Why the calendar stops being enough
- You can't see the plan and the free spaces at once. You have to look through invitations or ask.
- Forgotten bookings block spaces, even though nobody uses them.
- Permanent spaces stand empty during holidays, because there's no way to give them up.
- There's no history: who, when and for how long.
- Spaces belonging to another company in the building get mixed up with ours.
For meeting rooms alone, room mailboxes in Outlook work well in Microsoft 365. A separate system makes sense when you want parking, rooms and desks in one place or need rules the calendar doesn't support.
What a parking booking system should have
Meeting rooms
Rooms are best shown on a day grid: a column per room, a row per hour. You see straight away who has a room and when it's free. A booking has a subject and attendees, and a room has its parameters: capacity, equipment and the hours it can be booked.
Rules worth agreeing before the rollout
- How far ahead
For example a week. A longer horizon encourages booking just in case.
- Times of day
All day, morning and afternoon are enough in most companies. Custom hours as an extra.
- Permanent spaces
Who has them and how they release them. Ideally with one button for a given period.
- Who manages the layout
One or two people with the right to edit the plan.
- Bookings nobody cancelled
Whether a space releases itself if nobody confirms arrival by a set time.
How to get people to use it
- Sign-in with the company account, no extra password.
- A good phone version, because spaces are often booked on the way.
- Fewer clicks than in the calendar. If booking takes longer than an Outlook meeting, people go back to Outlook.
- A bit of fun. A small detail from practice: the car park plan shows car models drawn at random every day. It costs nothing, and people look in more willingly.
Questions and answers
Can it be connected to Outlook?
Yes, for example by sending the booking to the employee's calendar as an event. Often, though, the system with a reminder is enough on its own.
What about visitors from outside?
The booking for a visitor is made by the person who invites them. If the car park has a barrier or security, a field for the registration number helps.
Is it worth building when there are ready-made apps?
If a ready-made app fits, it's better to buy it. Your own tool makes sense when the company already has an internal platform with company account sign-in and wants everything in one place.
Sources and documentation
- Microsoft 365: room mailboxeslearn.microsoft.com