A practical, marine-industry-focused program covering Copilot Chat, Search, Prompt Engineering, Personalization, Notebooks, Pages, Scheduled Prompts, Agents, Researcher, Analyst and Copilot across Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Teams.

Program Positioning & Audit-Safe Approach

This curriculum is designed as an industry-level framework for marine and ship-management organizations. It does not refer to any specific company, vessel, client, fleet, customer, incident or proprietary system.

Training examples should use anonymized, synthetic or organization-approved information. Participants should not upload confidential, commercially sensitive, personally identifiable, security-sensitive or restricted maritime information into Copilot unless the organization’s policies explicitly permit the activity.

Program Overview

This program is designed for shore-based and marine professionals involved in vessel operations, technical management, marine operations, HSQE, crew management, procurement, chartering, commercial operations, documentation, finance and management reporting.

The objective is not simply to teach Copilot features. The program focuses on how Microsoft 365 Copilot can support practical marine workflows such as document review, operational reporting, meeting preparation, incident documentation, compliance-related research, procurement analysis, vessel performance analysis and management communication.

Typical Duration

Customizable – typically delivered as a 1–3 day corporate program depending on the organization’s requirements, participant profile, Copilot environment and depth of marine-specific use cases.

Target Audience

Marine Operations teams, Technical Superintendents, Marine Superintendents, HSQE/HSEQ teams, Fleet Managers, Crew Management teams, Procurement teams, Chartering and Commercial teams, Marine HR, Documentation teams, Finance teams supporting marine operations, Vessel Performance teams and shore-based management.

Prerequisites

Participants should have basic familiarity with Microsoft 365 applications and their normal departmental workflows. No programming knowledge is required. Basic Excel knowledge is recommended for data-analysis exercises.

Customization & Enterprise Considerations

The curriculum is intentionally designed as a generic marine-industry framework. It can be customized for ship management, vessel operations, technical management, HSQE, crew management, procurement, chartering, commercial, finance or shore-based management teams.

The final workshop can use the organization’s approved templates, synthetic datasets, standard operating procedures and non-sensitive examples. No client or company name is required in the course content, and the program can be delivered as a neutral industry curriculum suitable for audit and confidentiality requirements

Key Learning Outcomes

• Use Microsoft 365 Copilot effectively in marine and ship-management workflows
• Write precise, context-rich prompts for maritime tasks
• Use Search and Chat appropriately
• Personalize Copilot for professional marine work
• Use Notebooks and Pages for vessel, project and operational work
• Create and schedule reusable prompts for recurring activities
• Understand and build marine-oriented agents where enabled
• Use Researcher for maritime, regulatory and business research
• Use Analyst for operational and fleet data analysis
• Accelerate Excel-based marine reporting and analysis
• Create management-ready Word documents and PowerPoint presentations
• Improve marine communication through Outlook and Teams
• Support audit and compliance preparation without replacing professional judgment
• Build repeatable AI-assisted marine workflows
• Identify practical and responsible opportunities to adopt Copilot within marine operations

Training Approach

• Marine-industry-specific, practical and business-oriented delivery
• Hands-on exercises using realistic maritime scenarios
• Use of synthetic, anonymized or organization-approved datasets
• Prompt engineering exercises based on actual marine tasks
• Practical Researcher and Analyst exercises
• Agent-building exercises where the organization’s environment permits
• Document review and management reporting exercises
• Operational meeting and communication exercises
• Department-specific customization

Module 1: Microsoft 365 Copilot for Marine & Ship Management – Getting Started

• Understanding the role of Copilot in maritime and ship-management workflows
• Understanding Copilot Chat and Copilot within Microsoft 365 applications
• Understanding Web, Work and organizational context
• Identifying marine tasks suitable for AI assistance
• Understanding where professional maritime judgment remains essential
• Responsible handling of vessel, crew, commercial and operational information
• Understanding license, administrator, security and organizational configuration dependencies
• Establishing an audit-conscious approach to AI adoption

Module 2: Search vs Chat for Marine Operations

• Using Copilot Search to locate vessel-related documents, emails, meetings and organizational information
• Finding procedures, checklists, reports, manuals, forms and previous communications
• Searching for relevant technical, operational and compliance information
• Using Copilot Chat to interpret, summarize and work with available information
• Search vs Chat: finding information vs working with information
• Referencing approved documents and sources
• Moving from Search to Chat, Researcher or Analyst when appropriate
• Example: locating the latest approved procedure and preparing a concise operational briefing

Module 3: Prompt Engineering for Maritime Professionals

• Designing effective marine-industry prompts
• Goal, Context, Action and Output framework
• Adding vessel, fleet, route, department and operational context
• Defining the role of the user: Superintendent, HSQE Manager, Fleet Manager, Crew Manager or Procurement Manager
• Specifying the required output format
• Creating prompts for document review, reporting, comparison and communication
• Good vs poor prompts for marine workflows
• Iterative prompting and validation
• Creating a reusable marine prompt library

Module 4: Personalization for Marine Professionals

• Understanding Copilot personalization
• Defining preferred communication style
• Setting role and working context
• Creating consistent management-ready outputs
• Preparing concise operational summaries
• Improving recurring reporting and communication tasks
• Understanding memory and personalization considerations
• Creating a personal Copilot working style while following company policies

Module 5: Copilot Notebooks for Marine Projects & Vessels

• Understanding Copilot Notebooks
• Creating a vessel, project or review-focused Notebook
• Adding approved reports, documents and reference sources
• Organizing information around a vessel, project, audit preparation or operational review
• Questioning Notebook content
• Summarizing multiple documents
• Extracting requirements, actions, observations, risks and decisions
• Using Researcher with Notebook content where available
• Turning research into structured outputs
• Examples: vessel review, project handover, audit preparation and fleet improvement initiative

Module 6: Copilot Pages for Marine Teams

• Creating persistent Copilot Pages
• Turning operational analysis into structured Pages
• Creating vessel review summaries
• Building action trackers and improvement plans
• Preparing meeting briefs
• Creating audit-preparation working documents
• Refining content with Copilot
• Sharing Pages with authorized colleagues
• Collaborating on marine projects and action plans
• Using Pages for operational reviews, project management and management briefings

Module 7: Saving & Scheduling Prompts for Recurring Marine Work

• Identifying repetitive marine-office tasks
• Creating reusable prompts
• Building recurring operational prompts
• Scheduling supported Copilot prompts
• Creating prompts for recurring management and operational activities
• Examples: weekly fleet updates, recurring action reviews and management summaries
• Preparing recurring information-gathering workflows where appropriate
• Reviewing, editing and managing scheduled prompts
• Designing repeatable AI-assisted workflows

Module 8: Agents for Marine & Ship Management

• Understanding AI agents in a maritime environment
• Copilot vs Agent
• When a marine team should use an agent
• Understanding pre-built Microsoft agents
• Understanding custom business agents
• Agent instructions, knowledge and sources
• Establishing clear boundaries for operational and compliance-related agents
• Examples: Vessel Documentation Assistant, HSQE Policy Assistant, Procurement Assistant and Management Reporting Assistant

Module 9: Creating & Managing Marine Business Agents

• Identifying repeatable marine workflows suitable for an agent
• Defining the agent’s role and purpose
• Writing clear instructions
• Defining approved knowledge sources
• Creating consistent output formats
• Testing and refining the agent
• Handling unsupported or ambiguous requests
• Sharing agents with authorized users where enabled
• Governance considerations for vessel, crew, customer and commercially sensitive information
• Example: Marine Documentation Assistant using approved procedures and templates

Module 10: Researcher for Maritime Research

• Understanding Researcher and when to use it
• Researcher vs standard Copilot Chat
• Conducting structured maritime and business research
• Researching regulations, industry developments and public information where appropriate
• Researching ports, markets, technologies and industry trends
• Researching suppliers, service providers and market developments
• Combining relevant web and permitted organizational information
• Comparing sources and synthesizing findings
• Reviewing citations and source quality
• Creating structured research reports
• Turning research into management-ready briefings

Module 11: Analyst for Marine Operational Data

• Understanding Analyst and its role in marine data analysis
• Analyst vs Copilot in Excel
• Working with supported operational datasets
• Preparing analytical questions
• Vessel performance analysis
• Fleet-level trend analysis
• Actual vs target analysis
• Period-over-period comparison
• Identifying unusual movements and outliers
• Analysing operational KPIs
• Analysing maintenance, procurement, cost or performance datasets where appropriate
• Creating tables and visualizations
• Generating management-oriented insights
• Validating AI-generated analysis before operational decisions

Module 12: Copilot in Excel for Marine Operations

• Using Copilot with operational datasets
• Understanding and generating formulas
• Explaining complex formulas
• Summarizing vessel and fleet tables
• Analysing trends and patterns
• Identifying anomalies and exceptions
• Vessel and fleet KPI analysis
• Budget vs Actual analysis for marine operations
• Maintenance and procurement data analysis
• Voyage or operational performance analysis where appropriate
• Creating management reporting summaries
• Using Copilot to accelerate recurring Excel-based marine analysis

Module 13: Copilot in Word for Marine Documentation

• Drafting operational reports
• Creating management summaries
• Summarizing technical and operational documents
• Rewriting documents for different audiences
• Creating executive summaries
• Structuring reports and action plans
• Preparing meeting minutes and follow-up documentation
• Supporting SOP and process documentation
• Summarizing observations and corrective-action information
• Preparing professional internal and external communication

Module 14: Copilot in PowerPoint for Marine Management

• Creating presentations from operational and management content
• Building fleet and vessel review presentations
• Preparing management-level operational summaries
• Converting reports into presentation structures
• Creating HSQE and operational review presentations
• Preparing procurement and project presentations
• Creating performance and KPI presentations
• Refining slide content for senior management
• Preparing executive briefing material

Module 15: Copilot in Outlook for Marine Communication

• Drafting professional operational emails
• Summarizing long email threads
• Preparing responses to vessel and shore-office queries
• Changing tone for management, vessel teams, suppliers or external stakeholders
• Extracting actions and commitments from emails
• Preparing follow-up communication
• Drafting requests for information
• Preparing meeting communication
• Handling recurring operational correspondence more efficiently

Module 16: Copilot in Teams for Marine Teams

• Preparing for operational and management meetings
• Understanding meeting context
• Summarizing discussions
• Identifying decisions and action items
• Extracting commitments and deadlines
• Asking questions about meeting discussions
• Preparing post-meeting summaries
• Converting meeting outcomes into structured action plans
• Supporting coordination between vessel and shore-based teams

Module 17: Integrated AI Workflows for Marine Organizations

• Researcher → Maritime Research Brief → Management Presentation
• Analyst → Vessel/Fleet Data Analysis → Management Commentary
• Excel Analysis → Word Report → PowerPoint Presentation
• Meeting → Summary → Actions → Marine Page
• Approved Documents → Agent → Standardized Response
• Agent → Recurring Task → Scheduled Prompt
• Researcher + Analyst for combined operational and market analysis
• Designing end-to-end AI-assisted marine workflows

Marine Department Use Cases

The program can be customized by department. The examples below are intentionally generic and can be adapted to the organization’s own processes, templates and approved information.

Marine Operations: Operational reporting, voyage-related documentation, meeting preparation, action tracking, recurring management updates and operational summaries.

Technical Management: Technical report summarization, maintenance data analysis, equipment documentation review, action tracking and management reporting.

HSQE / HSEQ: Procedure review, audit preparation, incident documentation support, observation/action summaries, compliance research and management reporting.

Crew Management: Crew-related communication, document summarization, policy communication, recurring correspondence and structured reporting using approved information.

Procurement: Supplier research, quotation comparison, procurement analysis, vendor communication, purchase-related summaries and supplier evaluation.

Chartering / Commercial: Market research, customer or counterparty research, commercial briefing preparation, correspondence support and performance analysis.

Finance: Marine cost analysis, budget vs actual analysis, management reporting, invoice/document summaries and recurring finance communication.

Management / Leadership: Fleet summaries, executive briefings, management reports, meeting summaries, action tracking and cross-functional analysis.

Marine Industry Case Studies

The workshop should use approximately three focused case studies selected according to the participants’ roles. The examples should be based on synthetic, anonymized or organization-approved information.

1. Vessel / Fleet Performance Review: Analyse an approved operational dataset, identify trends and exceptions, prepare a management summary and create a presentation.
2. HSQE / Audit Preparation: Use approved procedures, previous observations and action records to organize an audit-preparation brief, identify open actions and create a structured checklist. AI output remains subject to qualified human review.
3. Technical Management Review: Summarize technical reports, identify recurring themes and open actions, and prepare a management-level review.
4. Procurement & Supplier Evaluation: Compare supplier information against defined criteria, summarize differences and prepare a structured evaluation for management review.
5. Marine Operations Meeting Follow-up: Use Teams and Outlook to summarize a meeting, identify responsibilities and deadlines, and create a structured action plan.
6. Maritime Research Brief: Use Researcher to investigate a permitted public-domain maritime topic, compare sources and prepare a management briefing.
7. Vessel Documentation Assistant: Create an agent concept using approved procedures, templates and documentation sources to help users locate and structure information.