Staff Scheduler Using Microsoft Graph
Mar 2021 – Apr 2021 · PRMconnect
- Microsoft Graph
- Microsoft 365
- Outlook
- Exchange
A scheduling system, built in under 4 weeks, that let 3 staffers schedule over 2,500 global staff assignments in 72 hours with 100% coverage.
Challenge
The customer needed to schedule several hundred domain experts to cover presentations and customer training sessions over a global multi-day live stream event. An initial implementation on the customer's internal platform had proved unsuccessful, resulting in four weeks of lost project time.
Goals
- Assignments prioritized by region, time zone, and skillsets related to products, industries and roles
- Invitation and accept/decline status confirmed and auditable
- A single administrative interface showing staffing needs, staff eligibility, assignments and status
- All assignment information delivered by email, with one-click accept or decline
- Administrative email alerts when a previously accepted assignment is declined
- Operation as a third-party SaaS, interoperable with the customer's Exchange email and calendaring
Solution
- Google Calendar and Microsoft 365 were both considered, to take advantage of direct email and calendar integration
- Microsoft 365 was selected for better interoperability with the customer's Exchange system and improved change detection through the Microsoft Graph API
- All administrative actions were performed in a custom UI, with Microsoft Graph managing a central Outlook calendar for all invitations
- All staffer interactions took place within Outlook email or calendar clients
Results
- The project was completed in under 4 weeks, with all required features and within the revised budget
- 3 staffers scheduled over 2,500 global staff assignments in 72 hours with 100% coverage
- Conflicts and cancellations were handled through automatic notification
- Staff Outlook invitations were updated in near real time with the relevant content and videoconferencing links