The project
At Portland Towers, the German Embassy shares meeting facilities and the canteen setup with several other organisations.
The goal of the project was to provide a unified and user-friendly solution that allowed embassy staff to book meeting rooms, order catering and handle lunch payments, despite the organisations operating on separate Microsoft 365 tenants.
MyDesk was selected as the shared platform capable of bringing all functions together and supporting both Outlook and MyDesk Planner as booking interfaces.
The challenge
Portland Towers houses up to five different organisations, each running on its own IT environment and Microsoft 365 tenant. This made it difficult for employees to view and book shared meeting rooms and manage related catering.
Additionally, the German Embassy required seamless integration with the building’s access control system, allowing staff to register and pay for lunch using their existing access cards. The previous setup relied on manual processes that varied between organisations.
Why MyDesk
MyDesk was chosen because it is one of the few platforms capable of supporting shared meeting room bookings across multiple Microsoft 365 tenants — without complex technical configuration.
At the same time, MyDesk integrates with Portland Towers’ access control and canteen systems, providing a unified experience. Embassy employees can book rooms and catering directly in Outlook or via MyDesk Planner, depending on their preferred workflow.
What was delivered
MyDesk delivered a complete solution including:
Cross-tenant meeting room booking across five different Microsoft 365 tenants
Unified access to both catering and meeting room reservations
Integration with the building’s access system for lunch registration and payment
User-friendly booking via Outlook or MyDesk Planner
A streamlined setup enabling several organisations with different systems to work together efficiently
