Copilot Chat: Designing and Managing Your Own Agents Professionally

In this hands-on seminar you will learn how to design, configure, and optimize your own AI agents in Copilot Chat.

You will gain a deep understanding of how agents “think,” the role of system instructions play, and how to reliably control behavior, tone, and response quality. Through numerous real-world examples, you will develop agents that deliver real value in everyday work scenarios—whether for HR, sales, IT, or specialized departments.

The seminar focuses not only on technical implementation but also on training-relevant best practices, common pitfalls, and the clear, consistent structuring of system instructions (prompts).

Your Benefits at a Glance

• Structured introduction to Copilot agents with a strong practical focus
• Clear methodology for creating high-quality system instructions
• Confidence in defining roles, rules, and constraints
• Avoidance of common real-world and training-related pitfalls
• Immediate applicability in everyday work

Seminar Agenda

Fundamentals: Understanding Copilot Chat and Agents

• What agents are and how they work
• Capabilities and limitations of agents in Copilot Chat
• Typical practical mistakes—and how to avoid them

Agent Architecture

• Key components of an agent at a glance:
  • System instructions (role)
  • Knowledge base
  • Behavior and rules
• Clear separation of tasks, role, and objectives

Creating Agents: From Idea to Implementation

• Creating a new agent
• Assigning a unique agent name
• Defining the specific use case
• Writing a clear and user-friendly agent description

Defining Roles and Objectives Clearly

• Defining functional roles (e.g., HR, sales, IT)
• Delimiting the scope of responsibilities
• Describing desired outcomes in a goal-oriented way
• Avoiding vague or contradictory instructions

Writing Professional System Instructions (System Prompts)

• Structure of an effective system instruction:
  • Role
  • Tasks
  • Desired behavior
• Writing clear and unambiguous instructions
• Using examples to guide agent responses
• Common prompt design errors in practice

Controlling Response Behavior

• Defining tone (formal, neutral, casual)
• Setting the level of detail and response depth
• Controlling output structure
  (bullet points, continuous text, tables)
• Handling unclear or incomplete user requests
• Defining rules for follow-up questions by the agent

Rules, Constraints, and Safety

• Restricting the agent to defined topic areas
• Handling missing information
• Prohibiting speculation or assumptions
• Defining “non-responses”

Testing, Optimization, and Quality Assurance

• Testing with simple and complex queries
• Verifying goal achievement
• Evaluating response quality
• Iteratively improving system instructions
• Comparing different prompt versions
• Documenting changes and improvements

Management and Reuse

• Saving and organizing agents
• Reusing existing agents
• Maintaining oversight of multiple agents

Target Audience

• Project managers and product owners
• Specialists and managers
• IT managers and administrators
• HR, sales, and organizational departments
• Trainers, consultants, and Microsoft Copilot power users

Prerequisites

• Basic knowledge of Microsoft Copilot Chat
• Interest in AI-supported processes and knowledge work
• No programming skills required