Microsoft 365 Copilot

Bring your PlaidCloud data into Microsoft 365 Copilot. Once your administrator installs the PlaidCloud agent, anyone in your organization can ask Copilot about their projects, tables, dimensions, and allocation models in plain language — no separate login, no PlaidCloud window, no SQL.

“List my PlaidCloud projects.” “What tables are in Enterprise Profitability, and show me the first rows of one.” “Why did the allocated IT cost for the Atlanta cost center go up last quarter?”

Note

This is different from GitHub Copilot, which connects a developer’s IDE to PlaidCloud. This page is about Microsoft 365 Copilot — the assistant in Teams, Outlook, and the Microsoft 365 app that your whole team already uses.

How It Works

PlaidCloud publishes a small agent that plugs into Microsoft 365 Copilot. When someone asks Copilot a question about their data, the agent securely connects to your PlaidCloud workspace, runs the request under that person’s own permissions, and Copilot explains the answer.

• Read-only by default. The agent ships with a read-only set of tools — list and describe projects and tables, read table data, list dimension members, and explain allocation results. It never invents numbers; every answer comes from a real query against your data.
• Each person sees only their own data. Requests run as the signed-in user, bounded by the same PlaidCloud roles and access controls they already have. The AI can never reach credential, identity, or access-control settings.
• Access is granted by PlaidCloud. No one can use the agent until your PlaidCloud administrator grants them access (see Who Can Use It).

What Each Role Does

PlaidCloud (us)

We provision your workspace and grant access. Your agent package is ready to download from the control plane — a single .zip — whenever you want it.

Your Microsoft 365 admin

Enables custom-app upload, installs the .zip once, and assigns who can use it. About 10 minutes, one time.

Your team

Opens the agent in Copilot and signs in once with their Microsoft account. After that it just works.

Prerequisites

• A Microsoft 365 Copilot license for each person who will use the agent.
• A Microsoft 365 / Teams administrator who can change app setup policies.
• Your organization’s PlaidCloud agent package — a .zip you download yourself from the PlaidCloud control plane (see Download Your Agent Package).

Download Your Agent Package

Download your organization’s agent package — a single .zip — yourself from the PlaidCloud control plane, the site where you manage your workspaces. There’s nothing to request and no file to wait for.

1. Sign in to the PlaidCloud control plane and open Workspaces from the left navigation.

2. Find the workspace that holds your data and open it with the Edit (or View) action.

3. Click Download Copilot Package and save the .zip to your computer.

Note

You need workspace access in the PlaidCloud control plane to download the package — this can be the same person who installs it in Microsoft 365, or a colleague who passes the file along.

Administrator Setup

Three steps, about 10 minutes, done once. You don’t need to be technical — if you can change a setting in the Teams admin center, you can do this.

1. Allow custom apps to be uploaded.

   By default, Microsoft 365 blocks uploading apps that aren’t from the public store, so the PlaidCloud agent can’t be installed until you turn this on.

   In the Teams admin center, go to Teams apps → Setup policies → Global (Org-wide default) and set Upload custom apps to On, then Save.

   Caution

   Being a global administrator is not the same as having this setting on — it’s a separate policy. If you skip this step, the upload fails with “Uploading custom apps is not allowed.” Policy changes can take up to about 24 hours to propagate (often much less). To scope it to a pilot group instead of org-wide, create a separate setup policy and assign it to those users.

2. Install the PlaidCloud agent package.

   Either path works:

   • Org-wide (recommended): Teams admin center → Teams apps → Manage apps → Upload new app → choose the .zip you downloaded. This adds it to your organization’s app catalog so you can target it to users.
   • Quick test: open Microsoft 365 Copilot, and under Agents choose to upload a custom app, then select the .zip.

3. Choose who can use it.

   In Manage apps, open the PlaidCloud app and use the permission and assignment controls to make it available to everyone or to a specific group. For a pilot, start with a small group.

That’s the whole administrator job. There’s nothing technical to set up — no passwords, sign-in settings, or connection details to enter. Everything needed to connect is already built into the package we provide.

First Sign-In

The first time each person opens the agent and asks a question, Copilot prompts them to sign in with their Microsoft account. This is a normal, one-time step:

1. Open Microsoft 365 Copilot and pick the PlaidCloud agent from the agent list.
2. Ask a question, for example “List my PlaidCloud projects.”
3. When prompted, choose Sign in and complete the Microsoft sign-in.

After that the connection is remembered — people don’t sign in every time, or every day. A fresh sign-in is only needed occasionally (roughly monthly) or if access changes.

Note

The first sign-in is interactive even though you’re already in Microsoft 365 — Copilot opens its own sign-in window that doesn’t carry your existing session. This is expected and only happens occasionally thereafter.

Using the Agent

Open Copilot, select the PlaidCloud agent, and ask in plain language. Good starting points:

• Find your work: “List my PlaidCloud projects.” / “What tables are in project X?”
• Read data: “Show me the first 20 rows of the customers table.” / “What values are in the Region dimension?”
• Explain results: “Why did the allocated cost for the Atlanta cost center change between Q1 and Q2?”

The agent picks the right tool, runs the query against your data, and Copilot answers — leading with the result, then a short table or summary. If a request needs data you don’t have access to, it says so rather than guessing.

Who Can Use It

Access is controlled in two places, and both must allow it:

1. Microsoft 365 — your admin assigns the agent to people (the setup above).
2. PlaidCloud — your PlaidCloud administrator grants each person a Copilot access level. Until they do, a signed-in user gets a clear “no access has been granted” message rather than data. The default level is read-only; higher levels are opt-in and managed by PlaidCloud.

Either way, every request still runs under the user’s own PlaidCloud permissions — the agent can’t show someone data they couldn’t already see, and read-only access can’t change anything.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Cause and fix
”Uploading custom apps is not allowed” on install	The Upload custom apps policy is off. Turn it on in Teams admin center (step 1), wait for it to propagate, and retry.
The agent doesn’t appear in Copilot’s agent list	It hasn’t been assigned to that user yet, or the assignment is still propagating. Check the app’s assignment in Manage apps.
”No Microsoft 365 Copilot access has been granted to this user”	The person is signed in but hasn’t been granted a PlaidCloud access level — ask your PlaidCloud administrator to grant one.
Asked to sign in again after it was working	Normal — the saved connection is refreshed periodically (roughly monthly). Sign in once more and continue.
Answers seem to need data the user can’t reach	Expected — the agent only ever returns data the signed-in user is already permitted to see.

Need a Package or Access?

You download the agent package yourself from the control plane — see Download Your Agent Package. Access levels are managed by PlaidCloud: contact your PlaidCloud representative or support@plaidcloud.com to have people granted access.