From Tuesday 11 February, you must use Microsoft Outlook to book all meeting rooms.
It will not be possible to book meeting rooms via Planon from Tuesday 11 February.
On Monday 10 February, all meeting room booking (via Outlook or Planon) will not be available. Bookings made prior to Monday 10 February will not be impacted.
FAQs
- Why are we making this change?
- What is changing and when?
- Will there by any changes in Outlook?
- Will there be any changes to meeting room names or who can book them?
- Can I still view room information, such as facilities, capacity, room photos etc., in Planon?
- Will there be any changes to booking teaching spaces?
- Will my existing bookings be impacted by the change?
- I am a room steward. Will I still have access to change room settings?
Due to security changes at Microsoft being implemented this year, the synchronisation between Microsoft Outlook and Planon will stop working. ICT used this as an opportunity to review meeting room bookings.
As 73% of bookings in 2024 were made via Outlook, it was decided to streamline meeting room booking to a single system. This will have several benefits, including:
- Reducing the risk of duplicate bookings
- Receiving fewer confirmation/decline emails (one per booking instead of two)
- Minimise potential disruptions as there is no reliance on the connection between two systems
From Tuesday 11 February, you will no longer be able to use Planon to book meeting rooms.
All meeting rooms from this date must be booked through Outlook.
The same functionality to book, restrict and and administer meeting rooms will be available in Outlook.
The one change will be when booking a room attached to a recurring meeting - if the room is unavailable in one or more instances of the recurring meeting, bookings for the full series will be declined.
To avoid this occurring, we recommend one of two solutions:
- You can check the meeting room's availability for the time period you are booking for in advance of making your booking.
- You can set up the recurring meeting without a room booking and then go into each instance to book a room.
Meeting room names will remain the same.
Any rooms which are currently moderated in Planon can be set up as a restricted room in Outlook with the same permissions. We are supporting room administrators to make these changes.
Room information, including photos, can be viewed in the Room Finder in Planon, however you will have to book the room via Microsoft Outlook.
No - you can continue to use CELCAT room booker to book teaching spaces at Imperial.
Any bookings made prior to Monday 10 February in Planon that were accepted will continue to show in Outlook.
Room stewards will continue to be able to add, delete, remove, and edit functionality for rooms owned by their department using Outlook.