Central Government: Discovering and Implementing Microsoft 365 Copilot to Organisational Standards

Overview

Responsible AI adoption in central government

The client is a UK central government organisation. Like many public bodies, it saw clear potential in generative AI to reduce routine administration and improve access to information, and an equally clear need to adopt it responsibly.

Microsoft 365 Copilot works with the content users can already access. That makes it powerful, but it also means any weaknesses in permissions, sharing or labelling become visible very quickly. For a government organisation, Copilot had to respect information handling rules and organisational standards from the first day of use.

Konsolute carried out a discovery to assess readiness and define how Copilot should be used, then implemented it in controlled stages. The rollout was aligned with the organisation's standards for security, data protection and governance.

The challenge

Unlocking AI without exposing information

The organisation wanted staff to benefit from Copilot's ability to draft, summarise and search across Microsoft 365. Before enabling it, it needed confidence that Copilot would only surface information people were entitled to see.

Over time, content in any large Microsoft 365 tenant tends to become overshared through broad permissions, open sites and links shared too widely. Copilot does not change who can access content, but it makes that content far easier to find.

The organisation also needed clarity on how Copilot should be used: which scenarios offered real value, what guidance staff needed, and how use would be governed and measured.

The organisation needed to:

Our approach

Discover, prepare, then roll out in controlled stages

We treated Copilot as an information governance project as much as a technology rollout. Getting the foundations right came before switching it on.

Discovery. Konsolute worked with the organisation's technology, security, information management and business stakeholders. We reviewed the Microsoft 365 environment, agreed the standards Copilot needed to meet and explored where it could make the most difference to staff.

Readiness and oversharing review. We assessed permissions, sharing and site access across the tenant to identify content that was more widely available than it should be. Remediation priorities were agreed so that Copilot would operate on appropriately controlled content.

Alignment with organisational standards. Copilot configuration was aligned with the organisation's information handling and security requirements, including how sensitive information is labelled and protected. Decisions were documented so that the organisation could evidence how Copilot met its standards.

Use cases and guidance. We identified practical, high-value scenarios, such as drafting, summarising meetings and documents, and finding information. We provided guidance on appropriate use, so staff understood both what Copilot could do and where human judgement remained essential.

Controlled implementation. Copilot was rolled out in stages, starting with a defined group of users. Feedback from early users shaped training, guidance and configuration before wider rollout.

Result

Copilot in use, within the organisation's standards

The organisation introduced Microsoft 365 Copilot with confidence that it met its security, information handling and governance standards. Readiness work reduced oversharing risks before Copilot was enabled.

Staff now use Copilot to streamline everyday tasks, such as drafting content and summarising information, and to find what they need more quickly across Microsoft 365.

Because rollout was staged and governed, the organisation has a clear basis for extending Copilot to more users and use cases, and for evidencing responsible use of AI.