AB-900 key terms

The dedicated, isolated instance of Microsoft cloud services that an organization owns, containing its users, groups, mailboxes, sites, and settings. Everything an administrator configures lives inside one tenant.

The web portal where administrators manage users, groups, licenses, billing, service health, and org-wide settings for a tenant. It is the usual starting point for day-to-day administrative tasks.

Microsoft's cloud identity service that stores user and group accounts and authenticates sign-ins for Microsoft 365. It determines who can access which tenant resources.

An identity object in Entra ID representing one person, with a sign-in name, a credential, and assigned licenses. Access to mailboxes, sites, and Copilot follows from this account.

The act of giving a user account a subscription license so the services it includes, such as Exchange Online or Microsoft 365 Copilot, become available. Without a license the user cannot use those workloads.

A collection of accounts used to grant permissions or apply licenses and policies to many people at once. Groups are a common way to control who receives Copilot or who can use an agent.

A membership object that bundles a shared mailbox, calendar, SharePoint site, and optional Teams team so a set of people can collaborate. Its membership also drives permissions and policy scoping.

A container in SharePoint Online for documents, lists, pages, and permissions, usually tied to a team or department. Its permission model decides what Copilot can surface from stored content.

Each user's personal cloud storage in Microsoft 365, used for files before they are shared or moved to team sites. Files stay private until the owner shares them.

The collaboration hub that combines chat, meetings, calling, channels, and file tabs. Files posted in channels are stored in the team's connected SharePoint site.

The cloud mailbox that stores a user's email, calendar, contacts, and tasks. Mailbox content is a primary grounding source for Copilot answers in Outlook.

The unified API that exposes Microsoft 365 data such as users, files, mail, and chats. Copilot and agents retrieve organizational content through Graph while honoring existing permissions.

An AI assistant embedded in Microsoft 365 apps that generates answers and content grounded in the organization's own data, filtered by the signed-in user's permissions.

The browser-based chat experience in Microsoft 365 where users ask Copilot questions grounded in work content and files. Published agents are discoverable and usable there.

The natural-language instruction or question a user gives to Copilot, often including a goal, context, and source files. Clearer prompts produce more relevant results.

An external person invited into the tenant with limited access to specific teams, sites, or files. Guests are governed by separate policies and matter when reviewing what data Copilot can reach.

The admin center view showing current and past incidents, advisories, and planned maintenance for Microsoft 365 services. It helps administrators confirm whether a problem is on Microsoft's side.

A classification tag applied to files, emails, sites, or meetings that can enforce encryption and access limits and stays with the content. Labels protect data wherever it travels, including Copilot output.

A tag applied to individual items to keep them for a set period before deletion, optionally with a disposition review. Labels give item-level control where a policy applies too broadly.

A location-wide rule that keeps or deletes content in services such as Exchange, SharePoint, OneDrive, and Teams for a defined period. Policies apply automatically without users tagging items.

A rule set that detects sensitive information in email, files, chats, and Copilot prompts or responses, then blocks, warns about, or audits the action. Rules can be tuned per workload.

The family of compliance portals and tools for classification, retention, data loss prevention, auditing, and eDiscovery across Microsoft 365. Administrators use it to govern the data Copilot can reach.

A searchable record of user and administrator activity, such as file access, sign-ins, and Copilot interactions. It supports investigations, reporting, and compliance evidence.

The process of identifying, preserving, collecting, and reviewing content for legal or investigative matters. Cases can hold mailbox and site data, including Copilot interaction history.

A condition where content is reachable by more people than intended, usually through broad site permissions or open sharing links. Copilot surfaces what users can already open, so oversharing becomes more visible.

A SharePoint setting that limits which sites Copilot and agents may use as grounding data, while leaving those sites reachable through normal search and browsing. It reduces exposure during rollout.

An add-on that adds site lifecycle, permission, and data access governance reports for SharePoint. It helps administrators find and fix oversharing before and after Copilot deployment.

An Entra ID policy engine that allows or blocks access based on signals such as user, device, location, and risk, and can demand compliant devices or multifactor authentication.

A Purview solution that detects risky user activity, such as unusual downloads or data exfiltration, and routes it to reviewers. It can also drive temporary restrictions on Copilot use.

The set of administrative controls for Microsoft 365 Copilot covering access, data security, usage measurement, and agent lifecycle. Its settings are managed across the admin center and Purview.

A scoped AI assistant that answers questions or performs tasks using defined instructions, knowledge sources, and actions. Agents can be built in Copilot Studio and shared with a chosen audience.

The admin center inventory listing agents available in the tenant, with their owners, status, and availability. Administrators use it to approve, block, reassign, or remove agents.

A low-code authoring tool for building, testing, and publishing agents that connect to data sources and actions beyond standard Copilot. Published agents can appear in Teams and Microsoft 365.

A billing plan that charges for metered agent usage through an Azure subscription instead of requiring per-user Copilot licenses. An administrator links the plan to the tenant before agents are used.

A dashboard in the admin center or Viva Insights showing how many people actively use Copilot and how they use it. It guides adoption campaigns and license decisions.