Introduction
Microsoft Copilot Studio is a graphical low-code tool for creating and maintaining agents.
An agent is an AI-powered application based on large language models (LLMs) and additional sources of knowledge. It's a powerful AI companion that can handle a range of requests, from providing simple responses to common questions to resolving issues requiring complex conversations.
What you'll learn
In this module, you'll learn how to:
- Create an intelligent agent that uses knowledge sources for enhanced responses
- Add different types of knowledge sources including websites, files, SharePoint, and Dataverse
- Configure generative answers to provide contextual, relevant information
- Optimize agent responses using conversational boosting and topic management
What you'll build
By the end of this module, you'll have created a functional agent that can answer questions using your organization's knowledge sources, providing intelligent, contextual responses without requiring manually authored topics for every possible user question.
Generative answers
Generative answers in Copilot Studio let your agent find and present information from multiple sources, internal or external, without created topics. Generative answers can be used as primary information sources or as a fallback source when authored topics can't answer a user's query. As a result, you can quickly create and deploy a functional agent. You don't need to manually author multiple topics that might not address all customer questions.
Knowledge sources
In Copilot Studio, knowledge sources work together with generative answers. When knowledge sources are added, agents can use enterprise data from Power Platform, Dynamics 365 data, websites, and external systems. Knowledge sources allow your agents to provide relevant information and insights for your customers.
Agents that contain knowledge use the configured knowledge sources to ground the agent. Knowledge can be incorporated at the agent level, in the Knowledge page, or at the topic level, with a generative answers node in an agent topic.
Knowledge sources can be incorporated into agents during their initial creation, added after the agent is created, or added to a generative answers topic node.
Supported knowledge sources
Supported data sources include:
- Public websites
- File upload
- SharePoint
- Dataverse
- Azure AI Search
- Real-time connectors
- Unstructured data
Use cases for knowledge sources
Adding knowledge to an agent allows you to quickly create a functional agent.
Here are some example use cases for knowledge in agents:
- Onboarding employees - Use a SharePoint site containing all the documents related to on onboarding. New employees can use this agent to answer questions, explain company culture, and provide essential company resources.
- Contract review - Upload files containing contracts and review instructions. This agent can identify key clauses, ensure compliance with legal standards, assess potential risks, explain specific clauses, and provide summaries of lengthy contracts, ensuring that nothing is overlooked.
- Product information - Use the product tables in Microsoft Dataverse. This agent can answer questions using the data in the rows and columns of the product tables.