Paper forms and HR portals can make simple requests feel complex. In our latest demo, we demonstrate a Copilot Agent that lets employees and managers handle time off end-to-end with a simple prompt. Everything happens in a single Copilot chat so the request, the data, and the next action live in one place.
In this demo, you'll see how Microsoft Copilot can help users:
- Check time-off at a glance: Instantly see vacation and holiday balances.
- Stay on top of team’s requests: Review and take action on pending time-off approvals with employee name, date range, and request ID.
- Get answers without the search hassle: Ask Copilot and pull accurate info from your knowledge base in seconds.
Why Copilot is a great fit for this workflow:
1. Natural language in, precise actions out
Users can interact with the agent in ordinary conversational language, and it automatically translates those requests into the right API calls and workflow steps behind the scenes.
2. Grounded in your data
The agent is designed to pull from your organization’s HR systems and knowledge bases (via secure connectors and custom APIs), so responses reflect actual organizational data, not generic internet info.
3. Role-aware and secure
Everyone uses the same Copilot chat interface. What you see and can do depends on your identity and permissions: managers get team approvals, while employees see only their own balances and requests.
4. Faster decisions, fewer tickets
All information (balances, request IDs, remaining days) appears in one place, so managers approve faster, and HR gets fewer “What’s my status?” messages.
What the experience looks like in the demo:
You: “Show my vacation balance.”
Agent: “You have 12 vacation days and 10 holidays available this year.”
You: “What’s the status of my Dec 27 request?”
Agent: “The status of your Dec 27 request is pending.”
You: “List all my requests.”
Agent: “Here are your vacation submissions and statuses: …”
You: “Request vacation Oct 15–16.”
Agent: “Done. Sent for approval. Status: awaiting approval.”
Manager: “Show requests pending my approval.”
Agent: “Here’s a list (employee, request ID, days remaining, status).”
Under the hood (how we built it)
We designed the agent around three building blocks:
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Intent + entity understanding
The agent identifies what the user wants (check balance, submit request, list approvals) and extracts parameters (dates, employee, request ID). -
Actions that call your systems
Each task is implemented as an action. These actions call your HR system or workflow layer (e.g., APIs/automations) with proper authentication. -
Grounded responses
The agent returns concise, human-readable answers with the key fields (totals, statuses, IDs) so users can act immediately without digging through the portal.
Governance considerations we accounted for:
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Identity & permissions: Responses scoped to the signed-in user (employees vs. managers).
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Validation & guardrails: Date validation, duplicate checks, approval rules.
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Auditability: Log who asked for what, when, and what action was run.
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Fallbacks: If data is missing or an API fails, the agent replies with next steps (“I couldn’t reach the HR system, try again or contact HR.”).
Where Copilot shines (and where to start):
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Speeds up routine workflows with plain-English prompts
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Reduces context switching and support tickets
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Provides role-aware views for managers vs. employees
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Great fit for internal, standardizable processes (PTO, expenses, onboarding tasks)
What we showed in this quick demo is just the start. With Microsoft Copilot, you can build out complex agents that help you get more done. Here's a few ideas of how to expand on what we've started.
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Add reminders (“Nudge managers with pending approvals >48h”)
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Include additional data sources (Health insurance, ESOPs, etc.)
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Expand to other flows (onboarding tasks, expense status, training compliance)
Ready to explore what Copilot can do for your workflows? Start your 30-day Proof of Concept today:
