MC786330: Try the new Bookable Desks feature

Announcement IDMC786330Published Date04-26-2024
ServicemicrosoftteamsLast Updated05-01-2024
CategoryStay informedExpiration Date10-22-2024
Roadmap ID314430Action Required by Date
TagsAdmin impact, New feature, User impact


Summary
                Microsoft Teams will introduce a 'Bookable Desks' feature, allowing users to reserve a desk via Teams or Outlook and confirm the reservation by connecting a device at the desk. Admins can manage and track desk usage through the Teams Rooms Pro Management Portal. Rollout begins mid-June 2024.


More Information

Coming soon: With the new bookable desks feature in Microsoft Teams Rooms Pro Management Portal (PMP), a user can reserve a shared desk by plugging into a device like a monitor at a shared desk. Admins can discover bookable desks in shared spaces as part of the Microsoft Teams Rooms Pro Management portal (PMP) and collect usage data from these desks for proactive management and planning.

When this will happen:

General availability (Worldwide): We will begin rolling out mid-June 2024 (previously late May) and will complete by late June 2024 (previously early June).

How this will affect your organization:

Teams Desktop client T2.1

For bookable desks managed in PMP: A user can walk up to a bookable desk, plug into a device like a monitor, and Teams will notify you of the confirmed desk reservation on the Teams calendar. (Note: Teams must be actively running on the laptop when the user plugs in.)

Teams Activity

For bookable desks managed in Teams or Outlook: A user can reserve the desk in Teams or Outlook, walk up to the bookable desk, plug into a device like a monitor, and Teams will notify you of the confirmed desk reservation on the Teams calendar. (Note: Teams must be actively running on the laptop when the user plugs in.)

Teams Rooms Pro Management portal (PMP)

Admins can discover shared devices on the device Inventory page on PMP as users are reserving desks in Teams.

Inventory page

Admins can associate shared devices on the device Inventory page to desk pool accounts in their tenant so users can reserve desks in Teams.

associate shared devices

IT admins can review usage reports for all licensed desk pool accounts under Reports in the PMP.

What you need to do to prepare:

  1. Creating a desk pool is like configuring a room. 
  2. Get details of devices (such as monitors) on desks by plugging them into your laptop with Teams Desktop app running. To ensure a seamless end-to-end user experience, devices in desk pools must be associated with the desk pool accounts you created earlier. To associate devices with desk pools, first identify devices based on unique information such as product ID, vendor ID, serial number, model, and manufacturer. There are primarily two ways to get this information:
    • Use a custom script: You can use a custom script to get device details from desks to locate devices correctly and ensure they are mapped to the corresponding desk pool accounts. We recommend you run the GitHub script in PowerShell with administrator access. After running the script, confirm on the PMP if the devices are correctly associated with the desk pools.
    • Auto discovery: After five unique users plug their devices into the desks, the unique device information will be sent to the PMP > Inventory > Devices tab and the devices will start showing up with a Needs action banner.
  3. Device and desk association: After you have identified the location of devices, you will need to associate them to desk pool accounts you created. We will update this comm before rollout with a link to documentation for this step.

This rollout will happen automatically by the specified date with no admin action required before the rollout. You may want to notify your users about this change and update any relevant documentation as appropriate.

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