Building Your First Custom Copilot with Copilot Studio

Overview

Ready to build your first custom copilot? This comprehensive tutorial walks through every step of creating a functional copilot for a government HR helpdesk scenario—from initial design to deployment in Microsoft Teams.

By the end of this video, you’ll have hands-on experience with Copilot Studio and a working copilot you can adapt for your agency’s needs.

What You’ll Learn

• Project Setup: Creating a new copilot in Copilot Studio
• Topic Design: Defining what questions your copilot can answer
• Dialog Flows: Building conversational logic with the visual designer
• Data Integration: Connecting to SharePoint for knowledge base content
• Testing: Validating copilot behavior with realistic scenarios
• Deployment: Publishing to Microsoft Teams

Transcript

[00:00 - Introduction]

Hey everyone, Michael Chen here. Today we’re building a real custom copilot from scratch. We’ll create an HR helpdesk copilot that can answer employee questions about PTO policies, benefits enrollment, and common HR procedures.

[00:45 - Use Case Definition]

Before touching Copilot Studio, define your use case. Our HR copilot needs to:

Answer questions about paid time off policies and request procedures. Explain benefits enrollment periods and plan options. Provide information about onboarding processes for new employees. Route complex questions to human HR representatives.

Clear scope prevents feature creep and keeps development focused.

[02:00 - Creating the Copilot]

Log into Copilot Studio at copilotstudio.microsoft.com. In GCC, use the GCC-specific URL. Click “Create” and select “New copilot.” Give it a name: “HR Assistant” and a brief description. Choose your environment—use a dedicated environment for development, separate from production.

Copilot Studio creates the copilot shell and opens the authoring canvas.

[03:30 - Designing Topics]

Topics are the questions and scenarios your copilot handles. We’ll create three initial topics:

Topic 1: PTO Policies Topic 2: Benefits Enrollment Topic 3: New Employee Onboarding

Click “Topics” and “New topic.” Name the first topic “PTO Policies.” Add trigger phrases—the questions that activate this topic: “How do I request time off?” “What is the PTO policy?” “How much vacation do I have?”

[05:30 - Building Dialog Flows]

Now build the conversation flow for the PTO topic. The visual canvas shows nodes representing conversational steps.

Start with a Message node welcoming the user: “I can help you with PTO questions.” Add a Question node asking what specific information they need: “Are you looking for: 1) How to request PTO, 2) PTO accrual rates, or 3) PTO approval process?”

Based on their answer, branch to different paths with relevant information.

[08:00 - Connecting to Data]

Instead of hardcoding information, connect to a SharePoint list containing HR policy documents. Use the “Call an action” node and select the SharePoint connector. Configure it to query documents tagged with “PTO Policy.”

This ensures your copilot always has current information as policies are updated.

[11:00 - Adding Generative Answers]

Copilot Studio’s generative answers feature uses AI to synthesize responses from your data sources. Add a “Generative answers” node and point it to your SharePoint HR policy library.

When users ask questions, the copilot will intelligently search your documents and compose natural language answers rather than just returning links.

[13:30 - Testing Your Copilot]

Use the test pane on the right side of the screen. Type realistic questions: “How do I request vacation?” “What are the PTO accrual rates?” “Can I roll over unused PTO?”

Verify the copilot triggers the correct topics and provides accurate responses. Refine your trigger phrases and dialog logic based on test results.

[15:30 - Handling Escalations]

Not every question can be automated. Add an escalation path for complex queries. Create a topic called “Human Handoff” that collects the user’s question and employee information, then creates a ticket in your HR system or sends an email to the HR team.

This ensures employees always get answers, even when the copilot can’t help directly.

[17:00 - Publishing and Deployment]

Once testing is complete, click “Publish” to make your copilot available. Then configure channels—where users can access the copilot. The most common channel for government is Microsoft Teams.

Go to “Channels,” select “Microsoft Teams,” and follow the prompts to add your copilot as a Teams app. Users can then find it in Teams and start conversations.

[18:00 - Conclusion]

Congratulations, you’ve built and deployed your first custom copilot! This HR assistant is just the beginning. Apply these same techniques to IT helpdesk, constituent services, training, or any other conversational use case. Download our Conversation Design Guide linked below for advanced patterns and best practices.