Securely onboarding AI across an organization can involve several processes. Applying access controls, monitoring integrations with existing infrastructure, managing end user adoption, and more can make the project downright daunting. Add on challenges like staffing shortages and limited in-house AI expertise and you just might decide to put off introducing AI—even a system as valuable as Microsoft 365 Copilot—until tomorrow, or even next month.
At FastTrack for Microsoft 365, we get it.
We also know AI is too important to put off. So, to continue helping admins implement AI across their organizations as seamlessly and responsibly as possible, Microsoft 365 engineers have updated a few key portions of the Microsoft 365 Copilot onboarding hub.
These updates help simplify Microsoft 365 Copilot onboarding processes so you can empower your organization to achieve more with AI quicker and more securely than ever before.
What’s new at the Microsoft 365 Copilot onboarding hub?
The Microsoft 365 Copilot onboarding hub has a fresh look and feel, including an upgraded, modern UI, stateful personalization, and exportable project management.
1. Modern UI
The first thing you may notice is the sleek, new card-based layout that now displays Microsoft 365 Copilot’s Readiness assessment and three setup guides: Quickstart, Foundations+, and Advanced configurations.
2. Microsoft 365 Copilot setup guides: Interactive, personalized, actionable
Don’t let the onboarding hub’s pretty (inter)face fool you though, there’s more value behind those cards than meets the eye. First, here’s a quick run-down of each:
- Readiness assessment: Start here to optimize your tailored setup experience. The responses you provide help Copilot’s setup guides determine which tasks you should complete, and in what order, for the safest and most efficient onboarding experience.
- Quickstart: In this, Copilot’s most streamlined setup guide, you can safely get Copilot up and running right away, with minimal configuration and customization. If your organization needs a little more time to shore up data hygiene and governance, you can temporarily restrict Copilot search with RSS (Restricted SharePoint Search) while completing those projects.
- Foundations+: Build on your Quickstart setup by following steps in the Foundations+ setup guide for fine-tuning data protection settings and readiness options according to your organizational policies.
- Advanced configuration: Leverage the full potential of Copilot with advanced security, privacy, and data protection controls. This Advanced configuration guide also provides advanced Microsoft 365 Copilot adoption resources to help you boost end-user engagement.
Each Microsoft 365 Copilot setup guide uses automated wizards with customizable, stateful personalization to lead you, step-by-step, through streamlined, interactive setup experiences.
This means Copilot setup guides are personalized according to your organization’s specific scenarios and requirements, resulting in a unique and highly proficient onboarding experience.
How it works: Information from your Microsoft 365 organization profile, combined with your readiness assessment responses, prepopulates each guide for a comprehensive overview of your organization’s environment. This, coupled with Microsoft’s engineering expertise, allows each setup guide to accurately suggest your next task and lead you through the most efficient and secure path to onboarding Microsoft 365 Copilot.
As you advance and complete tasks, each guide also tracks your progress, accounts for tasks you’ve already finished, and adjusts Microsoft’s next suggested actions accordingly. Look for personalized task tables within the guides as well as suggested action cards at the Copilot onboarding hub.
If you take a break, Copilot’s setup guides remember what steps you’ve already completed and suggest the next recommended task when you return.
For example:
- Say you’re an organization that owns E5 licensing and has deployed sensitive data policies—maybe you’re a bank. By responding “Yes” to Copilot’s readiness assessment question, “Does your organization have regulated or sensitive data types?” you might be instructed to review and apply Microsoft Purview best practices next to ensure Microsoft’s strongest security and compliance standards.
- On the other hand, you could be a small organization that wants to add Copilot to your Teams subscription primarily to iterate on images. If you respond “No” to the readiness assessment question, "Do you have regulated or sensitive data types?” the guide is likely to minimize your number of basic onboarding steps.
- Mature organizations and long-time customers who’ve already deployed several Microsoft 365 products may have already completed Microsoft Purview best practices. If you’re an admin in this scenario, you’ll likely have fewer steps in your Microsoft 365 Copilot onboarding journey. The guides will detect and update previously completed or nonapplicable tasks and highlight your remaining, pertinent tasks.
- In another scenario, maybe your organization purchased 100 Microsoft 365 Copilot licenses. You’ve finished assigning them all and have completed every onboarding guide. Back at the Microsoft 365 Copilot onboarding hub, you may find personalized suggested action cards to guide you on next steps. For example:
3. Expanded project management for your Microsoft 365 Copilot onboarding tasks
We know admins rely on integrated and comprehensive project management tools to assign tasks, set deadlines, and track setup progress. To help make your job easier, Microsoft engineers have streamlined project management too.
Now you can find workload monitoring inside each Microsoft 365 Copilot setup guide that is:
- Assignable: Easily distribute tasks among team members.
- Trackable: Keep an eye on progress.
- Schedulable: Set deadlines and timelines.
- Exportable: Track Copilot onboarding tasks outside of the hub.
The option to export task management is a new and practical update. To carry it out, simply place task information into a CSV, and then import the information to your usual project management software.
Why use FastTrack for Microsoft 365 resources to onboard Copilot?
Can we set up and onboard Microsoft 365 Copilot manually instead, by following a Microsoft Learn article? you might wonder.
Yes, you can. In fact, Microsoft Learn articles are valuable, comprehensive resources for anyone looking to understand Microsoft technologies. They're also freely accessible and kept up to date.
However, Learn articles are static resources with universal guidance and information that’s applicable to many different industries and user environments. Following them to onboard Microsoft 365 Copilot across your organization involves interpreting which tasks and best practices apply to your specific environment and then making sure you’ve fulfilled each one.
Microsoft 365 Copilot setup guides: a more efficient and secure way to onboard AI
Aligned with Microsoft’s commitment to making AI broadly and responsibly available—thereby empowering every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more—Microsoft engineers have designed Microsoft 365 Copilot automated setup guides to be:
- Tailored to your current state: From a panoramic vantage point, each Microsoft 365 Copilot setup guide assesses your organization’s environment to curate the most relevant onboarding and configuration path for you. This allows for pointed, prescriptive recommendations you can rely on.
- Incorporated with Microsoft best practices: You’ll get a smooth, guided setup experience with prepopulated information and step-by-step instructions defined by Microsoft experts for an optimal setup experience.
- Streamlined: You’ll know you’re prioritizing the correct order of operations as you progress through your Microsoft 365 Copilot onboarding journey. You won’t have to worry whether you’ve made a wrong move or missed a helpful resource.
- Comprehensive: Should you need additional onboarding or adoption resources, Copilot’s guides will connect you to the right resource at the right point in your setup journey.
Make the Microsoft 365 Copilot onboarding hub your destination for onboarding AI
With modern UI, improved automation, and new capabilities, the Microsoft 365 Copilot onboarding hub and setup guides offer a faster and safer way to onboard AI.
- Replace guesswork and wasted time with efficiency and security.
- Feel confident you’re onboarding AI responsibly.
- Shorten your time to discovering value with Microsoft 365 Copilot.
Head over to the Microsoft 365 Copilot onboarding hub and empower your end users to achieve more today, instead of waiting until tomorrow.
Navigating to the Microsoft 365 Copilot onboarding hub
Bookmark the Microsoft 365 Copilot onboarding hub for quickest access or navigate there by following these instructions:
- Sign in to the Microsoft 365 admin center.
- Follow Setup from the side menu and select Advanced deployment guides & assistance.
Getting from Setup to Advanced deployment guides at the Microsoft admin center
- Scroll down or filter guides by Product and select Set up Microsoft 365 Copilot.
Getting to Microsoft 365 Copilot at the Microsoft admin center
This takes you directly to Setup Microsoft 365 Copilotopilot for Microsoft 365, your Microsoft 365 Copilot onboarding hub. You’ve arrived!
Need onboarding assistance?
Customers with eligible licenses can submit a request for assistance to FastTrack for help onboarding Copilot.