Accelerating Microsoft 365 Copilot Adoption with Automated Readiness Assessment

Microsoft

Jan 26, 2026

From Weeks of Manual Evaluation to Minutes of API-Driven Analysis

Note: This playbook is designed for Microsoft partners operating within the AI Business Solutions commercial solution area to support their customers with the adoption journey of Microsoft 365 Copilot.

The Copilot Readiness Challenge

Microsoft 365 Copilot represents a transformative shift in workplace productivity. However, organizations face a significant hurdle before deployment: verifying that their security, compliance, and governance infrastructure is ready for AI.

Traditional readiness assessments rely on manual questionnaires, lengthy discovery calls, and subjective evaluations that can take weeks to complete. IT administrators must navigate six distinct Microsoft 365 service domains—M365 licensing, Entra identity protection, Defender security posture, Purview compliance, Power Platform governance, and Copilot Studio deployment—often using different admin portals, PowerShell cmdlets, and documentation sources.

The result? Delayed Copilot deployments, missed configuration gaps that could expose sensitive data through AI responses, and expensive consulting engagements that drain IT budgets.

Introducing Automated Readiness Assessment

Automated Readiness Assessment (ARA) eliminates guesswork from Copilot deployment planning. This open-source tool retrieves data directly from Microsoft APIs to analyze your actual tenant configuration and generate actionable, prioritized recommendations—in minutes.

How It Works

Parallel API Orchestration: Queries Microsoft Graph, Defender for Endpoint, Exchange Online, and Power Platform APIs concurrently, completing comprehensive analysis in seconds rather than hours.

Six Service Areas: Evaluates M365 licensing, Entra identity, Defender security, Purview compliance, Power Platform governance, and Copilot Studio readiness in a single execution.

200+ Feature Evaluations: Modular recommendation engine with dedicated evaluation logic for each service plan, providing granular insights tailored to your specific licenses.

AI-Contextualized Recommendations: Every finding is translated into Copilot-specific risk context with actionable remediation steps—not generic security advice.

Local Execution: Runs entirely within your environment using read-only API permissions. No data leaves your tenant; reports remain on your filesystem.

What You Get

The assessment generates detailed reports in CSV and Excel formats, including:

Service Area classification (M365, Entra, Defender, Purview, Power Platform, Copilot Studio)

Feature-specific observations based on actual API data

Priority-ranked recommendations (High, Medium, Low)

Direct links to Microsoft documentation for remediation

Timestamped reports to track progress across multiple assessment runs

See an example below.

Value for Customers and Partners

For Enterprise IT Teams

Reduce Assessment Time by 95%: Complete readiness evaluation in minutes instead of weeks of manual discovery.

Eliminate Configuration Blind Spots: API-driven analysis identifies gaps that self-reported questionnaires miss—like DLP policies that don't cover endpoints or conditional access policies that don't protect Copilot apps.

Accelerate Deployment Timelines: Move from "we think we're ready" to "we verified we're ready" in a single afternoon.

Track Remediation Progress: Re-run assessments after implementing recommendations to measure improvement with timestamped reports.

Zero Cost, Zero Risk: Open-source tool with no licensing fees, read-only API permissions, and no third-party data sharing.

For Microsoft Partners

Scale Your Practice: Assess dozens of customer tenants in the time it previously took to evaluate one. Transform manual discovery into automated, repeatable service delivery.

Identify Upsell Opportunities: Assessment reports automatically surface missing prerequisite licenses (Entra ID P2, Defender P2, Purview compliance SKUs) with business justification for each recommendation.

Differentiate Your Services: Offer data-driven Copilot readiness assessments that competitors relying on generic checklists cannot match.

Reduce Engagement Risk: Verify customer readiness before committing to deployment timelines, avoiding costly scope changes when configuration gaps emerge mid-project.

Standardize Delivery: Consistent assessment methodology across all customers ensures quality and enables junior consultants to deliver expert-level analysis.

Getting Started

Automated Readiness Assessment is available now as an open-source tool. Requirements are minimal:

Python 3.8 or later

Microsoft 365 tenant with appropriate admin roles

Network connectivity to Microsoft Graph, Defender, and Power Platform APIs

Get started in three steps:

Clone the repository and install Python dependencies
Run the service principal setup script to configure read-only API access
Execute the assessment: python main.py

Within minutes, you'll have a comprehensive readiness report with prioritized recommendations tailored to your tenant's specific configuration and licenses.

Transform Your Copilot Deployment Strategy

Microsoft 365 Copilot adoption shouldn't be delayed by assessment uncertainty. Automated Readiness Assessment provides the objective, data-driven insights you need to deploy AI with confidence—ensuring your security controls, compliance policies, and governance frameworks are verified before your first user prompt.

Stop guessing. Start assessing.