In this blog post series, I will go through the steps to build an autonomous agent in Copilot Studio. This blog post series has been broken down into 9 parts.
Use case:
Imran Rashid Training Ltd (a fictitious company) wants to develop an autonomous AI agent. An agent that can automatically respond to events and take actions without human intervention, using Copilot Studio.
The company wants to help new trainers who are looking for a mentor to help them prepare for new Microsoft courses, such as AZ‑104, SC‑300, AZ‑700, PL‑7008, AZ‑204, AI‑102, AI‑900, AZ‑900, and others.
The company requires new trainers/mentees to complete a Microsoft Form if they would like help when preparing for a course before they begin delivering to customers. When the Microsoft form is submitted, it triggers an autonomous action that allows the agent to process the request automatically. In simple terms, the autonomous agent reacts when something happens, such as a Microsoft form submission.
The autonomous AI agent detects the form submission and processes the request. The agent accesses an Excel spreadsheet that includes a list of trainers who already deliver a number of Microsoft courses and have volunteered to mentor others who are delivering specific courses for the first time.
The agent analyses the form submission and compares it with the Excel data to determine which mentor should be assigned. An email is then automatically sent to the selected mentor so a one‑to‑one call can be arranged.
Furthermore, the agent will update a central Excel spreadsheet with the details of the request, such as the requester’s name, email address, country and areas of concern. The agent will also complete the mentor assigned field so we can track which mentor was automatically assigned to the request.
To summarise, we will:
- Create a Microsoft Form that allows new trainers to submit mentoring requests.
- Build an autonomous AI agent in Copilot Studio, without writing any code, using natural language to define what the agent is built for and the tasks it needs to complete.
- We will name the agent, upload an image/logo, and add draft instructions so the agent understands what it was built for. These instructions will include a few placeholders that we’ll return to and complete later.
- Create a Microsoft Form trigger so the agent is able to detect and process new Microsoft forms submissions whenever a form is completed.
- Connect the agent to tools such as Excel and Outlook, allowing the agent to automate sending an email, reading an Excel spreadsheet which will include a list of mentors, and updating a log file including mentee details and the name of the mentor assigned.
Let’s get started and build our autonomous AI agent in Copilot Studio.
Task 1: Create Microsoft Form for requesters who require a course mentor
- Access and sign in to https://forms.microsoft.com
- Select Create new and choose Form (in some tenants it may say New form).
- Instead of creating the form manually, I will use Copilot in Microsoft Forms to generate the form for me. In Copilot for Microsoft Forms, enter the following prompt:
Prompt start
Create a Microsoft Form titled “Trainer Mentoring Request” for Imran Rashid Training Ltd.
Purpose: allow trainers to request mentoring support before delivering a Microsoft course.
Add a short description at the top explaining that a mentor will be assigned based on the information provided, so it is important that the form is completed accurately.
Include the following questions:
1) Full Name (text, required)
2) Email Address (text, required)
3) Course Selection (choice, required):
AI-102
AI-900
AZ-104
AZ-204
AZ-500
AZ-700
AZ-900
MS-4018
PL-7008
SC-100
SC-200
SC-300
SC-401
MS-4023
AZ-305
4) Country (text, required):
5) Specific Areas of Concern (long text, required) – for example, help with demos or course delivery
Prompt end
4. Check you’re happy with the form and feel free to test it clicking the preview button. Change the design of the form if needed and make any additional tweaks to the form.
Join me in Part 2, where I explore environments in Power Platform and create a new one for use in Copilot Studio. Click the following link to continue: Building an Autonomous AI Agent in Copilot Studio – Part 2: Create a Power Platform Environment – Cloud Build
