Virtual visits with Microsoft Teams and the Bookings app
Overview
The Bookings app in Microsoft Teams gives organizations a simple way to schedule and manage virtual appointments for staff and attendees. Use it to schedule virtual appointments such as healthcare visits, financial consultations, interviews, customer support, virtual shopping experiences, education office hours, and more.
The Bookings app makes it easy to manage complex scheduling demands of any organization. Schedulers can manage multiple department and staff calendars, as well as communications with internal and external attendees, from a single experience.
The virtual visits are held through Microsoft Teams meetings, which offers robust video conferencing capabilities. For example, a doctor can share their screen and review test results with a patient. Or, a banking advisor can request electronic signatures on documents, allowing them to close transactions remotely.
Each virtual appointment includes a Teams meeting link that’s sent to attendees in email where they can easily join from a web browser or in Teams on any device. Automated email reminders help reduce no-shows and enhance customer and client engagement.
With Bookings, you get an experience that's tailored to your industry. Here's a few examples of how you can use it in your organization:
| Industry | Examples |
|---|---|
| Financial services | Virtual visits for remote sales and service Schedule and manage virtual appointments for bank relationship managers, financial advisors, and claims adjusters, just to name a few, to serve your customers with increased efficiency and convenience. |
| Healthcare | Virtual visits for patient care Schedule and manage virtual visits for your care team members to meet with patients or other healthcare providers to discuss medical care. |
| Retail | Virtual shopping experiences Schedule and manage appointments for your sales associates, product experts, and design consultants to conduct virtual shopping experiences with customers. |
This article gives you an overview of how to use the Bookings app in Teams to schedule, manage, and conduct virtual visits.
Before you get started
If you’re an admin, see Manage the Bookings app in Teams to learn about the prerequisites for using the Bookings app in Teams, how to control access to Bookings in your organization, and recommended policy and admin settings.
Remember that only schedulers in your organization need to have the Bookings app installed in Teams. Staff who conduct or participate in virtual appointments don't need the app. They join appointments from their Teams or Outlook calendar or by using the meeting link in their booking confirmation email.
Set up a new booking calendar
Create the booking calendar
In Teams, go to Bookings > Get started, and then select New booking calendar. Complete the form and be sure to choose the relevant business type for your organization.
If you’re a larger organization, consider creating more than one booking calendar if you want attendees to receive a booking email from a specific department rather than your overall organization. To learn more, see Create a Bookings calendar.
Note
If this isn't your first time in the Bookings app or if you want to work in an existing booking calendar, in Bookings, select the dropdown arrow next to your organization name, and then choose Existing booking calendar. From here, you can search for the one you want.
Add staff
In the booking calendar, go to More options (...) > Settings, and then select Staff. Add staff members and assign a role to each person you add.
The Bookings app integrates with Outlook. After you add staff, you’ll be able to view that person’s calendar availability and schedule bookings for them. To learn more, see Add staff and view a Bookings calendar.
Create appointment types
Create specific appointment types to represent the services offered by your organization and to tailor the booking experience.
In the booking calendar, go to More options (...) > Appointment types, and then select New appointment type. Enter a name—for example, Account opening, Prescription renewal, Loan consultation, Tax preparation—and any other information and settings you want.
The information and links that you add are included in the email confirmation that's sent to attendees every time this type of appointment is booked. You can even set email reminders and other options such as whether attendees can join from a mobile browser without having to download Teams. To learn more, see Create an appointment type.
Schedule a virtual visit
In the booking calendar, select New booking. Select an appointment type, and then fill out the relevant information.
This includes attendee contact information, the staff member who will be providing the service, internal notes that only staff can see, email reminders, and whether the attendee can join from a mobile browser. To learn more, see Schedule a booking in the Teams Bookings app.
The email confirmation sent to the attendee includes the meeting link and an attachment so that they can add the virtual appointment to their calendar. Staff also receive an email confirmation and meeting invite.
Conduct a virtual visit
In your Teams or Outlook calendar, go to the booking, and then select Join or the Teams meeting link. Check your audio and video settings, and then select Join now. To learn more, see Conduct a Bookings appointment.
Additional capabilities with the Bookings web app
The Bookings web app gives you additional capabilities. For example, you can publish a self-serve online booking page where people can schedule appointments with your staff. To access the Bookings web app, go to More options (...) > Open Bookings web app.
To learn more, see Microsoft Bookings.
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