The Microsoft 365 Business Help Crew resolves buyer help instances and offers you help to achieve success and understand the complete potential and worth of your buy. Our help providers prolong throughout the complete lifecycle and embody pre-sales, onboarding and deployment, utilization and administration, accounts and billing, and break-fix help. We additionally spend a substantial period of time working to enhance the supportability of Microsoft 365 providers to cut back the variety of points you expertise in addition to reduce the time and effort it takes to resolve your points in the event that they do happen. 

Immediately, we’re excited to share extra about a few of our supportability work with Microsoft 365 Copilot. 

Copilot for Microsoft 365 combines the facility of huge language fashions (LLMs) together with your group’s knowledge – all within the circulation of labor – to show your phrases into some of the highly effective productiveness instruments on the planet.  It really works alongside Microsoft 365 Apps similar to Phrase, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Groups, and extra.  Copilot offers real-time clever help, enabling customers to reinforce their creativity, productiveness, and expertise.  Copilot for Microsoft 365 has been in use by tens of 1000’s of enterprise prospects as a part of our Early Entry Program (EAP) for a number of months and our help groups have been there each step of the way in which helping IT Admins with their questions. Beginning November 1, Copilot grew to become typically out there for enterprise prospects worldwide. 

A small group of senior engineers in our Microsoft 365 Business Help Crew have been working intently with the Copilot product engineering groups because the early phases of growth, effectively earlier than the primary buyer ever onboarded, to be taught the service and construct readiness and coaching belongings for our world help groups. Immediately, I’m excited to welcome three of those engineers to share their information, insights, and steering on preparing for Copilot for Microsoft 365and methods IT Admins will be handiest in deploying, managing, and supporting Copilot with customers of their organizations. 

Brian: Welcome Jason, Rob, and Parth! It’s nice to have your Copilot experience right here and I do know you’ve been working with Copilot for Workplace apps (Phrase Excel, PowerPoint), Outlook, and Microsoft Groups for fairly some time. What’s it been like getting the help staff prepared for the Copilot for Microsoft 365 launch?  How has it been totally different than different product releases that you simply’ve labored on over time? 

Jason: The event cycle was actually speedy and accelerated over a compressed time period, particularly from after we first engaged to the launch of the Early Entry Program in July.  It required loads of teamwork and coordination to assemble and digest info from throughout numerous sources and product applied sciences after which flip that into consumable content material for help engineers. The synergy and the way in which groups have come collectively inside help and throughout product engineering and advertising has been tremendous spectacular. I’m positive it is going to contribute to a constructive expertise for patrons. 
 
Parth: Simply so as to add to Jason’s feedback, Copilot was undoubtedly a singular expertise given how rapidly it went from idea to moving into the arms of our beneficial Early Entry Program prospects. Maintaining with function progress, and particularly on which platform they’d be touchdown, meant paying actually shut consideration to engineering staff progress each day. Our planning program managers have been tremendous superior in coordinating with the engineering groups to get us entry to new Copilot options and knowledge so we may use and take a look at the service and develop troubleshooting documentation. 

Brian: What are some issues that prospects ought to know concerning the Copilot service and the way it operates, together with how knowledge, safety, and privateness are dealt with? 

Rob: Copilot for Microsoft 365 respects the permissions mannequin and solely exhibits you knowledge that you’ve permission to view. It is essential to make use of the permission fashions in Microsoft 365 to verify the appropriate folks have entry to the appropriate content material. Copilot solely searches for info inside your group, and it doesn’t search in different organizations that you simply might need entry to. While you use Copilot, your prompts, the information retrieved, and the outcomes keep throughout the Microsoft 365 service boundary, following our privateness, safety, and compliance commitments. Copilot makes use of Azure OpenAI Providers, not OpenAI’s public providers, so the entire processing stays throughout the Microsoft 365 service boundary. Right here’s an amazing illustration of the Copilot structure, exhibiting how this works throughout the totally different parts: 

Illustration courtesy of Microsoft 365 Copilot Overview 

Brian: What are among the key issues for IT Admins to bear in mind as they put together for onboarding and deployment? 

Jason: First, get actually conversant in the assorted public Microsoft sources out there, at minimal the Be taught article that describes necessities: Microsoft 365 Copilot necessities | Microsoft Be taught.  Now we have a Tech Group weblog that steps via how one can put together your group for Microsoft 365 Copilot:  Tips on how to put together for Microsoft 365 Copilot – Microsoft Group Hub.   As well as, there’s a Microsoft Studying path particular for Copilot so would advocate that too: MS-012 Put together your group for Microsoft 365 Copilot – Coaching | Microsoft Be taught.  

After which take note a “Copilot” not an “Autopilot,” significantly in relation to new content material creation.  Copilot is extremely proficient at producing content material, however because it pertains to newly generated content material, it all the time must be factually verified. 

Rob: Prompts are the instructions or questions that you simply sort or converse to Copilot to request help. If you’re undecided what to ask Copilot, attempt selecting from our number of prompts to create, edit, and get extra carried out over at our Copilot Lab on https://aka.ms/CopilotLab. 

Brian: Discuss a bit about indexing with Semantic Index and what to anticipate at each the consumer and tenant degree following Copilot buy and license task. 

Jason: Semantic Index is an indexing map of information throughout the tenant and triggers routinely after Copilot has been bought. It offers semantically associated leads to Search and Copilot based mostly on the listed content material and relationships, which is essential for offering context and preserving the outcomes “grounded” in related knowledge. Notice you may disable particular SharePoint websites from showing in search and omit them from the index. 

 
Semantic index doesn’t require any administrative configuration. The indexing course of is automated and adheres to the identical belief requirements as the remainder of the Microsoft 365 suite. The indexing course of on the tenant-level works via about 95% protection of OneDrive and SharePoint On-line text-based paperwork inside every week, with full protection taking as much as 28 days (about 4 weeks).   

Semantic indexing respects any web site and library indexing restrictions in addition to the Folks and Merchandise insights settings discovered within the Search & Intelligence admin portal. Consumer-level indexing contains consumer mailbox content material, which is listed in 2 days, with outliers taking longer, typically as much as 2 weeks.   

After preliminary indexing is full, updates are likewise routinely carried out in close to real-time, with OneDrive/SharePoint doc content material typically taking as much as 48 hours (about 2 days) to be added to the index. 

Try this video to be taught extra – Semantic Index for Copilot: Defined by Microsoft. 

Brian: Are you able to share some ideas and steering for among the commonest questions you’re seeing from prospects proper now? 

All:  Ensure you’re absolutely conscious and perceive the Copilot for Microsoft 365 necessities. For the Microsoft 365 desktop apps, be certain that they’re on the Present channel and operating the most recent construct. This may even apply later when Copilot seems within the Month-to-month Enterprise Channel (MEC). 
 
Parth:  Proper now, it could actually take as much as 72 hours for Copilot license task. We anticipate that point to cut back within the close to future as Copilot continues to evolve. 

When it comes to language help, listed below are the languages at present supported by Copilot for Microsoft 365 for prompts and responses: Chinese language (Simplified), English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese (Brazil), Spanish.  Notice that Copilot in Excel is at present supported in English solely. 

Listed here are a couple of different solutions for getting essentially the most out of Microsoft 365 Copilot interactions: 

Do’s
	Be Clear and particular.  Present particular directions to Copilot, similar to subject, goal, tone, and required size.		Verify for accuracy.  Often, Copilot might make errors. All the time examine Copilot’s responses for accuracy, grammar, and magnificence, and be careful for irrelevant or inappropriate content material.
	Preserve it conversational.  Give suggestions to Copilot based mostly on the standard of its responses to assist the AI be taught and match your preferences.		Present particulars.  Present Copilot with contextual particulars to assist it generate extra correct, constant responses. For instance, the style, characters, and plot to a narrative.
	Give examples.  Use clear and particular key phrases or phrases when asking Copilot to jot down a bit of textual content for you. This helps it generate extra related and artistic copy.		Be well mannered.  Utilizing form and respectful language when chatting with Copilot helps foster collaboration and improves the AI’s responsiveness and efficiency.
	Ask for suggestions.  Requesting suggestions from Copilot helps it to grasp your wants and preferences, and to give you extra related, useful responses.
	Write legibly.    Use right punctuation, capitalization, and grammar when writing prompts, as this can assist the AI produce higher high quality textual content and responses.
Don’ts
	be obscure.  When prompting Copilot, keep away from utilizing obscure language, and be as clear as attainable to obtain higher high quality responses.		Give conflicting directions.  Prompting Copilot to carry out a activity that features a number of or conflicting items of data in the identical request can confuse the AI and lead to decrease high quality responses.
	Request inappropriate or unethical content material.  Copilot is just not liable for the content material or the results of your writing. You must respect the native legal guidelines, guidelines, and the rights of others.		Interrupt or change subjects abruptly.  This might disrupt the Copilot’s writing course of. All the time shut or end a activity earlier than beginning a brand new one. When beginning a brand new activity write “new activity”.
	Use slang, jargon, or casual language.  This will trigger Copilot to provide low high quality, inappropriate or unprofessional responses.

Challenge	Suggestions
Copilot is just not exhibiting up or exhibits up solely in some locations.	When Copilot is just not showing as anticipated, and all necessities have been met, think about the next:  After assigning a Copilot license to a consumer, it could actually take as much as 72 hours (about 3 days) for the background refresh of you license to take impact in Home windows apps. You may pressure a refresh by way of the File > Account > Replace license button (positioned straight underneath the Microsoft 365 Apps for Enterprise logos).  Confirm the energetic signed-in account is licensed for Microsoft 365 Copilot in case you have a number of accounts related to Workplace.    Reference: FAQ about Microsoft 365 Copilot licensing Opens in new window or tab
Some SharePoint content material is being excluded.	Content material for any web site or library that has been excluded from search indexing won’t be included in Copilot outcomes.      https://be taught.microsoft.com/sharepoint/make-site-content-searchable
Impression of Search & Intelligence portal controls on Copilot habits.	Disabling Folks or Merchandise Insights will forestall “folks knowledge” from doc collaboration and beneficial paperwork from being included in Copilot outcomes.      Disabling may even have an impact past Copilot similar to within the microsoft365.com Feed and My Content material areas.

Brian: And eventually, what are a few of your favourite sources and websites that admins ought to learn about and preserve shut at hand as they work with Copilot? 

All:  Listed here are a couple of of our favorites: 

Brian: Thanks, Jason, Rob, and Parth, for sharing all these nice insights and knowledge! 
 
 

Jason Haak is a Senior Help Escalation Engineer within the CSS Fashionable Work Supportability Crew centered on Workplace with Microsoft 365. 
 

Parth Sharma is a Help Escalation Engineer within the CSS Fashionable Work Supportability Crew centered on Microsoft Groups with Microsoft 365. 

Rob Whaley is a Senior Help Escalation Engineer within the CSS Fashionable Work Supportability Crew centered on Trade and Outlook with Microsoft 365. 

Brian Stoner is a Director within the CSS Fashionable Work Supportability Crew the place he leads a staff of technical and enterprise program managers. 

The CSS Fashionable Work Supportability Crew delivers modern self-help options and diagnostics, in-service enhancements, and help applications to assist prospects get most worth from their Microsoft 365 business subscriptions and create an easy-to-use, related help expertise.