In today’s interconnected business world, organizations rarely operate in isolation. Whether it’s a merger, a holding structure with multiple subsidiaries, or a long-term joint venture, the need to see “when” a colleague from another organization is available is critical.
Scheduling meetings via email ping-pong (“Are you free Tuesday at 2?” – “No, how about Wednesday?”) is inefficient. The solution lies within Exchange Online Organization Relationships. This guide walks you through the “Why”, the “How”, and the “What to Expect”.
Real-World Use Cases
Before we dive into the configuration, let’s look at where this setup delivers the most value:
🤝 Mergers & Acquisitions
Scenario: Company A buys Company B. Migration takes months, but management needs to schedule meetings today.
Benefit: Instant visibility of Free/Busy times across both tenants without waiting for full IT integration.
🏢 Holding Structures
Scenario: A parent company has 5 subsidiaries, each with its own M365 tenant.
Benefit: Seamless scheduling across the entire group while keeping data and administration strictly separated.
🚀 Joint Ventures
Scenario: Two independent companies work on a major project for 12 months.
Benefit: Teams can collaborate as if they were in the same office, without needing Guest Accounts for every single user.
Technical Guide: Setting Up Organization Relationships
This configuration establishes a trust relationship specifically for calendar data. It does not give access to emails or files.
Step-by-Step Configuration
Navigate to admin.exchange.microsoft.com with Global Admin or Exchange Admin credentials.
In the left-hand menu, go to Organization > Sharing.
Find the Organization Sharing section and click on Add organization relationship.
- Relationship Name: E.g., “To Partner Company”.
- Domains to share with: Enter the partner’s domain (e.g.,
partner-company.com). - Sharing Level: Enable “Calendar free/busy information sharing”.
Decision Point: Choose your level of transparency:
- Time only: Users see “Busy” blocks. Good for loose partnerships.
- Time, subject, and location: Users see “Meeting with Client X in Room 202”. Recommended for M&A and internal holdings.
User Experience: How to View the Calendar
Unlike internal colleagues, external calendars don’t just “appear.” Users need to add them once.
In Outlook (New / Web / Classic)
- Go to the Calendar View.
- Select Add Calendar > From Directory (or use the search bar).
- Type the full email address of the external colleague (e.g.,
[email protected]). - Click Open/Add.
Outlook will now query the external tenant and display the availability side-by-side with your own calendar.
The Capabilities Matrix: Managing Expectations
It is crucial to understand that an Organization Relationship is a “Look but don’t touch” scenario. Here is a breakdown of what is technically possible:
| Feature | Status | Details |
|---|---|---|
| View Free/Busy Status | ✅ Yes | You can see when they are available for a meeting. |
| View Subject & Location | ✅ Yes | Only if enabled by Admins in Step 4. |
| Edit/Delete Appointments | ❌ No | Read-Only access. You cannot modify their calendar. |
| Create Items in their Calendar | ❌ No | You cannot place an appointment directly into their calendar; you must send a meeting invite. |
| View Private Items | ❌ No | Private appointments remain private (shown only as “Private” or “Busy”). |
| Open Attachments | ❌ No | You cannot see meeting agendas, files, or body text inside the appointment. |
| Mobile App Sync | ⚠️ Partial | External calendars often require adding via Desktop first to appear in the Outlook Mobile App. |
Conclusion
Setting up an Organization Relationship is a quick, high-impact win for IT departments managing split environments. It solves the number one scheduling headache without the security complexity of full Guest Access or Trust setups.
Need to go a step further and allow users to act as delegates or sync users as contacts? Contact us to discuss Cross-Tenant Synchronization.
