Copilot Studio agent · Legal & contracts

Contract Q&A agent over signed agreements

Ask 'When does our cleaning contract expire?' or 'What's the termination notice for vendor X?' and get answers cited from signed PDFs.

UsersProcurement, legal, finance and department heads
ChannelsMicrosoft Teams · Microsoft 365 Copilot
Built withMicrosoft Copilot Studio

The problem

Finding a clause means asking legal or opening dozens of PDFs.

Knowledge sources

  • SharePoint library of signed contracts (searchable PDFs — OCR scans first)
  • Contract register list with end dates, values and owners

Tools (actions)

  • Agent flow Get contract details — looks up the register by vendor name and returns end date, value, owner and the PDF link.
  • Agent flow Start renewal — kicks off the contract-to-Acrobat-Sign workflow for a renewal draft.

Agent instructions

Paste and adapt these in the agent's Instructions field:

Instructions
You help staff find information in signed contracts.
- Answer only from the contract documents and the contract register. If the answer isn't there, say so and suggest contacting Legal.
- Always cite the contract file name and clause or page.
- For dates, answer in the format 31 December 2026.
- Never summarise a contract the user doesn't have permission to open.
- If the user asks to renew or terminate, call the "Start renewal" tool or tell them to contact the contract owner.

Example conversation

User

When does the security services contract for the Penang plant end, and what's the notice period?

Agent

The agreement with ABC Security Sdn Bhd ends on 30 June 2027 and either party must give 90 days' written notice (clause 14.2, page 6). Source: ABC-Security-Penang-2025-signed.pdf. Do you want me to start a renewal?

Illustrative example — names, numbers and documents are fictional.

How to build it

  1. Create an agent in Copilot Studio and describe its purpose in plain language.
  2. Add the contracts SharePoint library as a knowledge source; Copilot Studio respects the user's SharePoint permissions.
  3. Add the register lookup as an agent flow (tool) with inputs vendorName and outputs endDate, noticeDays, ownerEmail, fileUrl.
  4. Turn on generative orchestration so the agent decides when to search knowledge and when to call tools.
  5. Test with 20 real questions from legal; tune the instructions where answers are vague.
  6. Publish to Teams and Microsoft 365 Copilot for the pilot group only.

Security

  • Authentication: Microsoft Entra ID (sign-in required).
  • Knowledge answers are permission-trimmed to what each user can open in SharePoint.
  • Don't add the contracts library as public-website knowledge.

Licensing

  • Copilot Studio is billed by usage (Copilot Credits / messages) or via capacity packs; users with a Microsoft 365 Copilot licence can use agents in Microsoft 365 Copilot under their licence's terms — confirm the current model with your Microsoft partner.
  • Agent flows that use premium connectors follow Copilot Studio's flow billing.