Microsoft 365 Copilot At Work

SANDAR VAN LAAN is a Senior Principal at Slalom within the Microsoft Modern Work and AI space, leading Copilot rollouts across multiple clients and demonstrating a deep understanding of AI and its practical applications in the enterprise environment. His strategic approach has been instrumental in guiding organizations through the adoption process, ensuring seamless integration and maximizing the benefits of AI technologies. JARED MATFESS serves as an AI Architect at AvePoint, bringing more than two decades of experience within the Microsoft ecosystem to his role. He has been honored with the Microsoft MVP award six times for the Office App & Services category and is actively engaged in sharing his expertise at various community events. Jared’s primary ambition is to assist organizations in their transformation by leveraging advanced technologies like AI. THOMAS FLOCK is a senior consultant at Slalom and specializes in data integrating using AI. His father was a senior engineer for MCI starting in 1983 when he was born, so Thomas has been around computers all his life. Thomas grew up in the Fairfax Virginia area and his first job was for Network Access Solutions in Herndon as a TCP/IP tester. ANN REID is a keen early adopter and experienced M365 Copilot implementation consultant with Slalom. With over 20 years of IT experience, she recognizes the transformative impact of M365 Copilot on organizations as well as challenges it presents. She shares some practical knowledge and strategies for building robust information protection capabilities and demystifies the process of prompt engineering for M365 Copilot.

Introduction xxi

Part I Understanding and Using Copilot 1

Chapter 1 Introduction to Artificial Intelligence 3

The Importance of AI 4

Foundations of AI 5

Real-World Applications of AI 6

Impact of AI on Various Industries 7

Healthcare Industry 7

Manufacturing Industry 8

Finance Industry 9

Case Studies of Successful AI Implementations 10

Ethical Considerations 12

Responsible Use of AI 13

Future Ethical Considerations 14

AI and Society 15

Public Perception and Acceptance of AI 16

The Future of AI 16

Potential Advancements and Breakthroughs 16

Preparing for an AI-driven Future 17

Conclusion 18

Chapter 2 Introduction to Microsoft 365 Copilot 19

Microsoft 365 Copilot—Your Personal AI Assistant 19

Differences from Other Chat-based AI Personal Assistants 21

Fitting Microsoft 365 Copilot into a Day-to-day Routine 21

Prompt Generation 24

Fact-Checking 24

Microsoft 365 Copilot Versus Clippy 24

The Security of Microsoft 365 Copilot 25

Conclusion 25

Chapter 3 An Introduction to Prompt Engineering 27

Introduction to Large Language Models 28

Foundations of Prompt Engineering 29

Concept of Prompt Engineering 29

Three Prompt Mnemonics 30

Refining Your Prompt 33

Other Prompting Styles 34

Prompt Validation Steps 36

Copilot Lab 38

Overview of Copilot Lab 38

Bookmarking Your Favorite Prompts 40

The Future of Prompt Engineering 40

Conclusion 41

Chapter 4 Security/Purview Planning in Preparation for Copilot 43

Introduction to Information Protection 43

Deploying M365 Copilot 44

Building a Culture of Information Protection 44

Identifying Weaknesses in Information Protection 45

Conducting a Risk Assessment 46

Review Your Security Foundations 48

Zero Trust and Conditional Access 48

Identity Access Management 49

Dynamic Access Policies 50

Data Classification and Sensitivity Labels 52

Review Your Data Policies 53

Data Loss Prevention Policies 54

Data Retention Policy 54

Data Encryption Policy 55

Data Breach Policy 56

Acceptable Use Policy 57

Review Your Toolkit 58

Microsoft Entra ID 59

Microsoft Copilot Dashboard 60

Public Web Content in M365 Copilot 61

Microsoft Purview 62

SharePoint Advanced Management 65

AI-Powered Security Capability 66

Get Your Pilot Started with These Initial Steps 67

Conclusion 69

Chapter 5 Planning Your Microsoft 365 Copilot Rollout 71

Project Management 72

Stakeholder Management 72

The Project Team Pilot 73

The “Equity” Risk 76

The “Oversharing” Risk 77

Technical Enablement 79

Initial Provisioning Issues 80

Governance 80

Content Governance 81

Copilot Acceptable Use Policy 82

Microsoft 365 Copilot Operating Model Dependency 82

Generative AI Steering Committee Best Practices 84

Change Management 86

The Power of Personas 88

Building Your Change Champion Network 89

Identifying Change Champions 89

Mobilizing Change Champions 90

Creating Onboarding Materials 90

Copilot Lab 91

Hosting Office Hours 92

Success Measures 93

Technical Extensibility 97

Managing Microsoft 365 Copilot Extensibility Requests 97

Building Your Copilot Center of Excellence 99

Conclusion 100

Chapter 6 Microsoft Copilot Business Chat 101

Free Personal Versus Paid Corporate Versions 102

Accessing the Free Version of Business Chat 102

Accessing the Paid Version of Business Chat 104

Working with Business Chat 108

Pulling Data from the Internet 110

Pulling Information from Internal Systems 112

Copilot on Your Phone 113

Privacy Concerns Using Business Chat 116

Conclusion 117

Chapter 7 Microsoft Outlook 119

Creating Communications with Microsoft 365 Copilot 120

Drafting Your Prompt 120

Tone and Length 121

Refining Your Message 123

Managing Escalations 124

Microsoft 365 Copilot Coaching 124

Summarizing Email Threads 125

Email Summarization—Chat 127

Calendar Information 129

Conclusion 131

Chapter 8 Copilot in Microsoft Teams 133

Managing Project Communications 134

Summarizing Chats and Channel Communications 134

Creating Posts and Chats with Copilot 138

Creating a post or chat with Copilot 138

Tone and Length 141

Copilot and Grammatical Issues 141

Managing Project Meetings 141

Using Copilot During a Live Meeting 142

Using Copilot with a Past Meeting 143

Copilot in Microsoft Teams Phone 144

Data Privacy and Security 144

Conclusion 146

Chapter 9 Copilot in Microsoft Excel 147

Getting Started with Copilot in Excel 147

Identifying a Dataset 148

Preparing Your Workbook 148

Manipulating Excel Data 150

Creating New Formulas 150

Creating Charts 152

Creating a PivotTable with Copilot 156

Asking Questions About Your Data 157

Copilot Suggested Prompts for Data Insights 159

Additional Formatting 162

Managing Sales Data with Copilot 165

Conclusion 171

Chapter 10 Copilot in Microsoft PowerPoint 173

Preparing Your PowerPoint Template for Copilot 174

Initial Setup of an Organizational Assets Library 174

PowerPoint Template Requirements 175

Creating Your First PowerPoint Presentation with Copilot 176

Improving the Prompt 177

Improving the Content 179

Generating New Content 182

Navigating Microsoft PowerPoint with Copilot 184

Creating a PowerPoint Presentation from a Microsoft Word Document 186

Refining Your Presentation with Copilot 188

Using Copilot to Get Feedback on a Presentation 189

Using Copilot to Clarify a Presentation 190

Using Copilot to Improve Engagement on a Presentation 191

Conclusion 191

Chapter 11 Copilot in Microsoft Loop 193

Loop Overview 193

What’s in a Loop? 194

Getting Started with Loop 195

Loop Components within Teams 196

Creating a Loop Workspace 197

Inviting Others to Collaborate 198

When to Use Loop 199

Positioning Loop in Your Organization 200

Use Cases for Loop 200

Microsoft 365 Copilot in Loop 202

Brainstorming with Copilot 204

Unlocking Insights with Copilot 208

Conclusion 210

Chapter 12 Transforming Text with Copilot in Microsoft Word 211

Getting Started with Copilot in Word 212

Using Reference Documents to Enhance Copilot Results 214

Rewriting with Copilot 215

Copilot’s Document Analysis Capability 218

Conclusion 220

Part II Extending Copilot 221

Chapter 13 Unlocking Real Value with Copilot 223

The Business Case for Copilot 223

Executive Summary 225

Background and Introduction 226

Business Objectives 228

Current Situation Analysis 229

Solution Description 230

Implementation Plan 231

Cost-Benefit Analysis 231

Evaluation and Measurement 233

Presenting Your Business Case 234

Measuring Business Value 234

Copilot Adoption Dashboard Setup 234

Accessing the Copilot Adoption Dashboard 235

Copilot Adoption Dashboard “Advanced Features” 238

Viva Pulse Surveys 238

Mapping Business Processes: The Proposal Use Case 242

Mapping Your RFP Response Process 243

Aligning Tasks to Copilot Capabilities 243

Building an Enterprise Prompt Library 244

Reporting Your ROI 246

Conclusion 248

Chapter 14 Introduction to Microsoft Copilot Studio 249

Who Should Use Copilot Studio? 250

Customizing Existing Copilot vs. Creating a Stand-alone Copilot 250

Getting Started with Microsoft Copilot Studio 252

Navigating the Copilot Studio User Interface 252

Building Your First Copilot 255

Testing Your Copilot 259

Publishing Your Copilot 260

Creating a Copilot Plugin 264

Testing Your Copilot Plugin 270

Conclusion 272

Chapter 15 Creating a Custom Teams Copilot 273

Extensibility Options 274

Knowledge and Software Prerequisites 274

An Understanding of the General Architecture of Plugins 275

A Code Background 275

A Microsoft Developer Account 276

Node.js and npm 277

Introduction to Node.js 277

Installing Node.js 278

Selecting the Correct Version of Node.js 279

npm Configuration Tips 280

Installing .NET 282

A Configured Integrated Development Environment 283

Installing and Setting Up VSCode IDE 284

Downloading VSCode 284

Essential Extensions for VSCode 285

Customizing the IDE for Productivity 285

Installing Azure AI Studio SDKs and Necessary Libraries 286

Setting Up TypeScript for Azure AI Development 286

Git 287

Installing Git 287

Initial Git Setup 288

Building a Custom Teams Copilot 288

Deploying a Custom Teams Copilot 300

Introduction to Semantic Kernel 304

Conclusion 305

Chapter 16 Copilot Wave 2 Features 307

Bizchat, aka Copilot Chat 307

Copilot Updates in Outlook 309

Copilot Updates in PowerPoint 310

Copilot Updates in Microsoft Teams 314

Copilot Updates in Word 314

Copilot Updates in Excel 315

Copilot Updates in OneDrive 317

Copilot Pages 319

Copilot Agents 321

Conclusion 323

Index 325