Introduction

  • 4 minutes

In today's fast-paced work environment, data-driven decision-making is essential—but not everyone has the time or technical expertise to analyze complex datasets. That's where Microsoft 365 Copilot in Excel and the Analyst agent come in. These AI-powered tools are designed to help you work smarter by transforming raw data into meaningful insights with just a few prompts. Whether you're preparing a performance report, tracking trends, or summarizing key takeaways, these tools can dramatically reduce the time and effort required.

Imagine you're part of a growing retail business, tasked with preparing a quarterly performance report for your team. You need to analyze sales data and identify trends. However, you're short on time and lack advanced technical skills to process the data effectively. With Microsoft 365 Copilot, you can upload your sales data, ask questions, and receive instant visual reports and actionable insights. You can then use Copilot in Word to create a summary report to share with your team.

This module will guide you through two powerful tools that can help you accomplish this workflow. First, you'll learn how to use Copilot in Excel to summarize your data and generate visual representations that make trends and outliers easy to spot. Then, you'll explore how the Analyst agent can take your analysis even further—automating data exploration, surfacing key insights, and suggesting next steps based on your business context. Together, these tools empower you to move from raw data to polished reporting with confidence and clarity.

In this module, you'll learn how to:

  • Use Copilot in Excel to summarize your data.
  • Use Copilot in Excel to generate a visual representation of your data set.
  • Explain how the Analyst agent processes data and generates actionable insights.

By the end of this module, you'll be able to:

  • Use Microsoft 365 Copilot to analyze and generate insights based on your Excel data.
  • Use Microsoft 365 Copilot in Excel to gather trends from web-based sources.
  • Access and use the Analyst agent to analyze data and generate actionable insights.
  • Understand how responses vary based on if you've prompted Copilot Chat or used the Analyst agent.