Book on behalf - how to setup the book on behalf right so it is limited to specific people - for example a common mailbox or a single company

In Planner you can limit the book on behalf right to a group of people. This can be very helpful if you have multiple companies and the right should be limited to a specific company.

Or if you have common mailboxes that some people are allowed to book on behalf of, without being allowed to book on behalf of every other user in the solution.

Table of contents

• How to set it up for booking on behalf of one other user
• How to set it up for booking on behalf of another company
• How to link it with your ad import

How to set it up for booking on behalf of one other user

Please note that this is how the access is set up in Planner. The users still need rights in Outlook to book on behalf.

For this, we are going to use Planner departments. This is because it is the only way to single out specific users in Planner and that way limiting the access. The access is called "Department Secretary" in Planner.

Step 1: Create a new department in your Planner. Perhaps name it "book on behalf of common mailbox" or just name it after your common mailbox

• Go to organizations
• Scroll down to Departments
• Click "+ Add new department"
• Type in a name for the department
• Click "Create"
• The department is created

Step 2: Add the user you want to book on behalf of. For instance, if Clara and Mark are allowed to book on behalf of a common mailbox called "Accounting" then you want to add "Accountings" Planner user.

• Go to organizations
• Scroll down to Departments
• Click on the department
• Click on "+ Users"
• Find the user and click the green "+"

Step 3: Add the users who will be allowed to book on behalf of this user. For instance, if Clara and Mark are allowed to book on behalf of a common mailbox called "Accounting" then you want to add Clara and Mark here.

• Go to organizations
• Scroll down to Departments
• Click on the department
• Click on "+ Secretaries"
• Find the users and click the green "+"

Now it is set up in Planner. Don't forget to set it up in Exchange as well.

Also note that if it is a common mailbox, the common mailbox has to be setup as a normal user.

How to set it up for booking on behalf of another company

Please note that this is how the access is set up in Planner. The users still need rights in Outlook to book on behalf.

For this, we are going to use Planner departments. If you are a multi company house you most likely have the companies split in departments already, as it is a way to restrict the billing accounts.

Step 1: Create a new department in your Planner. If the department already exists, you can skip this step.

• Go to organizations
• Scroll down to Departments
• Click "+ Add new department"
• Type in a name for the department, for example the company name
• Click "Create"
• The department is created

Step 2: Add the users of that company to the department. If they all use the same email domain (for example @pronestor.com) then you can add the users by email domain. Otherwise you have to add them individually.

Adding by email domain:

• Go to organizations
• Scroll down to Departments
• Click on the department
• Click "Add email domain"
• Enter your email domain. If my email is user@pronestor.com then my email domain is pronestor.com
• Click "Save"

Adding individually:

• Go to organizations
• Scroll down to Departments
• Click on the department
• Click on "+ Users"
• Find the users and click the green "+" on each of them

Step 3: Add the users who will be allowed to book on behalf of this user.

• Go to organizations
• Scroll down to Departments
• Click on your department
• Click on "+ Secretaries"
• Find the users and click the green "+" on each user

Now it is set up in Planner. Don't forget to set it up in Exchange as well.

How to link the access with your ad import

Please note that this is how the access is set up in Planner. The users still need rights in Outlook to book on behalf.

If you use an AD import, you can link the users instead of adding them manually within Planner.

Step 1: Create two AD groups in your AD

Step 2: Create a new department in your Planner. Please remember the name for later.

• Go to organizations
• Scroll down to Departments
• Click "+ Add new department"
• Type in a name for the department
• Click "Create"
• The department is created

Step 3: Wait for another AD import. This lets Planner realize that there is a new AD group that can be linked.

Step 4: Setup the linking

• Go to Settings
• Click Import users
• Click on the pencil next to your import
• Click on the Linking tab
• Scroll down to Departments. Here you will see that for every department there is an option to link users and secretaries. As in the other examples, the ones that you can book on behalf of are users. The ones who are allowed to book on behalf of the users are the secretaries.
• Click "Not linked" next to "your department name" type user.
• Pick the AD group you created for the users. These are the ones you book on behalf of.
• Click "Not linked" next to "your department name" type secretary.
• Pick the AD group you created for the Secretaries. These are the ones who get to book on behalf of the users.
• Scroll down
• Click "Save links"

Next time the import runs, the accesses will be synchronized with your AD. Please remember to grant the AD groups to your users and secretaries, and to grant the necessary rights in Outlook as well.