Classification:Email and Calendaring > Outlook > Calendar Incident

What is a resource calendar?

A resource calendar is a Microsoft 365 mailbox typically used for non-person related calendars, such as meeting/conference rooms or audio-visual equipment. Resources contain special options for scheduling and permissions that are not available in regular user accounts.

Resource calendars:

• On creation, NO ONE can work on behalf of the resource (create events on behalf of the calendar), including the primary owner.
• On creation, ANYONE can schedule/invite this resource. The event will show up within the resource calendar, but will require approval.

Interacting with a resource calendar

There are two main ways to interact with a resource calendar:

• Invite the resource
• Work on behalf of the resource

Inviting a resource means - in the process of creating an event on a calendar, the resource is added as an attendee. Some reasons you may want to use this method include:

• You want the owner of the event to be the organizer and not the resource.
• You want to allow the resource to be reserved on a first-come first-served basis.
• You want to allow others to reserve the resource tentatively and then have it either approved or denied by others.

Working on behalf of the resource means - the event is created on the resource itself by a user who has editor or higher permissions. Some reasons you may want to use this method include:

• The event is owned by the resource and not by the individual who created it.
• Only users who have editor (or higher) permissions are able to manage (create/modify/delete) the event.

Examples:

Conference Room Calendar - managed manually

A shared conference room needs to be managed by a few staff. Requests to reserve the conference room are handled by a few staff who have the ability to manage all the events within the conference room calendar. When a request comes in, the staff who have editor permissions will be able to create an event within the conference room calendar.

Conference Room Calendar - managed automatically

A shared conference room needs to be managed on a first-come-first-served basis. Assigned users would be able to reserve the conference room if it is available. Otherwise, the invitation will be declined automatically by the resource calendar.

If you are unhappy with the way your resource calendars are currently working or just need direction on what would be the best way to configure your resource, please contact the UWM Help Desk at 414-229-4040, toll free at 877-381-3459, or by submitting an online request via Getting Help - Technology Resources.

For more information on opening and sharing resource calendar mailboxes, please see Microsoft 365 -Outlook on the Web (How To) Open and Share Resource Calendar Mailboxes.