Exercise 2, Task 1: Use Copilot in Loop to track construction milestones

As the Operations Lead for Contoso’s regional distribution center expansion, you’re responsible for keeping the project on schedule and ensuring all teams are aligned. The expansion involves multiple phases—site preparation, construction, inspections, equipment installation, and final handover—each with its own set of dependencies and deadlines.

With so many moving parts and stakeholders (construction crews, logistics, safety, IT, and leadership), it’s critical to have a clear, visual way to track progress and assign responsibilities. Microsoft Loop, enhanced by Copilot, is your central hub for organizing and monitoring every milestone. Within your Loop workspace for your project plan, you plan to create the following pages:

  • 1-Milestones and Timeline
  • 2-RAID Log (Risks, Assumptions, Issues, Dependencies)
  • 3-RACI Matrix (Roles and Responsibilities)
  • 4-Decision Log and Change Log

A typical construction project of this nature would have many other tasks that you could track in Loop, such as a safety training rollout plan, inventory move wave plan, stakeholder communication plan, go-live runbook, and so on. However, for the sake of time, this task only creates the four pages listed above.

Perform the following steps to complete this task:

  1. In your Microsoft Edge browser, sign in to the Microsoft 365 home page (https://www.microsoft365.com), select Apps in the navigation pane, and then select Loop from the Apps menu.

  2. In Loop for the web, create a new workspace titled Distribution Center Expansion – Project Plan.

  3. You plan to create three new pages under this Loop workspace – one for negotiation strategy, another for risk mitigation ideas, and a third for communication framing. Change the current title of the first page from Untitled to 1-Milestones and Timeline.

  4. Open the Copilot pane. Ask Copilot to generate a table of key milestones and associated timelines for the distribution center expansion by submitting the following prompt:

[!NOTE] For this first prompt, we’ve provided the text so you can see what an effective prompt looks like when it incorporates the four key elements discussed in the Introduction unit. You must write all remaining prompts in this exercise, but in doing so, you can use this prompt as a model to emulate.

I’m the Operations Lead overseeing Contoso’s distribution center expansion project in Fargo, ND. This project involves multiple construction phases, safety updates, vendor coordination, and inventory transitions. Please build a detailed project plan that outlines all major milestones for this expansion. Organize the plan into a table with columns for: Task Name, Bucket/Phase, Start Date, Due Date, Dependencies, Owner (role), and Checklist Items. Use logical buckets such as Site Prep, Construction, Facility Systems, Inspections, and Go-Live Readiness. Assume the project begins next Monday and spans 24 weeks. Return the plan as a Loop table I can edit.

  1. Review the table results. Loop might ask if you want it to insert the table directly into your Loop page. During testing, Copilot didn’t display either a button or a suggested prompt directing it to insert the table into the Loop page. When we entered a prompt asking it to do that, it regenerated the same table, but it didn’t insert it. Since Copilot in Loop is still a work in progress, the easiest way to insert the table into the Loop page is to select the Copy icon that appears below the table. Paste the copied results into your 1-Milestones and Timeline page. Delete any extraneous text from the conversation in the Copilot pane that was copied and pasted along with the table (typically at the beginning and end of the pasted content).

  2. Scroll horizontally to view all the table columns. In a real-world situation, the Operation Lead would exercise operational reasoning by editing the dates and owner roles, add/remove checklist items, and reorder tasks as needed. For this exercise, you can leave the table results as is.

  3. Next, add a new page under your Distribution Center Expansion – Project Plan workspace. Change the title of the page from Untitled to 2-RAID Log (Risk/Assumption/Issue/Dependency).

  4. Open the Copilot pane. To facilitate coordination between construction, safety, inventory moves, and vendors with tight dates, ask Copilot to create a RAID log table capturing top items for the next 24 weeks, including impact/probability scoring and mitigation owners aligned to Operations roles. This Loop table should include the following columns: Type, Title, Description, Impact (High/Medium/Low), Probability (High/Medium/Low), Owner (role), Target Date, Mitigation/Action, and Status. Define critical path risks in a short paragraph below the table.

  5. Review the table results and the paragraph that identifies critical path risks that Copilot generated. If everything looks fine, copy and paste the content into the 2-RAID Log page and delete an extraneous text.

  6. Next, add a third page under your Distribution Center Expansion – Project Plan workspace. Change the title of the page from Untitled to 3-RACI Matrix (Roles and Responsibilities).

  7. Open the Copilot pane. To help the Operations team assign task owners and clarify communication flows, ask Copilot to build a RACI matrix for the following milestones: site prep, foundation, framing, electrical, sprinkler testing, dock upgrades, inspection, equipment install, and go-live readiness. To do so, create a Loop table with rows = milestones and columns = roles (Operations Lead, Construction Lead, Safety Manager, Logistics Coordinator, Finance, IT, Vendor PM) and values = R/A/C/I.

  8. Review the table results. If everything looks fine, copy and paste the table into the 3-RACI Matrix page and delete an extraneous text.

  9. Add a final page under your Distribution Center Expansion – Project Plan workspace. Change the title of the page from Untitled to 4-Decision Log and Change Log.

  10. Open the Copilot pane. This page includes two tables – a Decision Log and a Change Log. Rather than have Copilot generate both tables at one time, you plan to submit each prompt request separately. To help the Operation Leader track upcoming approvals for weekend shifts, vendor hours, and PPE budget, ask Copilot to create a Decision Log table that includes the following columns: Decision, Requested By, Due Date, Options Considered, Final Decision, Rationale, Owner, and Follow-up Tasks.

  11. Review the table results. If everything looks fine, copy and paste the Decision Log table into the 4-Decision Log and Change Log page and delete an extraneous text.

  12. Next, ask Copilot to create a Change Log table for tracking potential shifts in inspection dates, routing, and go-live readiness. The table should include the following columns: Change Request, Category (Schedule/Scope/Cost/Quality), Description, Impact Summary, Approval Needed, Status, Owner, Effective Date.

  13. Review the table results. If everything looks fine, copy and paste the Change Log table into the 4-Decision Log and Change Log page and delete an extraneous text.

  14. In a later task, you create an email for your Operations colleagues that includes a link to the Loop workspace that you created in this task. Keep the Distribution Center Expansion – Project Plan workspace open so that you can copy its link.