The Autonomous Agent Excel Hack

1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,360
Excel, humanity's favorite self-inflicted punishment disguised as productivity software.

2
00:00:04,360 --> 00:00:05,460
Every office has one.

3
00:00:05,460 --> 00:00:09,340
The person who still believes the best way to complete a request for information spreadsheet

4
00:00:09,340 --> 00:00:14,580
is to manually copy and paste 50 answers from a word document into neatly-bordered cells.

5
00:00:14,580 --> 00:00:17,660
Watching them is like watching someone chisel an email on stone tablets.

6
00:00:17,660 --> 00:00:19,560
It's moving in an anthropological sense.

7
00:00:19,560 --> 00:00:25,260
The truth is, most professionals still handle Excel RFIs like it's 1999.

8
00:00:25,260 --> 00:00:27,440
Repetitive, error-prone, painfully manual.

9
00:00:27,440 --> 00:00:30,400
The incoming spreadsheet is another ritual of drudgery.

10
00:00:30,400 --> 00:00:34,520
Open email, download attachment, scan the rows, matter obscenities, start copying answers

11
00:00:34,520 --> 00:00:36,080
cell by cell.

12
00:00:36,080 --> 00:00:40,060
One typo, one wrongpaste, one missing semicolon, and an entire department spends half a day

13
00:00:40,060 --> 00:00:41,400
blaming the formula.

14
00:00:41,400 --> 00:00:43,280
Now imagine refusing that fate.

15
00:00:43,280 --> 00:00:47,440
Imagine delegating the entire misery to a machine that doesn't get bored, doesn't make

16
00:00:47,440 --> 00:00:50,120
typos, and certainly doesn't need coffee.

17
00:00:50,120 --> 00:00:51,760
That's an autonomous agent.

18
00:00:51,760 --> 00:00:54,120
Software that performs the cycle entirely on its own.

19
00:00:54,120 --> 00:00:59,800
It reads the Excel file, interprets the questions, finds the answers, using generative AI, writes

20
00:00:59,800 --> 00:01:04,520
those answers back into the same file, and emails the completed masterpiece straight to

21
00:01:04,520 --> 00:01:05,800
the requester.

22
00:01:05,800 --> 00:01:10,360
You aren't just saving time, you're eliminating the concept of busy work entirely.

23
00:01:10,360 --> 00:01:14,320
We're going to build that agent inside Microsoft co-pilot studio and power automate.

24
00:01:14,320 --> 00:01:17,040
A practical rebellion against the spreadsheet start to scroll.

25
00:01:17,040 --> 00:01:21,160
I call it a hack, because it bends Excel far beyond its original purpose.

26
00:01:21,160 --> 00:01:24,720
20 minutes from now you'll have a process that upgrades itself while you sip your coffee

27
00:01:24,720 --> 00:01:26,920
and contemplate how obsolete you've become.

28
00:01:26,920 --> 00:01:29,160
Let's start by dissecting the organism.

29
00:01:29,160 --> 00:01:31,400
The anatomy of an autonomous agent.

30
00:01:31,400 --> 00:01:32,400
Blueprint.

31
00:01:32,400 --> 00:01:35,400
First, let's define what we're actually creating.

32
00:01:35,400 --> 00:01:40,560
In co-pilot studio, an autonomous agent isn't a polite chatbot that waits for instructions.

33
00:01:40,560 --> 00:01:45,800
It's a self-operating construct with three core components, a trigger, logic, and orchestration.

34
00:01:45,800 --> 00:01:49,920
The trigger starts the process, an event like a new email arrives, or a file is uploaded

35
00:01:49,920 --> 00:01:50,960
to SharePoint.

36
00:01:50,960 --> 00:01:53,600
The logic defines what to do when that happens.

37
00:01:53,600 --> 00:01:57,080
The orchestration handles which external tools or flows to call so everything happens in

38
00:01:57,080 --> 00:01:58,080
the right sequence.

39
00:01:58,080 --> 00:02:02,040
Think of it like an assembly line, but instead of factory workers, you have power platform

40
00:02:02,040 --> 00:02:04,720
components passing digital parts to one another.

41
00:02:04,720 --> 00:02:08,600
Power automate receives the email, stores the file, and notifies the agent.

42
00:02:08,600 --> 00:02:12,960
Co-pilot studio reads the spreadsheet, brain storms answers using generative AI, and writes

43
00:02:12,960 --> 00:02:13,960
them back.

44
00:02:13,960 --> 00:02:17,720
Finally, power automate reattaches the result and sends the email reply.

45
00:02:17,720 --> 00:02:19,960
Three systems, one continuous thought process.

46
00:02:19,960 --> 00:02:22,040
Now, this is where most people get confused.

47
00:02:22,040 --> 00:02:25,240
Microsoft talks about co-pilot as if it's one thing, but there's a crucial difference between

48
00:02:25,240 --> 00:02:27,560
the standard co-pilot and a co-pilot studio agent.

49
00:02:27,560 --> 00:02:29,520
The normal co-pilot waits for you to talk to it.

50
00:02:29,520 --> 00:02:32,160
A studio agent doesn't need your supervision.

51
00:02:32,160 --> 00:02:35,360
It can trigger itself based on conditions you define.

52
00:02:35,360 --> 00:02:39,120
It's the difference between a helpful intern and an employee who runs the department while

53
00:02:39,120 --> 00:02:40,440
you're asleep.

54
00:02:40,440 --> 00:02:43,080
Why use an RFI workflow as the sandbox?

55
00:02:43,080 --> 00:02:45,600
Because RFIs are beautifully structured chaos.

56
00:02:45,600 --> 00:02:48,640
Each row contains a question and expects an answer.

57
00:02:48,640 --> 00:02:50,600
The pattern never changes, just the content.

58
00:02:50,600 --> 00:02:55,120
That makes it a perfect laboratory for machine intelligence, structured enough to automate,

59
00:02:55,120 --> 00:02:57,840
varied enough to justify using generative AI.

60
00:02:57,840 --> 00:02:59,760
You know exactly what good looks like.

61
00:02:59,760 --> 00:03:03,320
Every question answered, neatly returned zero emotional trauma.

62
00:03:03,320 --> 00:03:06,200
Before we dive deeper, let's draw a mental diagram.

63
00:03:06,200 --> 00:03:10,320
Start with an email containing the Excel attachment that email lands in a shared mailbox.

64
00:03:10,320 --> 00:03:14,760
Power automate detects the file, verifies it's the right format, then copies it to a share

65
00:03:14,760 --> 00:03:17,520
point location like a digital staging area.

66
00:03:17,520 --> 00:03:21,840
The agent in co-pilot studio then receives a message telling it which file to process.

67
00:03:21,840 --> 00:03:27,160
The agent opens that file, iterates through the questions, produces answers using its configured

68
00:03:27,160 --> 00:03:32,160
knowledge base or being grounding and writes the responses back into the original table.

69
00:03:32,160 --> 00:03:36,160
When it's done, power automate picks the file up again and emails it to whoever made

70
00:03:36,160 --> 00:03:37,160
the request.

71
00:03:37,160 --> 00:03:38,760
So the data flows like this.

72
00:03:38,760 --> 00:03:43,680
Email, SharePoint, co-pilot studio, Power Automate, email reply.

73
00:03:43,680 --> 00:03:45,360
That's the anatomy of autonomy.

74
00:03:45,360 --> 00:03:49,040
It does initiate logic decides and orchestration executes.

75
00:03:49,040 --> 00:03:53,040
But autonomy doesn't mean omniscience, an agent can't improvise outside its boundaries.

76
00:03:53,040 --> 00:03:57,280
You have to define its permissions and give it the context it needs, where the file lives,

77
00:03:57,280 --> 00:04:00,440
what to read, where to write and when to ask for help.

78
00:04:00,440 --> 00:04:03,840
Leave any of that vague and the agent will pause politely waiting for a human who never

79
00:04:03,840 --> 00:04:04,840
arrives.

80
00:04:04,840 --> 00:04:07,840
That's the blueprint, comprehension before configuration.

81
00:04:07,840 --> 00:04:10,800
Now that you know what the machine needs to be, we can start feeding it because the

82
00:04:10,800 --> 00:04:15,160
next step is teaching power automate to act as the gatekeeper, filtering the inputs and

83
00:04:15,160 --> 00:04:18,880
delivering them to your new digital employee with mechanical precision.

84
00:04:18,880 --> 00:04:23,280
And once that's in place, that's when the fun really starts watching the machine think,

85
00:04:23,280 --> 00:04:25,680
feeding the machine, input flow design.

86
00:04:25,680 --> 00:04:28,840
Every great automation begins with an act of bureaucracy.

87
00:04:28,840 --> 00:04:33,680
In this case, it's an email, specifically an email arriving in a shared mailbox.

88
00:04:33,680 --> 00:04:37,480
The digital equivalent of a pigeonhole where everyone dumps their urgent requests and promptly

89
00:04:37,480 --> 00:04:38,480
forgets them.

90
00:04:38,480 --> 00:04:39,480
That's our entry point.

91
00:04:39,480 --> 00:04:42,640
The incoming message completes the first link in the chain and power automate stands

92
00:04:42,640 --> 00:04:44,000
ready as the gatekeeper.

93
00:04:44,000 --> 00:04:47,880
Our power automate doesn't simply wait around like an intern checking the inbox every five

94
00:04:47,880 --> 00:04:48,880
minutes.

95
00:04:48,880 --> 00:04:53,560
It's configured with a precise trigger when a new email arrives in the shared mailbox.

96
00:04:53,560 --> 00:04:55,880
This is our first automation principle.

97
00:04:55,880 --> 00:04:59,560
Don't rely on human observation, rely on conditions.

98
00:04:59,560 --> 00:05:03,520
The flow springs into existence, the moment and attachment lands, eliminating the age-old

99
00:05:03,520 --> 00:05:05,720
problem of, I didn't see that email.

100
00:05:05,720 --> 00:05:07,200
The first action is filtration.

101
00:05:07,200 --> 00:05:12,320
You tell power automate to ignore every attachment that isn't xlsx, pdf's screenshots and the

102
00:05:12,320 --> 00:05:17,120
occasional cat photo of the team celebrating fiscal year end are discarded with prejudice.

103
00:05:17,120 --> 00:05:20,840
Without this rule, your agent would attempt to interpret a JPEG of a chart and politely

104
00:05:20,840 --> 00:05:24,800
fail, filtering save CPU cycles and your professional dignity.

105
00:05:24,800 --> 00:05:27,920
Inside the flow, the condition reads almost poetically.

106
00:05:27,920 --> 00:05:31,960
If attachment name ends with xlsx, continue.

107
00:05:31,960 --> 00:05:37,120
That one line separates order from chaos because chaos in the world of automation always begins

108
00:05:37,120 --> 00:05:38,880
with unexpected file types.

109
00:05:38,880 --> 00:05:42,560
Once the file passes inspection, the next challenge is structure validation.

110
00:05:42,560 --> 00:05:45,840
A valid xl file must contain a name table and the name matters.

111
00:05:45,840 --> 00:05:48,720
In our universe, it's stubbornly fixed as table one.

112
00:05:48,720 --> 00:05:51,880
If that sounds rigid, good, it keeps power automate sane.

113
00:05:51,880 --> 00:05:56,520
Without a table, xl is just a digital whiteboard full of merged cells, hidden columns and despair.

114
00:05:56,520 --> 00:06:00,840
A defined table, on the other hand, gives the agent a predictable schema.

115
00:06:00,840 --> 00:06:05,600
Columns for question, answer, and any contextual data you define.

116
00:06:05,600 --> 00:06:09,080
The table is the skeleton, without it there's nothing to animate.

117
00:06:09,080 --> 00:06:13,040
When power automate encounters a file, it doesn't edit it directly from the mailbox.

118
00:06:13,040 --> 00:06:14,040
That would be barbaric.

119
00:06:14,040 --> 00:06:17,000
Instead, it creates a controlled copy in SharePoint.

120
00:06:17,000 --> 00:06:21,800
Think of this as moving the file from a noisy public street to a laboratory bench.

121
00:06:21,800 --> 00:06:26,080
SharePoint provides versioning, consistent URLs and secure access tokens, allowing co-pilot

122
00:06:26,080 --> 00:06:28,880
studio to interact with the data safely.

123
00:06:28,880 --> 00:06:31,920
Every automation should log its input somewhere stable.

124
00:06:31,920 --> 00:06:34,880
SharePoint is that stability wrapped in corporate compliance.

125
00:06:34,880 --> 00:06:36,840
What are the file rests in SharePoint?

126
00:06:36,840 --> 00:06:42,080
The flow extracts its file ID, a unique identifier that lets the agent find the exact specimen

127
00:06:42,080 --> 00:06:43,080
later.

128
00:06:43,080 --> 00:06:46,720
Alongside this, it pulls the message ID, the address of the original email that brought

129
00:06:46,720 --> 00:06:48,480
us this problem in the first place.

130
00:06:48,480 --> 00:06:52,440
Both IDs become reference points in the upcoming conversation with the agent.

131
00:06:52,440 --> 00:06:54,400
This is metadata hygiene 101.

132
00:06:54,400 --> 00:06:57,520
Track everything that enters your system so you can close the loop properly on the way

133
00:06:57,520 --> 00:06:58,520
out.

134
00:06:58,520 --> 00:07:02,600
At this point, you might be wondering why we care so much about pristine naming conventions.

135
00:07:02,600 --> 00:07:03,600
Simple.

136
00:07:03,600 --> 00:07:06,720
Our names read like final final RFI V23.

137
00:07:06,720 --> 00:07:07,720
X-clags.

138
00:07:07,720 --> 00:07:10,560
You're effectively speaking in tongues to a robot.

139
00:07:10,560 --> 00:07:12,400
Machines thrive on uniformity.

140
00:07:12,400 --> 00:07:13,760
Humans apparently do not.

141
00:07:13,760 --> 00:07:16,760
Name your files predictably and your agent will thank you by not crashing.

142
00:07:16,760 --> 00:07:20,800
With the file validated and safely stored, the flow sends a precise prompt to the co-pilot

143
00:07:20,800 --> 00:07:22,040
studio agent.

144
00:07:22,040 --> 00:07:26,920
This message is deliberately phrased, something like "perform an RFI on file ID X and reply

145
00:07:26,920 --> 00:07:28,680
to message IDY".

146
00:07:28,680 --> 00:07:32,600
No flowery pros, no passive aggressive context, just clear machine readable intent and

147
00:07:32,600 --> 00:07:34,880
baguity is the mortal enemy of automation.

148
00:07:34,880 --> 00:07:37,920
This is also where the concept of structured prompting appears.

149
00:07:37,920 --> 00:07:40,720
It's not enough to tell the agent process the file.

150
00:07:40,720 --> 00:07:44,800
You must include context, the file scope, the expected action and the destination for the

151
00:07:44,800 --> 00:07:46,160
response.

152
00:07:46,160 --> 00:07:49,320
That triad forms linguistics scaffolding for the AI's behaviour.

153
00:07:49,320 --> 00:07:54,080
Without it, the agent might attempt something admirable but irrelevant, like composing polite

154
00:07:54,080 --> 00:07:56,360
email replies instead of populating sales.

155
00:07:56,360 --> 00:07:58,360
Data integrity is everything here.

156
00:07:58,360 --> 00:08:02,200
Every automation enthusiast eventually learns that unstructured spreadsheets are digital

157
00:08:02,200 --> 00:08:03,200
landmines.

158
00:08:03,200 --> 00:08:06,720
The difference between a clean table and a messy one can decide whether your process looks

159
00:08:06,720 --> 00:08:07,960
brilliant or cursed.

160
00:08:07,960 --> 00:08:09,680
Power automate loves order.

161
00:08:09,680 --> 00:08:13,760
Rows or records, columns are variables and merged sales are crimes against logic.

162
00:08:13,760 --> 00:08:17,240
When you hand the agent a properly formatted table, you're not just giving a data, you're

163
00:08:17,240 --> 00:08:18,600
feeding it understanding.

164
00:08:18,600 --> 00:08:23,680
At this stage, our power automate flow has achieved three milestones, detection, validation

165
00:08:23,680 --> 00:08:24,680
and preparation.

166
00:08:24,680 --> 00:08:28,840
The email trigger caught the incoming message, the filter ensured only legitimate Excel

167
00:08:28,840 --> 00:08:33,280
files survive and the SharePoint copy provided a stable data habitat.

168
00:08:33,280 --> 00:08:35,760
Now the machine has what it needs to begin digestion.

169
00:08:35,760 --> 00:08:37,520
In other words, it's feeding time.

170
00:08:37,520 --> 00:08:42,000
The completed flow hands the button to co-pilot studio, packaging or necessary information,

171
00:08:42,000 --> 00:08:45,720
file location IDs and instructions and sending the prompt for processing.

172
00:08:45,720 --> 00:08:49,320
The agent doesn't care how many people ignored the inbox this morning or how many versions

173
00:08:49,320 --> 00:08:50,720
of the spreadsheet exist.

174
00:08:50,720 --> 00:08:54,800
It simply takes the most recent, opens the table and begins reasoning through the questions

175
00:08:54,800 --> 00:08:55,800
inside.

176
00:08:55,800 --> 00:08:57,440
And that brings us to a turning point.

177
00:08:57,440 --> 00:09:01,800
The machine now holds food for thought, a literal list of questions awaiting responses.

178
00:09:01,800 --> 00:09:06,000
The input stage is done, the gates are open, the parameters are fixed and chaos has been

179
00:09:06,000 --> 00:09:07,160
tamed into schema.

180
00:09:07,160 --> 00:09:08,840
The next phase is cognition.

181
00:09:08,840 --> 00:09:14,000
How the agent reads those rows, interprets them and generates credible answers one by one,

182
00:09:14,000 --> 00:09:15,000
without human prompting.

183
00:09:15,000 --> 00:09:18,400
Now that we fed the machine, it's time to watch it chew.

184
00:09:18,400 --> 00:09:20,720
The AI brain, generative answer loop.

185
00:09:20,720 --> 00:09:24,680
At this point, the file is sitting quietly in SharePoint like a patient in triage.

186
00:09:24,680 --> 00:09:28,840
Now the co-pilot studio agents turn to play doctor, diagnose each question and prescribe

187
00:09:28,840 --> 00:09:29,840
an answer.

188
00:09:29,840 --> 00:09:33,440
This is where intelligence replaces automation, where the system doesn't just move data

189
00:09:33,440 --> 00:09:34,920
but understands it.

190
00:09:34,920 --> 00:09:37,600
Enter the RFI topic, the cognitive hub of our agent.

191
00:09:37,600 --> 00:09:41,520
A topic in co-pilot studio is essentially a conversation blueprint, a series of steps

192
00:09:41,520 --> 00:09:43,360
the agent executes when triggered.

193
00:09:43,360 --> 00:09:46,480
But in this context, there's no chat bubble, no human to appease.

194
00:09:46,480 --> 00:09:50,640
The RFI topic works silently, executing one question at a time in need to deterministic

195
00:09:50,640 --> 00:09:51,640
order.

196
00:09:51,640 --> 00:09:53,280
Each question is a short exam.

197
00:09:53,280 --> 00:09:56,560
Each answer is an essay drafted by the AI's generative brain.

198
00:09:56,560 --> 00:10:00,640
First the topic receives input parameters, namely the file ID pointing to our SharePoint

199
00:10:00,640 --> 00:10:01,640
copy.

200
00:10:01,640 --> 00:10:04,040
It then runs the list rows present in a table action.

201
00:10:04,040 --> 00:10:08,600
This command fetches the entire table, not as rows and columns, but as structured data.

202
00:10:08,600 --> 00:10:11,320
The agent passes this into a record variable.

203
00:10:11,320 --> 00:10:13,880
It's internal snapshot of our Excel world.

204
00:10:13,880 --> 00:10:17,600
Within that record lies an array of all rows stored conveniently under something like

205
00:10:17,600 --> 00:10:18,600
record.

206
00:10:18,600 --> 00:10:19,600
Value.

207
00:10:19,600 --> 00:10:20,600
That's the data buffet.

208
00:10:20,600 --> 00:10:22,080
The agent is about to consume.

209
00:10:22,080 --> 00:10:23,600
It's where structure meets logic.

210
00:10:23,600 --> 00:10:27,640
You instruct the agent to set that array as items, the working collection it will loop through.

211
00:10:27,640 --> 00:10:32,640
Then, using a for each loop, the agent examines every row in sequence, no skipping, no bias,

212
00:10:32,640 --> 00:10:33,640
no complaint.

213
00:10:33,640 --> 00:10:37,800
For each row, it extracts the question field and targets it for the next phase.

214
00:10:37,800 --> 00:10:38,800
Generation.

215
00:10:38,800 --> 00:10:41,880
This design choice, isolating one question at a time, isn't arbitrary.

216
00:10:41,880 --> 00:10:44,360
It's about avoiding what I call context bleed.

217
00:10:44,360 --> 00:10:48,560
In large language models, dropping multiple prompts at once invites contamination.

218
00:10:48,560 --> 00:10:51,200
One question's context may pollute the next answer.

219
00:10:51,200 --> 00:10:54,080
By isolating each prompt, we enforce mental hygiene.

220
00:10:54,080 --> 00:10:58,560
The agent forgets after every row, ensuring each answer is born innocent, untainted by its siblings

221
00:10:58,560 --> 00:10:59,560
confusion.

222
00:10:59,560 --> 00:11:02,520
Now comes the showpiece, the Create Generative Answers node.

223
00:11:02,520 --> 00:11:05,840
This is the co-pilot studio equivalent of a turbocharged brain cell.

224
00:11:05,840 --> 00:11:10,040
You provided the question text, instructed to find or synthesize the best possible answer

225
00:11:10,040 --> 00:11:13,920
based on the agent's knowledge sources, and it does the rest.

226
00:11:13,920 --> 00:11:15,200
The agent doesn't chat.

227
00:11:15,200 --> 00:11:16,400
It computes.

228
00:11:16,400 --> 00:11:17,880
This distinction is critical.

229
00:11:17,880 --> 00:11:19,520
Autonomy doesn't crave conversation.

230
00:11:19,520 --> 00:11:21,120
It just wants to complete the assignment.

231
00:11:21,120 --> 00:11:24,240
To maintain discipline, disable the send message property in this node.

232
00:11:24,240 --> 00:11:29,240
That switch is buried in the advanced settings and turning it off silences the default chat

233
00:11:29,240 --> 00:11:30,240
output.

234
00:11:30,240 --> 00:11:31,240
Why?

235
00:11:31,240 --> 00:11:33,640
Because you don't want this agent trying to hold a polite dialogue with itself.

236
00:11:33,640 --> 00:11:34,880
It's not journaling its thoughts.

237
00:11:34,880 --> 00:11:35,880
It's working.

238
00:11:35,880 --> 00:11:38,720
All answers will instead be stored into a variable.

239
00:11:38,720 --> 00:11:41,600
Usually something elegantly named like AI response.

240
00:11:41,600 --> 00:11:46,120
This is the agent's notebook holding generated answers in a neat, queryable form.

241
00:11:46,120 --> 00:11:50,560
Once the AI response variable is populated, the agent runs an update row command.

242
00:11:50,560 --> 00:11:53,400
Think of these as the robots mechanical arms.

243
00:11:53,400 --> 00:11:57,880
One inserts answers precisely where they belong, matching each response to its original question.

244
00:11:57,880 --> 00:12:01,720
It uses the same file ID, the same table name and targets the correct row based on the

245
00:12:01,720 --> 00:12:03,720
current questions identifier.

246
00:12:03,720 --> 00:12:07,800
Within seconds, the once empty answer column begins filling like a self-writing report.

247
00:12:07,800 --> 00:12:10,560
At this point, you've achieved the AI cognitive loop.

248
00:12:10,560 --> 00:12:13,760
Read, reason, respond, record.

249
00:12:13,760 --> 00:12:15,080
It's not thrilling to watch.

250
00:12:15,080 --> 00:12:18,120
Unless of course, you appreciate the quiet power of automation that thinks.

251
00:12:18,120 --> 00:12:22,200
What used to demand hours now happens faster than Excel can update its own cells.

252
00:12:22,200 --> 00:12:26,280
Now let's talk about knowledge grounding, the invisible compass that guides these answers.

253
00:12:26,280 --> 00:12:28,800
In co-pilot studio, you have two main options.

254
00:12:28,800 --> 00:12:31,720
Use information from the web or custom knowledge base.

255
00:12:31,720 --> 00:12:35,360
The web option connects through Bing's search grounding, allowing the agent to pull live

256
00:12:35,360 --> 00:12:37,560
data, a broad, but volatile approach.

257
00:12:37,560 --> 00:12:41,120
Great for general research, unacceptable for proprietary domains.

258
00:12:41,120 --> 00:12:45,240
When confidentiality matters, you disable web grounding and feed your own SharePoint or

259
00:12:45,240 --> 00:12:46,800
dataverse sources.

260
00:12:46,800 --> 00:12:48,840
That's how you keep the agent smart and loyal.

261
00:12:48,840 --> 00:12:51,080
This decision defines the soul of your build.

262
00:12:51,080 --> 00:12:54,880
Using web grounding gives your agent encyclopedic awareness but little restrained, it might

263
00:12:54,880 --> 00:12:57,880
summarize an outdated blog as gospel truth.

264
00:12:57,880 --> 00:13:02,480
A custom knowledge base narrows its range but increases precision and compliance.

265
00:13:02,480 --> 00:13:06,680
In regulated environments, reliability always outperforms creativity.

266
00:13:06,680 --> 00:13:08,280
Let your lawyer sleep at night.

267
00:13:08,280 --> 00:13:09,680
Choose internal grounding.

268
00:13:09,680 --> 00:13:13,160
To verify the loop works, you can examine co-pilot studio's run transcript.

269
00:13:13,160 --> 00:13:17,480
You'll see each iteration unfold. The prompt dispatched, the generative node responding, and

270
00:13:17,480 --> 00:13:18,960
the updated row written.

271
00:13:18,960 --> 00:13:23,480
It's oddly satisfying like watching a conveyor belt that manufactures understanding.

272
00:13:23,480 --> 00:13:25,760
Each record moves from ignorance to enlightenment.

273
00:13:25,760 --> 00:13:29,880
One question, one answer, one sigh of relief from your future self who didn't have to do

274
00:13:29,880 --> 00:13:30,880
it manually.

275
00:13:30,880 --> 00:13:35,360
Technically, this is low-code design but conceptually its digital philosophy.

276
00:13:35,360 --> 00:13:38,920
The agent's mind, such as it is, exists only for the duration of the loop.

277
00:13:38,920 --> 00:13:41,960
The moment it finishes the last row, it's memory resets.

278
00:13:41,960 --> 00:13:44,760
It doesn't worry about tomorrow's email or last week's mistakes.

279
00:13:44,760 --> 00:13:47,720
It performs, forgets, and waits for the next assignment.

280
00:13:47,720 --> 00:13:53,280
In a sense, it's the perfect employee, tireless, obedient, and incapable of water cooler gossip.

281
00:13:53,280 --> 00:13:56,640
Developers sometimes ask, can't I just send all the questions at once and get a single

282
00:13:56,640 --> 00:13:58,080
giant answer?

283
00:13:58,080 --> 00:14:00,800
You can, but that's not autonomy, that's chaos.

284
00:14:00,800 --> 00:14:04,560
One bloated prompt leads to inconsistent formatting and nonsense context linking.

285
00:14:04,560 --> 00:14:06,280
The loop ensures determinism.

286
00:14:06,280 --> 00:14:08,840
Each question becomes a self-contained unit of work.

287
00:14:08,840 --> 00:14:11,760
A microcontract, the AI must fulfill.

288
00:14:11,760 --> 00:14:13,080
It's a very love's repetition.

289
00:14:13,080 --> 00:14:14,720
It's predictable by design.

290
00:14:14,720 --> 00:14:17,280
By now the Excel file itself is slowly transforming.

291
00:14:17,280 --> 00:14:21,520
Empty cells are being filled with machine-crafted sentences drawn either from Bing's ephemeral

292
00:14:21,520 --> 00:14:24,040
wisdom or your internal documentation.

293
00:14:24,040 --> 00:14:29,400
Each update row command locks those results into permanence, a timestamped act of automation.

294
00:14:29,400 --> 00:14:32,840
From the user's perspective, the file they sent out blank will soon return with every

295
00:14:32,840 --> 00:14:34,520
question neatly answered.

296
00:14:34,520 --> 00:14:38,120
No human typing, no intermediate drafts, no accidental reply all.

297
00:14:38,120 --> 00:14:41,840
This is the moment the system transitions from analysis to execution.

298
00:14:41,840 --> 00:14:43,240
The answers now exist.

299
00:14:43,240 --> 00:14:45,360
They simply need to be delivered.

300
00:14:45,360 --> 00:14:49,600
And that requires reconnecting with power automate, which must collect the updated file

301
00:14:49,600 --> 00:14:51,480
and compose the return email.

302
00:14:51,480 --> 00:14:54,360
But before we hand control back, pause to appreciate what just occurred.

303
00:14:54,360 --> 00:14:58,560
A trigger sparked the process, data became prompts, prompts became pros, and pros became data

304
00:14:58,560 --> 00:14:59,560
again.

305
00:14:59,560 --> 00:15:02,360
The circle is complete, and it all happens silently, without you.

306
00:15:02,360 --> 00:15:03,360
Autonomy isn't magic.

307
00:15:03,360 --> 00:15:06,320
It's just very well-defined logic pretending to think.

308
00:15:06,320 --> 00:15:10,560
Next, the machine stops rationalizing and starts communicating, time to give our newly

309
00:15:10,560 --> 00:15:14,520
enlightened spreadsheet a voice and let it reply on your behalf.

310
00:15:14,520 --> 00:15:16,360
The writeback and reply mechanism.

311
00:15:16,360 --> 00:15:20,720
Now that the agent has finished its quiet scholarship, we hand the pen back to power automate,

312
00:15:20,720 --> 00:15:24,320
the part of the process that turns brain work into bureaucracy once again.

313
00:15:24,320 --> 00:15:28,840
The job, collect the updated Excel file, attach it to an email and send it home, as though

314
00:15:28,840 --> 00:15:31,600
a meticulous human had done the work all along.

315
00:15:31,600 --> 00:15:34,200
Only faster, cleaner and with zero existential dread.

316
00:15:34,200 --> 00:15:35,560
The first challenge is timing.

317
00:15:35,560 --> 00:15:39,040
In automation, time isn't arbitrary, it's mechanical tolerance.

318
00:15:39,040 --> 00:15:43,920
Copilot Studio expects power automate to respond within roughly 100 seconds of being called

319
00:15:43,920 --> 00:15:45,960
or it assumes the process failed.

320
00:15:45,960 --> 00:15:49,280
This is Microsoft's polite way of saying, "Don't doodle."

321
00:15:49,280 --> 00:15:54,080
So the reply flow has to act with precision, following a simple template, receive input,

322
00:15:54,080 --> 00:15:56,920
wait only as long as necessary reply and close.

323
00:15:56,920 --> 00:16:00,080
That's where a small but vital trick comes in, deliberate delay.

324
00:16:00,080 --> 00:16:04,360
Excel, for all its decades of service, updates cloud files about as quickly as a PowerPoint

325
00:16:04,360 --> 00:16:07,760
deck load during a conference call, meaning you need to give it a moment.

326
00:16:07,760 --> 00:16:12,200
Most builders add a two-minute delay block to guarantee all AI-written rows actually register

327
00:16:12,200 --> 00:16:14,600
and SharePoint before anyone retrieves the file.

328
00:16:14,600 --> 00:16:16,600
It's not laziness, it's synchronization.

329
00:16:16,600 --> 00:16:19,080
Computers can execute faster than storage can confirm.

330
00:16:19,080 --> 00:16:22,280
Once the pause expires, the flow performs its surgical retrieval.

331
00:16:22,280 --> 00:16:25,480
It uses get file content to pull the finished spreadsheet from SharePoint.

332
00:16:25,480 --> 00:16:29,720
This step reads the complete binary package, not just the table, ensuring that what's

333
00:16:29,720 --> 00:16:33,760
attached to the outgoing email is precisely what the agent last wrote.

334
00:16:33,760 --> 00:16:37,320
No phantom buffering or half-filled cells.

335
00:16:37,320 --> 00:16:42,760
Paired with this, get email v3 fetches metadata from the original request, sender, subject

336
00:16:42,760 --> 00:16:44,280
and message ID.

337
00:16:44,280 --> 00:16:48,520
Without those, your reply arrives like a lost drone, fast, but to nowhere.

338
00:16:48,520 --> 00:16:52,520
The actual dispatch is handled by sent email with attachment referencing the archived message

339
00:16:52,520 --> 00:16:54,680
ID so the thread remains intact.

340
00:16:54,680 --> 00:16:58,760
Power automate beautifully reattaches the freshly answered Excel file, creating the illusion

341
00:16:58,760 --> 00:17:00,760
of manual correspondence.

342
00:17:00,760 --> 00:17:03,360
Watching this step complete is strangely cathartic.

343
00:17:03,360 --> 00:17:07,520
The once blank sheet is returned, transformed, answers intact, timestamped and perfectly

344
00:17:07,520 --> 00:17:11,400
aligned, like grading a test where the student was an algorithm.

345
00:17:11,400 --> 00:17:14,760
Let's talk failure tolerance because not every Excel file behaves.

346
00:17:14,760 --> 00:17:17,160
Maybe the table name isn't table one.

347
00:17:17,160 --> 00:17:19,880
Maybe someone merged the header cells into a decorative mural.

348
00:17:19,880 --> 00:17:25,040
When this happens, the update flow should surface a controlled error rather than implode.

349
00:17:25,040 --> 00:17:26,360
Add a conditional check.

350
00:17:26,360 --> 00:17:29,600
If the table isn't found, send a courteous notification reading.

351
00:17:29,600 --> 00:17:31,280
RFI processing failed.

352
00:17:31,280 --> 00:17:33,000
Invalid structure.

353
00:17:33,000 --> 00:17:37,480
It sounds human and prevents 20 panicked team's messages wondering why the AI ghost isn't

354
00:17:37,480 --> 00:17:39,280
answering emails anymore.

355
00:17:39,280 --> 00:17:43,520
Performance 2 demands foresight, updating hundreds of rows individually, can bog down a flow.

356
00:17:43,520 --> 00:17:48,400
The trick is batching, collecting rows, updating them in groups, or leveraging parallel branches

357
00:17:48,400 --> 00:17:49,400
with care.

358
00:17:49,400 --> 00:17:53,440
Microsoft's own optimization notes warn that unlimited loops invite latency.

359
00:17:53,440 --> 00:17:54,440
Translation.

360
00:17:54,440 --> 00:17:57,280
Automation doesn't mean recklessness, it means measure deficiency.

361
00:17:57,280 --> 00:17:59,080
By now the full choreography unfolds.

362
00:17:59,080 --> 00:18:03,640
The pilot studio finishes cognition, power, automate delays for sync, retrieves the content,

363
00:18:03,640 --> 00:18:06,880
packages it with metadata, and dispatches the response.

364
00:18:06,880 --> 00:18:10,280
The requester receives an email with their original attachment.

365
00:18:10,280 --> 00:18:14,840
Only now filled with answers generated, validated, and timestamped automatically.

366
00:18:14,840 --> 00:18:18,880
No one typed, no one waited, and nobody opened Excel except the ghost in the machine.

367
00:18:18,880 --> 00:18:20,640
Autonomy has officially achieved output.

368
00:18:20,640 --> 00:18:26,080
But as any responsible adult in IT governance will remind you, autonomy and anarchy are not synonyms.

369
00:18:26,080 --> 00:18:30,520
Before you walk away from your creation, perhaps to brag on LinkedIn, you must confront the

370
00:18:30,520 --> 00:18:34,520
unglamorous frontier of oversight that brings us to the part every technologist loves to

371
00:18:34,520 --> 00:18:35,520
ignore.

372
00:18:35,520 --> 00:18:38,160
Scaling, governance, and reality itself.

373
00:18:38,160 --> 00:18:40,080
Scaling, governance, and reality checks.

374
00:18:40,080 --> 00:18:42,000
Let's shatter the illusion early.

375
00:18:42,000 --> 00:18:44,640
Your autonomous agent is brilliant, but it isn't omnipotent.

376
00:18:44,640 --> 00:18:48,760
It operates within walls, specifically the sandbox that Microsoft built.

377
00:18:48,760 --> 00:18:52,720
Copilot Studio agents follow consumption quotas, API throttles, and what the documentation

378
00:18:52,720 --> 00:18:55,760
charmingly calls responsible behavior boundaries.

379
00:18:55,760 --> 00:18:59,720
In translation, your agent isn't going rogue because Microsoft servers won't let it.

380
00:18:59,720 --> 00:19:03,600
First autonomy boundaries, the agent can act only within explicit instructions.

381
00:19:03,600 --> 00:19:07,040
It won't improvise new processes, correct user mistakes, or self-replicate.

382
00:19:07,040 --> 00:19:08,960
That's not a flaw, that's civilization.

383
00:19:08,960 --> 00:19:13,600
You define its environment, SharePoint paths, table schemas, connection rights, and it abides.

384
00:19:13,600 --> 00:19:16,880
Think of it as a digital intern locked in a well-labeled office.

385
00:19:16,880 --> 00:19:18,840
Leave the door open and it won't explore.

386
00:19:18,840 --> 00:19:20,720
It'll still wait for permission.

387
00:19:20,720 --> 00:19:23,840
That limitation prevents chaos and maintains auditability.

388
00:19:23,840 --> 00:19:25,120
This comes scale.

389
00:19:25,120 --> 00:19:28,320
Excel, while iconic, is a fragile habitat for autonomy.

390
00:19:28,320 --> 00:19:32,960
Once your RFI volumes balloon beyond a few hundred rows, or involve concurrent users,

391
00:19:32,960 --> 00:19:34,560
migrate the data model.

392
00:19:34,560 --> 00:19:38,480
Dataverse or SharePoint lists transform random file handling into properly governed data

393
00:19:38,480 --> 00:19:39,480
operations.

394
00:19:39,480 --> 00:19:43,440
The same power automate logic applies, but the storage back end no longer groans under simultaneous

395
00:19:43,440 --> 00:19:44,440
edits.

396
00:19:44,440 --> 00:19:47,040
In essence, Excel was the training wheels.

397
00:19:47,040 --> 00:19:49,320
Enterprise-grade workflows ride dataverse.

398
00:19:49,320 --> 00:19:54,280
In this governance, Microsoft purview for data classification, and Entra-agent ID for identity

399
00:19:54,280 --> 00:19:55,280
control.

400
00:19:55,280 --> 00:19:59,400
Every autonomous agent should wear a digital badge declaring who owns it, what it can touch,

401
00:19:59,400 --> 00:20:00,840
and when it last behaved.

402
00:20:00,840 --> 00:20:03,040
This isn't theatrics, it's accountability.

403
00:20:03,040 --> 00:20:07,360
In a world of increasingly agentic AI, audit trails are moral fiber.

404
00:20:07,360 --> 00:20:10,960
Keep them intact, or risk your automation being labelled Shadow-Eat.

405
00:20:10,960 --> 00:20:13,320
Now, accuracy and compliance.

406
00:20:13,320 --> 00:20:16,840
The RFI may generate answers, but who guarantees truth?

407
00:20:16,840 --> 00:20:19,160
Generative AI's greatest gift is eloquence.

408
00:20:19,160 --> 00:20:20,920
Its greatest flaw is confidence.

409
00:20:20,920 --> 00:20:24,320
That's why human in the loop remains non-negotiable.

410
00:20:24,320 --> 00:20:27,800
Periodically sample outputs and validate against source documentation.

411
00:20:27,800 --> 00:20:31,160
In regulated sectors, record these checks as compliance evidence.

412
00:20:31,160 --> 00:20:35,400
According to best practices in accuracy testing, combining automated benchmarks with manual

413
00:20:35,400 --> 00:20:38,880
review dramatically reduces hallucination risk.

414
00:20:38,880 --> 00:20:39,880
Translation.

415
00:20:39,880 --> 00:20:42,800
Let AI draft, but let humans judge.

416
00:20:42,800 --> 00:20:44,360
Operationally adopt power.

417
00:20:44,360 --> 00:20:49,520
It best practices, monitor flow run history, watch for throttling, archive logs, and iterate

418
00:20:49,520 --> 00:20:50,920
on schema.

419
00:20:50,920 --> 00:20:52,480
A workflow isn't furniture.

420
00:20:52,480 --> 00:20:54,200
It requires maintenance.

421
00:20:54,200 --> 00:20:58,800
Microsoft even published guidance stressing named tables, minimal loops, and active performance

422
00:20:58,800 --> 00:20:59,800
monitoring.

423
00:20:59,800 --> 00:21:05,240
Ignore it, and your autonomous agent will spend eternity retrying failed runs like Cicifus

424
00:21:05,240 --> 00:21:06,400
pushing data uphill.

425
00:21:06,400 --> 00:21:07,800
And finally, think forward.

426
00:21:07,800 --> 00:21:12,440
Copilot Studio already hints at multi-agent orchestration, agents delegating sub tasks to

427
00:21:12,440 --> 00:21:13,920
other agents.

428
00:21:13,920 --> 00:21:18,420
Even one bot sourcing project data, while another summarizes it and a third dispatches the

429
00:21:18,420 --> 00:21:19,420
report.

430
00:21:19,420 --> 00:21:20,420
That's coming.

431
00:21:20,420 --> 00:21:22,760
Your RFI agent is merely the apprentice to that ensemble.

432
00:21:22,760 --> 00:21:26,120
But without the governance disciplines you establish now multi-agent systems will become

433
00:21:26,120 --> 00:21:27,360
multi-agent messes.

434
00:21:27,360 --> 00:21:30,820
So the reality check, autonomy doesn't absorb your responsibility.

435
00:21:30,820 --> 00:21:31,820
It transfers it.

436
00:21:31,820 --> 00:21:34,120
You've automated labor, not accountability.

437
00:21:34,120 --> 00:21:38,040
The spreadsheet now answers itself, yes, but you still own its truth, its traceability

438
00:21:38,040 --> 00:21:39,040
and its tone.

439
00:21:39,040 --> 00:21:40,600
And that's the paradox of progress.

440
00:21:40,600 --> 00:21:44,220
The smarter your tools, the more deliberate you must be in using them.

441
00:21:44,220 --> 00:21:47,720
Maintain guardrails, document limits, and treat your autonomous Excel hack not as rebellion

442
00:21:47,720 --> 00:21:50,640
but as refinement, civilization by delegation.

443
00:21:50,640 --> 00:21:51,900
Now the machine runs itself.

444
00:21:51,900 --> 00:21:54,040
The only unresolved question is obvious.

445
00:21:54,040 --> 00:21:57,840
If your spreadsheet can operate independently, what exactly do you plan to do with the extra

446
00:21:57,840 --> 00:21:58,840
time?

447
00:21:58,840 --> 00:22:00,560
The elegance of lazy automation.

448
00:22:00,560 --> 00:22:02,200
There's an art to doing less.

449
00:22:02,200 --> 00:22:03,200
Not ignorance.

450
00:22:03,200 --> 00:22:07,080
Efficiency disguised as detachment, what you just built isn't a tool, it's a statement.

451
00:22:07,080 --> 00:22:10,880
You took a task that once required caffeine, despair and overtime and turned it into a job

452
00:22:10,880 --> 00:22:11,960
that completes itself.

453
00:22:11,960 --> 00:22:14,280
That isn't laziness, its civilization showing off.

454
00:22:14,280 --> 00:22:16,600
The autonomous agent doesn't just automate clicks.

455
00:22:16,600 --> 00:22:21,840
It converts attention into architecture, emails become triggers, spreadsheets become conversations,

456
00:22:21,840 --> 00:22:24,520
and power automate becomes the courier that never sleeps.

457
00:22:24,520 --> 00:22:27,360
The outcome is elegant precisely because it disappears.

458
00:22:27,360 --> 00:22:30,720
You don't see the machine working, you only witness the absence of hassle.

459
00:22:30,720 --> 00:22:32,200
So here's the real lesson.

460
00:22:32,200 --> 00:22:34,280
Automation is not about speed, it's about reduction.

461
00:22:34,280 --> 00:22:39,320
Each rule you defined, each flow you connected is one fewer human decision required tomorrow.

462
00:22:39,320 --> 00:22:44,520
The agent answers questions, sends replies and retires silently, leaving you free to chase

463
00:22:44,520 --> 00:22:47,560
higher order problems or take a very dignified nap.

464
00:22:47,560 --> 00:22:51,520
Excel, that ancient symbol of persistence, finally learned self-preservation.

465
00:22:51,520 --> 00:22:55,760
The same program, that once punished inefficiency in our reward's foresight, it reads it responds

466
00:22:55,760 --> 00:22:56,760
it redeems.

467
00:22:56,760 --> 00:22:58,480
The spreadsheet has entered enlightenment.

468
00:22:58,480 --> 00:23:00,920
Of course this hack breaks expectations.

469
00:23:00,920 --> 00:23:03,080
Excel was never meant to hold consciousness.

470
00:23:03,080 --> 00:23:08,000
And yet here we are, watching cells fill themselves out of obligation rather than instruction.

471
00:23:08,000 --> 00:23:12,040
If that doesn't feel like progress, you may still be merging cells manually.

472
00:23:12,040 --> 00:23:14,520
Let the autonomous era begin with humility.

473
00:23:14,520 --> 00:23:17,200
And a checkbox labeled run automatically.

474
00:23:17,200 --> 00:23:23,000
Lock in your upgrade path, subscribe, enable alerts and let knowledge deliver itself.

475
00:23:23,000 --> 00:23:25,720
The next generation of workflows won't ask for your approval.

476
00:23:25,720 --> 00:23:27,040
They'll ask for your email address.

477
00:23:27,040 --> 00:23:28,720
Send it in and the machine will handle the rest.