Microsoft 365 Copilot Fundamentals

Module 1: Foundational Adoption (Layer A)

• Outlook Basics: Utilizing the "Summarize" feature to generate quick, bulleted recaps of long email threads, and drafting simple, short replies directly within the inline window.

• Teams Real-Time Navigation: Asking basic real-time questions to catch up on missed content during an active meeting.

• Word & PowerPoint Drafting: Generating initial rough document drafts and baseline slide presentations from simple text prompts or topic descriptions.

• Module Benchmark Assessment:

  • Probe: "Have you used Copilot to summarize long email threads in Outlook?"

  • Probe: "When you're late to a Teams meeting, how do you catch up using Copilot?"

Module 2: Operational Integration (Layer B)

• Advanced Outlook Workflows: Leveraging "Coaching by Copilot" to evaluate draft emails for clarity, overall tone, and sentiment before hitting send.

• Post-Meeting Collaboration in Teams: Synthesizing completed meeting discussions into structured action-item tables assigned to specific owners.

• Word & Document Transformation: Transforming raw text into styled tables, rewriting paragraphs for targeted tone shifts, and condensing long PDFs into executive summaries.

• PowerPoint Presentation Design: Converting full Word documents or structured text outlines directly into multi-slide presentations, and inserting specific themed slides via prompts.

• Natural Language Data Analysis in Excel: Navigating small, flat data tables to filter, sort, and highlight trends using plain-language commands.

• Module Benchmark Assessment:

  • Probe: "If you had a long PDF, how would you turn it into a one-page executive summary in Word?"

  • Probe: "If you had a table of regional sales, how would you ask Copilot to highlight top performers?"

Module 3: Prompt Engineering Mastery (Layer C)

• Cross-App Prompting Techniques: Constructing complex, multi-source prompts that anchor across separate files using Microsoft 365 Chat / Business Chat.

• Excel Formula Generation: Authoring advanced, nested formulas and calculated columns (such as YoY variance, text parsing, and VLOOKUP alternatives) via iterative conversation.

• Iterative Context Structuring Framework: Writing high-impact master prompts utilizing the Goal + Context + Source + Expectation blueprint to produce production-ready output.

• Module Benchmark Assessment:

  • Probe: "How do you reference specific files inside a Business Chat prompt?"

  • Probe: "What's your method for getting Copilot to produce output you don't have to rewrite?"