Training course · Microsoft 365 Copilot · Pharma & Life Sciences

Microsoft 365 Copilot for Pharma and Life Sciences

Use Microsoft 365 Copilot and Copilot Chat in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Teams productively, securely and in line with permissions.

Duration
1 day (7 hrs)
Format
Online or on-site
Language
German or English
Participants
open dates or exclusive for your team
Certificate
Certificate of attendance

Overview

“Microsoft 365 Copilot for Pharma and Life Sciences” is designed for roles such as Regulatory affairs professionals, Quality assurance and Qualified Persons and Clinical operations and medical writers and shows step by step how to use Microsoft 365 Copilot productively, safely and transparently in Pharma & Life Sciences – from the fundamentals to advanced workflows.

Microsoft 365 Copilot brings AI right into the applications where your daily work happens: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Teams. What sets it apart from publicly available chatbots is its grounding in your organisation's data via Microsoft Graph – Copilot can draw on the emails, meetings, chats and documents you already have access to. In this practical day you learn to use that connection deliberately: drafting content from existing files, summarising inboxes and long threads, following up on meetings and generating presentations from Word documents.

You also learn how the licensed Copilot differs from Copilot Chat, when web-grounded and when work-grounded answers make sense, and how to use both prebuilt and your own agents. A central topic is the permission model: Copilot only surfaces what you are allowed to see, so sharing settings in SharePoint, OneDrive and Teams directly determine the quality and security of results. You leave with tested prompts for every Office application and a clear understanding of responsible use within your tenant.

Pharmaceutical, biotech and medtech companies operate in one of the most heavily regulated environments of all. Documentation, validation and traceability shape daily work from research and clinical trials to manufacturing. Generative AI offers significant potential: AI assistants review scientific literature, help draft study protocols, regulatory documents and SOPs, summarise deviation reports, support pharmacovigilance case processing and prepare medical information for healthcare professionals. Automation supports change control, CAPA tracking and regulatory intelligence. At the same time, as soon as AI touches GxP-relevant processes, validation, data integrity according to ALCOA+ and clear accountability are mandatory. Adoption succeeds when companies clearly separate non-regulated support from GxP use and involve quality assurance early.

The course is delivered live – either online in a virtual classroom or on-site in our training rooms in Munich, Salzburg, Berlin, Augsburg, Hanover, Bremen, Stuttgart and Kaiserslautern. We can also run it exclusively for your team.

Who is this course for?

  • Regulatory affairs professionals
  • Quality assurance and Qualified Persons
  • Clinical operations and medical writers
  • Pharmacovigilance and drug safety teams
  • Medical affairs and R&D scientists

Typical challenges we address

  • Producing extensive regulatory and scientific documents to a high standard
  • Processing deviations, CAPAs and change controls on time
  • Systematically evaluating growing volumes of literature and regulation
  • Using AI tools in a GxP-compliant, validatable way

What you will be able to do

  • You use Copilot in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Teams for your recurring tasks.
  • You write prompts that draw on existing files, emails and meetings as context.
  • You distinguish between Microsoft 365 Copilot and Copilot Chat and choose the right mode.
  • You use prebuilt agents and create a simple agent of your own for your team.
  • Use AI for literature review, medical writing and regulatory intelligence.
  • Distinguish non-regulated AI use from GxP-relevant applications and understand validation requirements.
  • Safeguard data integrity, confidentiality and patient data protection when using AI.

Course outline

Module 1 Copilot fundamentals and Microsoft Graph
  • Microsoft 365 Copilot and Copilot Chat: capabilities and licensing
  • Grounding in organisational data through Microsoft Graph
  • Switching between web and work context and referencing specific files
  • Prompt structure with goal, context, source and expectations
Module 2 Word and PowerPoint
  • Drafting from existing documents, notes and emails
  • Rewriting, shortening, adjusting tone and summarising text
  • Generating presentations from Word documents or outlines
  • Refining slides, adding speaker notes and sharpening key messages
Module 3 Excel and data analysis
  • Querying tables, spotting trends and highlighting outliers
  • Getting suggestions for formulas, calculated columns and conditional formatting
  • Creating charts and pivot analyses from natural language
  • Sanity-checking results and ensuring data quality
Module 4 Outlook, Teams and agents
  • Summarising long email threads and drafting replies
  • Summarising Teams meetings and extracting action items and open questions
  • Using Copilot Pages and Notebooks for collaborative work
  • Using prebuilt agents and creating your own with Agent Builder
Module 5 Permissions, data protection and governance
  • The permission model: Copilot only shows what you can access
  • Identifying oversharing in SharePoint, OneDrive and Teams
  • Sensitivity labels, data boundaries and GDPR considerations
  • Usage policies, team adoption and measuring impact
Module 6 Practice lab: Pharma & Life Sciences
  • Literature review and evidence
  • Medical writing support
  • SOPs and training materials
  • Deviations and CAPA
  • Regulatory intelligence
  • Pharmacovigilance support
Module 7 Data protection, quality & transfer to daily work
  • When AI systems are used in GxP-relevant processes, computerised system validation under EU GMP Annex 11 or 21 CFR Part 11 and data integrity according to ALCOA+ must be ensured. Clinical trial and pharmacovigilance data contain health data under Article 9 GDPR and may only be processed in pseudonymised form in approved environments.
  • Ground rules for safe AI use in your team
  • Checking results: facts, sources, tests and the four-eyes principle
  • Personal action plan for the next 30 days
  • Open questions, outlook and resources for further learning

Practical scenarios from your field

Literature review and evidence

An AI assistant summarises scientific publications, extracts study design, endpoints and results into tables and supports systematic reviews, with experts checking every data point against the original source.

Medical writing support

AI creates outlines and first drafts of study protocols, clinical study reports, investigator brochures or modules of the regulatory dossier based on approved templates and source data.

SOPs and training materials

Process descriptions and regulations are turned into draft SOPs, training slides and comprehension questions, which are then reviewed and approved through the validated document management system.

Deviations and CAPA

AI summarises deviation reports, structures root cause analyses, finds similar past cases and suggests CAPAs, which quality assurance evaluates and decides on.

Regulatory intelligence

Automations collect new guidelines and publications from the EMA, national authorities or the FDA; AI summarises changes and maps them to affected products and processes for an impact assessment.

Pharmacovigilance support

AI helps pre-structure case reports from unstructured text, extract relevant information on product, event and patient and detect duplicates, while medical assessment remains with qualified staff.

Prerequisites

Confident everyday use of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Teams; no prior AI knowledge is required. You work in the pharmaceutical, biotech or medtech industry and know the GxP basics of your area.

Technical requirements

A laptop with access to Microsoft 365 via your work account; a Microsoft 365 Copilot licence is ideal for all exercises, while Copilot Chat covers part of the content.

Data protection & compliance

When AI systems are used in GxP-relevant processes, computerised system validation under EU GMP Annex 11 or 21 CFR Part 11 and data integrity according to ALCOA+ must be ensured. Clinical trial and pharmacovigilance data contain health data under Article 9 GDPR and may only be processed in pseudonymised form in approved environments.

Suggested dates

All dates are suggestions – your preferred date is always possible.

  • Mon, 23 November 2026 Online Request
  • Wed, 9 December 2026 Salzburg Request
  • Wed, 16 December 2026 Online Request
  • Fri, 8 January 2027 Online Request
  • Mon, 11 January 2027 Bremen Request
  • Tue, 26 January 2027 Online Request

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between Microsoft 365 Copilot and Copilot Chat?

Copilot Chat is available to many work accounts without an additional licence and answers mainly from web content and uploaded files. The licensed Microsoft 365 Copilot also reaches your emails, meetings and documents through Microsoft Graph and is built directly into Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Teams.

Can Copilot see my colleagues' confidential files?

Copilot respects existing permissions and only surfaces content you can already access yourself. Problems arise when files are shared too broadly – with the entire organisation, for instance. In the course you learn how to spot such oversharing and how to fix it properly together with your IT team.

Do I need prompting experience for this course?

No. We start with the fundamentals of good prompts and practise them directly in the Office applications. What matters is that you are comfortable using Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Teams day to day. Everything else – from referencing files to working with agents – we build up step by step through realistic tasks.

Do AI tools need to be validated in pharma?

It depends on the use. For activities without GxP relevance, such as internal communication or literature overviews, general IT and data protection rules apply. If results feed into GxP-relevant decisions or records, a risk-based validation approach is required. We show you how to classify use cases.

How do we ensure data integrity?

AI output must be attributable, traceable and verifiable. That means documented inputs and prompts, clearly assigned reviewers, versioning and release through your validated systems. In the course we discuss how ALCOA+ principles apply to AI-supported work steps. Clear retention rules complete the picture.

How much does “Microsoft 365 Copilot for Pharma and Life Sciences” cost?

The course costs a flat €949 plus VAT per participant – whether online or on-site. This includes 1 training day(s) with a live trainer, course materials, a lab environment and a certificate of attendance.

Can I suggest my own date?

Yes. Our suggested dates are just a guide. In the request form you can always describe your preferred date or period in free text – we check availability and confirm within one working day.

Is the course online or on-site?

Both are possible: live online in a virtual classroom or on-site in Munich, Salzburg, Berlin, Augsburg, Hanover, Bremen, Stuttgart or Kaiserslautern. We can also run the course exclusively for your team.

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