Training course

Copilot level 2

  • 1 Day
  • Online or in person
  • Private courses available
Download outline (PDF)

Course Objectives

  • Distinguish a workflow from an agent in plain business terms
  • Identify existing workflow and agent touchpoints across Microsoft 365
  • Explain the core characteristics of agentic AI (reasoning, planning, tool use, autonomy)
  • Recognise when a task calls for agentic behaviour rather than a fixed, linear workflow
  • Compare the capabilities and best-fit use cases of Copilot Chat, Cowork, and custom agents
  • Apply a decision framework to pick the right Copilot surface for a given scenario
  • Describe what Work IQ is and the type of organisational context it draws on
  • Explain how grounded context improves the relevance and accuracy of Copilot's output
  • Explain the role Microsoft Graph plays in powering Cowork's task automation
  • Understand how existing permissions and access controls govern what Cowork can see and do
  • Navigate the Cowork interface confidently
  • Launch, monitor, and review a Cowork task end to end
  • Identify the licensing prerequisites needed to use Cowork
  • Know who to contact internally to request or troubleshoot access
  • Write clear, well-scoped requests that reduce back-and-forth
  • Iterate on a request based on Cowork's intermediate output
  • Reframe a task as a desired outcome rather than a rigid, step-by-step prompt
  • Recognise when more explicit instruction is still needed for consistency or compliance reasons
  • Explain how Cowork sources context for a task
  • Identify where approval checkpoints protect against unintended actions
  • Map Cowork's capabilities to real tasks in participants' own roles
  • Complete a self-selected practice task using Cowork
  • Configure a recurring scheduled task in Cowork
  • Identify good candidates for scheduling versus one-off requests
  • Save and reuse a Cowork request as a repeatable skill
  • Explain the benefit of reusable skills for team-wide consistency
  • Describe how Cowork respects existing data permissions and boundaries
  • Apply good judgement about what data is appropriate to include in an automated task
  • Explain what Copilot Studio is used for and where it fits alongside Cowork
  • Identify the core building blocks of a Copilot Studio agent
  • Create a new agent in Copilot Studio
  • Configure an agent's core instructions and knowledge sources
  • Explain the purpose of environments in Copilot Studio
  • Move an agent between environments as part of a safe release process
  • Create a topic with trigger phrases and a conversation flow
  • Structure topics so an agent handles a range of related questions consistently
  • Add a tool or connector to extend an agent's capabilities
  • Design a topic that uses a tool to complete an action, not just answer a question
  • Configure a trigger to start an agent automatically
  • Identify appropriate business scenarios for trigger-based automation
  • Identify channels where an agent can be deployed as an assistant
  • Evaluate the fit of an assistant-style agent for a given audience
  • Use the test pane to validate an agent's behaviour before release
  • Identify and resolve common issues found during testing
  • Publish an agent to a target channel
  • Interpret core analytics to identify opportunities to improve an agent

Prerequisites

  • Basic understanding of Microsoft Copilot (Copilot Level 1 or equivalent hands-on experience).
  • • A modern web browser — Microsoft Edge (recommended) or Google Chrome, kept up to date, for Copilot Chat, Cowork, Copilot Studio, and Power Platform Admin Center
    • Microsoft 365 apps (desktop or web) — Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams, and SharePoint/OneDrive, since exercises pull real context from these apps
    • The Microsoft 365 Copilot app (desktop or browser-based), which is where Cowork is launched from
    • Stable internet access sufficient for cloud app use and video throughout the day
    Not required, but useful: the Teams mobile app for testing published agents on a second device.

Who it's for

  • Business users
  • Power users
  • Citizen developers
  • Anyone who want to move beyond everyday Copilot Chat use into building repeatable workflows and custom agents.

What Participants Will Need (Bring-Your-Own-Device)

This course is hands-on. Participants joining on their own laptop should arrive with the following software installed and licences/access confirmed in advance, ideally checked with their IT administrator a few days before the course.

Course content Back to top

  1. Module 1 — Foundations: Workflows, Agents & Agentic AI
    This module sets the conceptual groundwork for the rest of the day, establishing shared vocabulary before participants start building.
  2. Basic workflows and agents in Microsoft 365
    An overview of where workflows and agents already show up across Microsoft 365 today — from Power Automate flows to built-in Copilot agents in apps like Outlook, Teams, and SharePoint. Participants see concrete, familiar examples before the terminology gets more advanced.
  3. Introduction to Agentic AI
    A plain-language explanation of what makes an AI system “agentic” — the ability to reason over a goal, choose actions, use tools, and adapt when the situation changes, rather than simply responding to a single prompt. Includes a short discussion of where agentic AI adds value versus where a simple workflow is more appropriate.
  4. Copilot Chat vs Cowork vs Agents
    A side-by-side comparison of the three main ways people interact with Copilot: single-turn conversational Copilot Chat, the multi-step task delegation of Cowork, and purpose-built custom agents created in Copilot Studio. Participants leave with a simple decision framework for choosing the right tool for a given task.
  5. Understanding Work IQ
    An introduction to Work IQ, the layer that lets Copilot understand organisational context — relationships between people, files, meetings, and projects — so that responses and automations are grounded in real, relevant business data rather than generic answers.
  6. How Cowork uses Microsoft Graph
    A look under the hood at how Cowork uses Microsoft Graph to securely access emails, files, calendars, chats, and other Microsoft 365 data on the user's behalf — always within existing permissions — to complete multi-step tasks.
  7. Module 2 — Getting Started with Copilot Cowork
    A hands-on introduction to Cowork, covering setup, licensing, and how to write requests that reliably produce the outcome you want.
  8. Getting Started with Cowork
    A guided walkthrough of the Cowork interface: starting a new task, monitoring progress, reviewing intermediate steps, and receiving the final output. Participants complete their first simple Cowork task during this session.
  9. Access and licensing
    An overview of the licensing requirements for Cowork, how access is provisioned by IT administrators, and what to check if a feature appears unavailable.
  10. Writing Effective Cowork Requests
    Practical techniques for writing requests that give Cowork enough context and structure to succeed on the first attempt — covering scope, source data, format expectations, and how to iterate when the first result isn't quite right.
  11. Outcomes vs prompts
    A key mindset shift for working with Cowork: describing the outcome you want (e.g. “prepare my board pack from this month's project updates”) rather than scripting the exact steps, and letting Cowork plan and execute the task.
  12. Context and approvals
    How Cowork gathers context from relevant files, emails, and conversations, and where human approval checkpoints sit in the process — particularly before any action that sends, shares, or modifies data on the user's behalf.
  13. Module 3 — Cowork in Practice
    Moving from mechanics to application: realistic use cases, recurring automation, reusable building blocks, and the governance guardrails that keep Cowork safe to use at scale.
  14. Practical Use Cases
    A set of realistic, role-based examples — such as summarising a week's meetings, drafting a status report from multiple sources, or preparing onboarding materials — that participants can adapt to their own work. Time is set aside for participants to try a use case relevant to their own role.
  15. Scheduled tasks
    How to configure Cowork tasks to run automatically on a recurring schedule (daily, weekly, or at a set trigger point), turning a one-off request into a standing automation.
  16. Reusable skills
    An introduction to packaging a well-tested request as a reusable “skill” that can be triggered again with new inputs, reducing the need to redraft the same instructions from scratch each time.
  17. Governance & Security
    An overview of the guardrails around Cowork: data boundaries, permission inheritance, audit visibility, and administrator controls — plus practical guidance on what sensitive data should and shouldn't be routed through automated tasks.
  18. Module 4 — Building Agents with Copilot Studio
    The second half of the day shifts from using Microsoft-built automation (Cowork) to designing custom agents purpose-built for a specific process, department, or audience.
  19. Introduction to Copilot Studio
    An overview of Copilot Studio as a low-code platform for designing, testing, and publishing custom agents, and how it complements Cowork and out-of-the-box Copilot experiences.
  20. Creating a new agent in Copilot Studio
    A guided, hands-on walkthrough of creating a new agent from scratch: naming and describing the agent, setting its instructions and tone, and configuring its initial knowledge sources.
  21. Working with environments
    How environments are used to separate development, testing, and production agents, and why this separation matters for safe iteration and change management.
  22. Adding topics
    How to define topics — specific conversation scenarios with trigger phrases and conversational flows — so the agent responds appropriately to common questions and requests.
  23. Taking action with tools
    How to connect an agent to tools and connectors so it can do more than converse — retrieving live data, updating records, or calling external systems and APIs as part of a conversation.
  24. Automation with triggers
    How agents can be started automatically by an event — such as a new item in a list, an incoming email, or a scheduled time — rather than waiting for a user to start a conversation.
  25. Agents as assistants
    A look at how agents can be embedded as ongoing assistants within Microsoft 365 apps and channels (Teams, Microsoft 365 Copilot, websites), supporting employees or customers directly where they already work.
  26. Testing your agents
    How to use Copilot Studio's built-in test pane to validate topics, trigger phrases, and tool calls before publishing — and how to iterate based on test conversations.
  27. Publishing agents and analysing performance
    The final step of the agent lifecycle: publishing an agent to its intended channel(s) and using built-in analytics to monitor usage, resolution rates, and areas for improvement over time.
  28. Course Wrap-Up
    The day closes with a short recap of when to reach for a workflow, when to reach for Cowork, and when a custom Copilot Studio agent is the right tool — along with a discussion of next steps for applying these skills back in participants' own roles.

Public dates and prices Back to top

Prices are per delegate and exclude VAT.

  • Tuesday 22 December 2026

    Virtual, live online 9:30–16:30

    £395+ VAT

  • Thursday 21 January 2027

    Virtual, live online 9:30–16:30

    £395+ VAT

  • Friday 26 February 2027

    Virtual, live online 9:30–16:30

    £395+ VAT

  • Tuesday 6 April 2027

    Virtual, live online 9:30–16:30

    £395+ VAT

  • Friday 11 June 2027

    Virtual, live online 9:30–16:30

    £395+ VAT

  • Monday 12 July 2027

    Virtual, live online 9:30–16:30

    £395+ VAT

  • Monday 20 September 2027

    Virtual, live online 9:30–16:30

    £395+ VAT

  • Tuesday 19 October 2027

    Virtual, live online 9:30–16:30

    £395+ VAT

  • Tuesday 21 December 2027

    Virtual, live online 9:30–16:30

    £395+ VAT

Can't make these dates? Ask about a private course on a date that suits you.

Training a team?

Run this course privately, on your dates

From £1,950 for up to 8 people, excluding VAT.

  • Bespoke Bespoke private training can be based on an existing course or a number of lessons taken from several courses, we can also write bespoke courses for you based on your in-house systems or development program.
  • Private Flexible course content, flexible training date(s), flexible location(s), variable course length, private to your organisation - Courses can be held at one of our training venues or at another location convenient to you. Training can be set over a number of days or weeks to allow for practice time between training sessions.
  • Public Scheduled Fixed course content, fixed date, fixed location, fixed length, multiple organisations - All you need to do is choose which course you would like to attend and contact us to book!
  • Virtual These courses can be attended from anywhere.

What delegates say Back to top

Following this training what are you going to do differently

“Efficiently working in sheets quicker”
J.P., Intermarketing, Excel Level 2
“Thought provoking, extremely interesting”
R.C., Alnwick Medical Group, Coaching and Mentoring
“Course was very well delivered, ideal amount of time on each section. No suggestions for improvement.”
P.T., South Tyneside Council, Excel Level 2

Following this training what are you going to do differently

“Start using the Crystal platform to write tasks for the team which will be more bespoke than previous”
G.P., Nhs Fleet Solutions, Crystal Reports Level 1

Following this training what are you going to do differently

“Use Outlook more effectively”
B., Lhp, Outlook Essentials

What is your assessment of the trainer overall

“Trainer is very involved, enthusiastic and knows her content well”
J.M., Welwyn Components Ltd, Introduction to Management

Which part of the course did you find particularly valuable

“Structuring my training in a way my trainees will get the best training from myself”
A.W., Thermo Fisher Scientific, Train the Trainer
“Very enjoyable course with a lot of good information in a short time.”
J.R., Hitachi Construction Machinery Uk, Excel Level 2

Related courses

Please contact us to discuss your Copilot level 2 course, we have many solutions available to ensure you receive the best training possible.

Learn with IT Training Solutions. Small course sizes. Course materials included. Flexible Copilot level 2 course content. Expert trainers and tried & tested training methods. Many course materials available online using your personal training account. Please contact us to booka place or get a quote for your Copilot level 2 course.

Building chatbots Copilot Studio, Microsoft 365 Copilot advanced training
IT Training Solutions Ltd
Oakville, 14 Durham Road West, Bowburn, Durham, DH6 5AU
0191 377 8377
ittrainingsolutions.co.uk
Printed: 10/20/2026 12:31:49 PM