the shared calendar rather than personal staff calendars? We have full time staff but also contract guides that lead outdoor programs. Staffing is incredibly complex and it would be better if I could assign staff to what gets booked into the shared calendar. Does anyone know if this is possible?
Furthermore, we usually have one teacher booking programs for multiple classes. Can they do that all at once or would they have to do 6 different bookings for 6 different classes?
Thanks for reading!
Jun 09 2021 04:57 AM
@JaclynAngotti I am attempting to configure MS Bookings for a similar purpose - I need to be able to assign staff to bookings but I cannot allow clients to book specific staff.
Essentially, I need to be able to assign staff members to an appointment 'queue' each day - so John may be responsible for all bookings in appointment Queue A on Monday, and Jane responsible for Queue B, while the rest of the team focus on offline work.
However, if John or Jane are running behind, or ill, or if urgent issues arise, I may need to ask Chris or Casey to switch from offline work to take over appointment Queue A or B.
This would be easiest where the booked appointments sit in their own queues, but not automatically assigned to specific staff members. Any solution in this regard would be terrific.
Jun 09 2021 01:03 PM
@David_Nicholson Hi David. We would like something similar. Unfortunately, I don't think MS Bookings can do this yet. We never got a resolution and abandoned MS Bookings. I think we're going to try Amelia. Amelia - WordPress Appointment and Event Booking Plugin (wpamelia.com). Best of luck!
Jun 09 2021 08:01 PM
Jun 09 2021 08:02 PM
Jun 10 2021 05:18 AM
@Kiroley Hi - thanks for that - would this mean that the 'dummy' calendar would need to have an AD account associated with it? We currently have a shared team email address/calendar which I would ideally use for this purpose, but I'm unaware of a username/password which goes with it..?
Jun 10 2021 03:39 PM
Oct 01 2021 04:21 AM
I have a setup as described where I create a staff member who is a guest in bookings using a shared mailbox/calendar. I use this shared calendar to manage the appointment bookings.
The challenge is this shared calendar may contain existing bookings.
How can I configure the 'Service' and 'staff' member in Bookings in order to avoid conflicts with bookings in the shared calendar that are entered outside of bookings?
I hope that makes sense.