In the first session of our four-part Copilot Governance series, we focused on what it takes to build a secure, scalable, and strategic foundation for Microsoft Copilot. Whether you're just getting started or already piloting agents, this session covered the key phases of deployment, the Copilot Control System, and the governance levers that matter most.
The Copilot Deployment Journey
We broke down the Copilot journey into four phases, each with clear milestones:
- Phase 1 (0–2 months):
- Establish AI councils and champions programs
- Define governance and agent strategies
- Begin change management and Purview planning
- Phase 2 (3–6 months):
- Deploy first-party agents (e.g., Researcher, Analyst)
- Experiment with low-code agents using Agent Builder
- Expand Power Platform and Purview governance
- Phase 3–4 (6+ months):
- Scale custom agents across departments
- Fine-tune policies and billing
- Drive adoption through education and reporting
Key Governance Controls in the Admin Center
We explored the Copilot Control System and how to manage access, features, and billing:
- Agent Access:
- Scope agent creation to security groups
- Understand the difference between shared vs. custom agents
- Use “pinning” to highlight key agents for users
- Billing & Consumption:
- Set up pay-as-you-go policies for Copilot Chat users
- Assign billing by department or security group
- Avoid unexpected charges by limiting third-party connectors
- Security & Data Access:
- Control web search and external agent access
- Use custom dictionaries for business-specific terms
- Monitor agent ownership and usage trends
This session also introduced new features like the ability to manage pinned agents, track ownerless agents, and leverage Graph Connectors for external data sources like ServiceNow. You can view the presentation attached to this blog.
Join us for our next sessions, register below:
Oct 21 – Copilot Studio + Power Platform Governance: Microsoft Virtual Events Powered by Teams
- Explore governance for Copilot Studio and Power Platform, including environment routing, Managed Environments, DLP policies, and the CoE Starter Kit.
Oct 28 – Purview: Labels, Data Security, eDiscovery, and Copilot Logging: Microsoft Virtual Events Powered by Teams
- See how Microsoft Purview enables compliance for Copilot with audit logs, Activity Explorer, sensitivity labels, and eDiscovery workflows.
Nov 4 – Content Governance with SharePoint Advanced Management: Microsoft Virtual Events Powered by Teams
- Learn how to control content signals for Copilot using SAM features like DAG, RAC, RCD, and Restricted SharePoint Search.
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