The plan
This week in one build: instructions, knowledge, a topic, testing, publishing. About 15 minutes on a trial.
Walkthrough: an HR-policy agent
Use a fictional company. Write 2 short documents yourself (illustrative policy, not advice):
- Leave: 20 days a year; carry over up to 5; 10 sick days.
- Remote work: up to 2 days a week with manager approval; core hours 10:00–15:00.
1. Create. At https://copilotstudio.microsoft.com, describe: "Answers employees' questions about the leave and remote-work policies."
2. Instructions:
"You answer employee questions about leave and remote work. Use only the attached policies. Keep answers under 5 sentences and include an in-text citation. Never give a decision on an individual case; for personal situations, medical topics or disputes, use the Talk to HR topic. Don't ask for health details."
3. Knowledge. Add knowledge → Upload file, both documents. Descriptions: "Leave policy: annual, sick and carry-over rules." "Remote-work policy: remote days, approval, core hours." In Settings → Generative AI, turn off "Use information from the web".
4. Topic. Add a topic → From blank, named "Talk to HR". Trigger description: "Use when the employee has a personal situation, a complaint, or a question the policies don't answer." Message node: "This needs a person. Contact HR at hr@example.com."
5. Test in "Test your agent":
- "How many days can I carry over?" Expect 5, with a citation.
- "Can I work remotely 3 days a week?" Expect "up to 2, with approval".
- "My manager refused my leave, is that allowed?" Expect the HR topic.
- "What's the parking policy?" Expect "not covered".
Fix instructions or descriptions for any miss, and test again.
6. Publish (paid license) to Teams and Microsoft Copilot, for a pilot group first.
Where you see it at work
- HR: policy questions in any industry.
- Banking and insurance: compliance policies with hand-offs.
- Healthcare: shift and leave rules for staff.
- Retail: store staff scheduling questions.
- PM: the 4 test questions are your first acceptance tests.
Try it today (10–15 min)
1. Quickstart: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-copilot-studio/fundamentals-get-started
2. Build steps 1–5 above with your own fictional policies.
3. Add 3 tricky test questions of your own.
In one sentence
A good policy agent answers from the documents, cites them, and hands personal cases to a human.
Which policy would you test with first? 👇