In the dynamic and multifaceted environment of Human Resources, efficient management of policies and procedures is crucial. The HR policies and procedures library in SharePoint can contain a wide range of essential documents, such as employee handbooks, leave policies, payroll guidelines, training schedules, and compliance documents.
Sample Contents of the Document Library in SharePoint:
- Employee Handbooks: Comprehensive guides detailing employee expectations and responsibilities.
- Leave Policies: Information on parental, medical, and other types of leave.
- Payroll Guidelines: Procedures and rules for salary processing.
- Training Schedules: Calendars and details of training sessions.
- Compliance Documents: Standards and regulations the company must follow.
Copilot Agent
Copilot agents can transform how employees interact with this information. For example, an employee might ask the agent: “What is the parental leave policy?” or “Where can I find the form to request remote work?” The agent can then return the relevant document or provide a summarized answer.
Benefits of Using Copilot Agents
- Efficiency: Immediate responses to employee questions, saving time and reducing the need for human intervention.
- Accessibility: Important information is always available, regardless of the employee’s time or location.
- Consistency: The responses provided by the agent are consistent and based on the most up-to-date information available in SharePoint.
- Engagement: A more interactive and engaging process can increase employee satisfaction and retention.
Creating Copilot Agents
Creating copilot agents can be done through the “Copilot” button in the menu at the top right corner. Clicking the “Copilot” button will bring up a right-side panel that allows you to view the various created agents, see which ones have been previously approved for use, and the button to create a new agent.
After clicking “Create an agent,” a floating window will appear where you can open the agent to start interacting with it or edit it.
Configuring the Agent
The configuration is relatively simple, but in more complex scenarios, you can use the “Copilot Studio.” For this article, we will only explore simple creation.
Identity
In the initial tab, you can define the agent’s name and its purpose.
Sources
In this tab, you can configure the data sources the agent will access. Remember, copilot agents in SharePoint respect existing SharePoint permissions, meaning during interaction with the agent, the user will only receive information they previously had access to, at least in read mode.
You can select a site via the address and define whether the data source includes all information on the current site or only in selected document libraries.
Behavior
In the behavior tab, you can configure:
- Welcome Message – Contains the text that appears whenever you start an interaction with the agent.
- Introduction Requests – Ability to configure 3 default questions so that the user quickly interacts with the agent. These questions should be relevant and serve as a starting point for the user’s interaction with the agent.
- Agent Instructions – Allows you to describe the behavior you want the agent to have in interactions with users. In this case, the possibilities are varied, and you will have to test several descriptions until you find the desired behavior.
During the agent configuration process, you can test it through the panel available on the right side.
Approval and Location
Once the agent configuration is complete, you can approve and set the agent as the default agent for the site through the Copilot menu.
All agents are also saved as .agent files in the “Site Resources” library, where a distinction
Integration with Teams
Integration with Teams is very simple, just copy the agent’s address through the copilot menu.
By pasting the link into a Teams conversation, you can interact with the agent. Note that whenever there are users in the conversation who do not have at least read access to the content of the agent’s response, the agent administrator is notified and must approve the information to be available to all users in the conversation.
