Microsoft 365 Copilot readiness assessment
A Microsoft 365 Copilot readiness review, or Copilot readiness assessment, is a configuration review of the sharing, permission, sensitivity label, and data loss prevention settings that shape what Microsoft 365 Copilot can surface from SharePoint, OneDrive, and Microsoft Teams. Copilot only surfaces organizational data a user can at least view, so oversharing is the central question.
What Microsoft recommends for Copilot readiness
These points come from Microsoft’s public documentation on preparing a tenant for Copilot, quoted from Microsoft Learn. The review checks your tenant against each one that your licensing and the agreed scope include, independently of Microsoft.
Use Microsoft 365 permission models so the right people have the right access
What the review checks: Where the agreed access and data access governance reports allow, the review looks at effective access: site membership and permission levels, organization-wide grants such as Everyone except external users, broken inheritance, guest access, and access through Microsoft Teams shared channels.
“It's important that you're using the permission models available in Microsoft 365 services, such as SharePoint, to help ensure the right users or groups have the right access to the right content within your organization.”
Data, Privacy, and Security for Microsoft Copilot, Microsoft Learn Remediate oversharing, set up guardrails, and meet AI-related regulatory obligations
What the review checks: The review maps the tenant against the three steps in Microsoft’s companion guidance: remediating oversharing; guardrails such as secure defaults, sensitivity labels, and DLP for Copilot; and, for Microsoft’s third step, retention of Copilot interactions and cleanup of inactive content.
“This deployment blueprint outlines the essential steps for establishing a secure and governed foundation for Copilot by remediating oversharing, implementing reliable guardrails, and fulfilling AI-related regulatory obligations”
Secure and govern Microsoft Copilot: Foundational deployment guidance, Microsoft Learn Licensing: Microsoft’s foundational guidance notes that SharePoint Advanced Management is included with a Microsoft Copilot license.
Run site permissions reports first to baseline access, then rerun them quarterly
What the review checks: Whether the site permissions snapshot report has been run and when, which sites have the broadest access, and whether the sharing links and Everyone except external users activity reports are run monthly, as the same Microsoft page advises.
“Run site permissions reports first to understand your baseline permission structure and identify sites with the broadest exposure. Run these reports quarterly to maintain a comprehensive view of your organization's data access.”
Data access governance reports for SharePoint and OneDrive sites, Microsoft Learn Licensing: Microsoft notes that with Microsoft 365 E5 licensing alone, data access governance reports are available without snapshot reports or remedial actions, and activity reports return up to 10,000 sites.
Disable or restrict company-wide sharing groups and Anyone links at the tenant level
What the review checks: Whether the tenant sharing level still allows Anyone links and, if so, whether they expire and are limited to View, and how much content is shared with Everyone or Everyone except external users, using the data access governance reports.
“Disable or restrict use of company-wide sharing groups and Anyone links at the tenant level.”
Configure a secure and governed foundation for Microsoft Copilot, Microsoft Learn Give every user just enough access to do their job and no more
What the review checks: Whether site access reviews have been initiated for site owners from the data access governance reports, and whether sensitive sites restrict access to defined security groups.
“ensure that all users have just enough access (JEA) to perform their jobs and no more”
Apply principles of Zero Trust to Microsoft Copilot, Microsoft Learn Use Restricted Content Discovery as a temporary control while access is right-sized
What the review checks: Which sites have Restricted Content Discovery turned on, whether each has a permissions review under way so the restriction can be lifted, and whether its management is delegated to site admins. Restricted Content Discovery does not change existing permissions.
“Restricted Content Discovery is designed as a temporary governance control that gives organizations time to review and right-size access while continuing their Copilot deployment.”
Restrict discovery of SharePoint sites and content, Microsoft Learn Licensing: Microsoft lists a Microsoft Copilot license among its prerequisites, alongside the SharePoint Advanced Management prerequisites.
Apply Restricted Access Control by default to business-critical sites at provisioning
What the review checks: Whether site-level access restriction is allowed for the tenant, and which Microsoft 365 groups or Microsoft Entra security groups restrict each business-critical site, including shared and private channel sites, which need their own policy.
“Enforce Restricted Access Control (RAC) by default for business-critical sites at provisioning time.”
Configure a secure and governed foundation for Microsoft Copilot, Microsoft Learn Licensing: Microsoft lists Restricted Access Control among the SharePoint Advanced Management features.
Enable sensitivity labels for SharePoint and OneDrive, and learn what both can process
What the review checks: Whether label support for Office files in SharePoint and OneDrive is turned on, and which usage rights encrypting labels grant, since users need both EXTRACT and VIEW for AI apps to return the data.
“If you haven't already, we recommend you enable sensitivity labels for SharePoint and OneDrive and also familiarize yourself with the file types and label configurations that these services can process.”
Microsoft Purview data security and compliance protections for generative AI apps, Microsoft Learn Configure Microsoft Purview DLP for Copilot to exclude sensitive content from grounding
What the review checks: Whether a DLP policy uses the Microsoft 365 Copilot and Copilot Chat location, which sensitivity labels it excludes, whether it is turned on, and whether rules cover sensitive information types in web searches and, where the preview has rolled out, in prompts.
“Configure Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention (DLP) for Copilot to exclude sensitive content from Copilot grounding.”
Configure a secure and governed foundation for Microsoft Copilot, Microsoft Learn
What the review covers for Copilot readiness
The review applies the audit’s collaboration and data protection areas to Copilot: how content is shared and protected today, and what that means for what Copilot can surface. Data protection controls are reviewed where licensed and included in the agreed scope.
Part of the audit's collaboration and sharing and data protection and governance areas.
- Organization-wide and anonymous sharing
- The SharePoint and OneDrive sharing levels, whether Anyone links are allowed and expire, and how much content is shared with Everyone or Everyone except external users.
- Site permissions and broad internal access
- Sites with the broadest audiences and, where the agreed access and reports allow, broken permission inheritance, and whether data access governance reports and site access reviews are in use.
- Guests and people outside the organization
- Guest access, Microsoft Teams external access, and permissions given to people outside the organization through shared channels, which Microsoft names in its Copilot privacy guidance.
- Defaults for new sites and links
- The default sharing link type and expiration, who can create groups, teams, and sites, and whether Restricted Access Control limits new business-critical sites to defined groups when they are created.
- Interim restrictions and their exit plan
- Which sites use Restricted Content Discovery, which Microsoft describes as a temporary control, and whether a permissions review is under way so it can be lifted. Restricted SharePoint Search, which Microsoft is retiring, is checked as well.
- Sensitivity labels
- How labels are published, whether label support for Office files in SharePoint and OneDrive is turned on, and which usage rights encrypting labels grant.
- Data loss prevention for Copilot
- Whether DLP policies use the Microsoft 365 Copilot and Copilot Chat location, which labels and sensitive information types they cover, and whether they are turned on.
- Retention and lifecycle ownership
- Retention for Copilot interactions, how inactive or ownerless sites are handled, and who owns those decisions.
When teams ask for it
- Before the first Copilot licenses are assigned
- Establish what users can already reach in SharePoint, OneDrive, and Microsoft Teams, and which oversharing to address first. Remediating oversharing is the first step in Microsoft’s foundation guidance for Copilot.
- A pilot surfaced unexpected content
- A pilot user saw content in a Copilot response that they did not expect to have access to, and the team needs to know how widespread the oversharing is.
- Copilot is already in use
- Copilot licenses are already assigned, and the team wants to confirm that sharing and data protection controls match Microsoft’s guidance for tenants where Copilot is enabled.
- Temporary restrictions need an exit plan
- Restricted Content Discovery or Restricted SharePoint Search was turned on as a stopgap, and the permissions behind it still need fixing so the restriction can be lifted.
- Expanding beyond a pilot group
- Before Copilot reaches more users, leadership wants an independent view of oversharing and the order in which to fix it.
What you receive
Each finding is reported with the configuration evidence behind it, its business context, and a recommended action. Findings are sequenced into a remediation roadmap, so your team knows what to change first.
Questions
What does a Copilot readiness assessment check for oversharing?
It checks the SharePoint, OneDrive, and Microsoft Teams sharing and permission settings, and the sensitivity label, data loss prevention, and retention policies, that shape what Microsoft 365 Copilot can reach for each user. Microsoft states that Copilot only surfaces organizational data to which individual users have at least view permissions, so oversharing is the first concern.
It is part of the Microsoft 365 tenant audit and follows the same method. It is a configuration review, not a penetration test or a compliance certification. The areas included are agreed during scoping and depend on your licensing and the evidence available.
Microsoft’s documentation notes that some experiences, licenses, and capabilities might continue to reference the Microsoft 365 Copilot name during a transition to new product names, so both names appear in Microsoft’s guidance.
We have already deployed Copilot. Is it too late for a readiness review?
No. Microsoft’s guidance for a secure and governed Copilot foundation is written both for organizations preparing for Copilot and for those adjusting security and governance controls after Copilot is enabled.
Where Copilot is already in use, the review records which controls are in place now and which oversharing findings to address first.
Do we need particular licenses for a Copilot readiness review?
No particular license is needed to request the review. Licensing does determine which controls exist in your tenant, so some are reviewed only where licensed, and findings state where a recommendation depends on a license you may not have.
Some of the controls Microsoft recommends for Copilot depend on licensing. Microsoft’s foundational guidance notes that SharePoint Advanced Management is included with a Microsoft Copilot license, and Microsoft says Restricted Content Discovery can be configured if your organization is licensed for Copilot and has SharePoint Advanced Management available.
What access does the review need, and will it change our settings?
Only the access agreed during scoping, and no settings change without your agreement. The roles involved, who grants them, and how long access lasts are agreed before the engagement starts.
Access follows least privilege and is time-bound. Read-oriented roles are preferred wherever the assessment method allows.
The review examines and reports on configuration, including where controls such as Restricted Content Discovery or DLP for Copilot would help. Whether the engagement includes any remediation, and who carries it out, is agreed during scoping before work begins.
How is this different from Microsoft’s own oversharing reports?
Where the agreed access allows, the review draws on Microsoft’s reports as evidence rather than replacing them: it adds business context, looks at how sharing, label, and DLP settings interact, and sequences the fixes, so your team knows which oversharing to address first.
It checks whether Microsoft’s tools for finding potentially overshared content, such as the data access governance reports and the Content Management Assessment, have been run and acted on. Microsoft’s reports remain useful for tracking progress over time.
How much does a Copilot readiness review cost?
Pricing follows scoping and is confirmed in writing before the engagement starts. It depends on the size and complexity of your tenant, the control areas included, and the deliverables you need.
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