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Configure desk peripherals for use in Microsoft Places

When an admin configures desk peripherals for use in Microsoft Places, users can seamlessly reserve specific desks by connecting their Windows or macOS devices to peripherals on the desk. Configuring peripherals also enables optional automatic detection of a user's work location, notifications that desks are occupied, usage reports, and more.

Note

  • The bookable desks feature is only available on the new Teams client for Windows and macOS. Go to New Microsoft Teams to download the latest Teams client.

  • Peripheral plug-in is designed to work with all models and manufacturers, but is dependent on the device having unique properties, such as Product ID, Vendor ID, or serial number. We currently support monitors and devices with both audio and video capabilities. Support for docking stations and webcams is coming soon.

Collect and associate peripheral information using PowerShell

To configure desk peripherals, you must first create desk pools or individual desk accounts. Go to Configure desk booking for instructions. After creating these accounts, wait 24–48 hours for the accounts to appear in the Teams Rooms Pro management portal.

After the desk pools and individual desk accounts are visible in the portal, you must associate peripherals to the desk pool or the individual desk account. To associate peripherals, you must use unique identifying information such as the product ID, vendor ID, and serial number of each peripheral.

We offer a free PowerShell script to fetch peripheral details and ensure they are mapped to the corresponding desk pool or individual desk accounts in the Teams Rooms Pro Management portal. Download the script here. For detailed instructions on its use, go to Add peripherals to inventory.

Note

The downloads page might link directly to an older version of the script. Check the "Installation Instructions" section of the downloads page for a link to the latest version.

Enable automatic detection of location for users

Automatic detection of work location enables users to publish their exact work locations, such as a building. Admins can enable autodetection for the entire organization or only for a group of users, but autodetection does not work if users do not provide consent for their work locations to be visible.

Important

By default, users are opted out of work location detection. Users are prompted to provide consent for automatic location detection in the Teams desktop client on Windows or macOS. It is not possible for admins to consent on users' behalf.

Go to enable automatic detection of location for a full description of this feature. The User control section explains how users can provide or deny consent for location autodetection.

Testing peripheral plug-in

After configuring peripherals, you must wait 24–48 hours for the changes to propagate.

To test whether a peripheral has been correctly associated with a desk, verify that you are signed into Teams on a Windows or macOS device and then plug into an associated peripheral. If the desk is available for booking, a booking appears in your calendar and a notification appears in your activity feed: "The [space or desk] is reserved and ready for you."

To learn more about the end-user experience, go to First things to know about bookable desks in Microsoft Teams.

Review usage reports

Usage reports show how desk pools or individual desks are being used. Desk usage reports are located in the Teams Rooms Pro Management portal under Reports > Desks usage.

The following metrics are available:

Metric Definition
Total associated desks The total number of device groups associated to all desk pools or individual desks.
Total unused desk pools The total number of desk pools that have 0% utilization.
Total unused desks The total number of individual desks that have 0% utilization.
Unplanned reservations The percentage of reservations across all desk pools and individual desks that weren't planned in advance and were automatically booked.

Below the metrics, there is a granular breakdown of each desk pool and individual desk, accompanied by specific metrics that highlight the usage of each. You can adjust the time filter to view usage over different time periods or the type filter to view metrics for a specific type of desk.

Column Description
Display name The name of the desk pool or individual desk.
Utilization The percentage of time users were plugged into associated desks during business hours in the given time period.
Associated desks The number of device groups associated to this desk pool or individual desk, out of the total capacity.
Reservations The number of reservations across bookable desks in the selected time period.
Unplanned reservations The percentage of reservations that weren't planned in advance and were automatically booked.
Reservation occupancy The percentage of time that users spent plugged into bookable desks during reservations. Lower values indicate more reservations were spent with less time plugged in.