Discover inside your Microsoft 365.
Your operator shows the current task, data, exceptions and approval point. The engineer checks Microsoft 365 access, Entra identities and Purview data controls before selecting a production candidate.
FORWARD-DEPLOYED AI ENGINEERING
An AI engineer inside your Microsoft 365, owning the outcome.
Every proposal you see is phase one with a fixed price and phase two with a question mark. This one is a fixed sprint. A senior Simplicity IT engineer works inside your Microsoft environment with your team and takes one approved workflow from discovery to a working handover. The next phase is a decision you make after reading the first.
01 Source02 Boundary03 Human decision04 Evidence
THE FIXED SPRINT
One workflow, a named engineer, and a working handover.
Build with your people.
We use the Microsoft capabilities the work needs, such as Copilot, Agent 365, Power Automate and Microsoft Foundry. We test representative cases, restrict permissions, and put a person at the action gate.
Hand over an operated result.
Your owner reviews the acceptance record. We deliver the runbook, rollback path and trained staff, then agree who monitors quality, access and cost after release.
FICTIONAL EXAMPLES
What an approved outcome can look like.
The examples below use fictional organizations and sample workflows. They are not customer results.
Hartwell Trust Bank
A governed Copilot rollout tests overshared content, checks Purview labels and records who may approve an agent's consequential action.
Contoso Builders
A daily project brief cites current RFIs and schedule changes. Certified payroll exceptions go to payroll staff before any correction.
Professional services
A fictional firm drafts a matter handoff from approved files. Entra access governs retrieval; a named professional approves distribution.
WHY THIS TEAM
A written decision and an operating handover.
We map the task and access boundary in your Microsoft environment, test representative cases, then put the exact production action in front of your owner. The design does not depend on one model vendor's SDK. National systems integrators bring us in under their own brand for bounded work.
For a deal team, that means a repeatable go or no-go record for each add-on instead of a research project. For a finance owner, assessment and implementation have separate scopes, and the handover names who owns each ongoing cost.
Who this is for
Regulated mid-market teams using Microsoft 365 that have a workflow owner, representative test cases and an approval path.
Who this is not for
Organizations outside the Microsoft estate or looking for indefinite staff augmentation without a defined outcome.
The sample sprint is a proposed delivery shape, not a promise of results or an offer price.
THE OFFER
What does a forward-deployed AI engineer do?
A senior engineer works inside your own Microsoft 365, with your operators, for a fixed sprint. One approved workflow goes from discovery to a working handover.
The engineer is not a consultant who writes a deck and leaves. They build and test beside the people who own the task and record your production decision. The handover is a runbook, a rollback path and a named owner for each ongoing cost. The sprint is scoped and quoted after a scoping call, and discovery is scoped separately from implementation.
THE MICROSOFT INSIGHT
Who owns the AI bill after the engineer leaves?
The person named in the handover, with a spending limit set in the Microsoft 365 admin center before release.
The Cost management dashboard in the Microsoft 365 admin center lets admins set spending policies and limits for Copilot Credits by user, group, environment or agent, and send threshold alerts. (Microsoft Learn, checked Oct 31, 2026)
Set the limit at handover and the first surprise on the invoice is a threshold alert you expected. Skip it and the first surprise is the invoice.
THE METHOD
How does a fixed sprint avoid an open-ended phase two?
Each phase ends in your written decision, and the next phase is quoted only after you have seen tested findings.
- Week one: read-only discovery in your Microsoft 365 (we read, we change nothing), with access and data controls checked.
- Weeks two to six: build with your people, test representative cases, restrict permissions, put a person at the gate.
- Week seven: handover of the runbook, the rollback path, trained staff and the owner of each ongoing cost.
- Your decision on the next scope, with its quote, after you have read the acceptance record.
THE PERMISSION ROW
What stops the new workflow from acting on its own?
Its permission row: may see, may draft, may do with approval, may do alone, agreed before it runs and recorded with every outcome.
Microsoft Copilot Cowork, Agent 365, Power Automate and Microsoft Foundry are the tools the work uses; the row is what makes the result yours to defend. Nothing that changes a customer record or sends a message runs without the approval the row requires.
With the row, an auditor reads who approved what. Without it, you reconstruct it from logs after the fact.
WHO THIS IS FOR
Is a forward-deployed sprint the right first step for your firm?
Yes, if you run Microsoft 365 and have a workflow owner, real test cases and an approval path. No, if you want open-ended extra staff or run outside Microsoft.
Deal teams use the sprint as the repeatable go or no-go record for each add-on. Finance owners use it because assessment and implementation carry separate scopes and the handover names who pays for what. National systems integrators bring the team in under their own brand for bounded work.
AFTER TWO WEEKS
What will be working after two weeks?
- Read-only discovery is complete and nothing in your tenant has changed.
- One page separates what was tested from what was assumed, with the production candidate named.
- The access boundary for the candidate is mapped and the first representative test cases are agreed.
- You hold the build scope and its quote as a written decision.
The work is delivered remotely inside your own Microsoft tenant, wherever your business is, and on site only when the work needs it.
HONEST ABOUT LIMITS
What this does not do yet
It does not make the workflow safe to run unattended. Copilot Cowork carries out multi-step tasks across Microsoft 365 and pauses for the user's approval before sensitive actions such as sending an email or posting in Teams. (Microsoft Learn, checked Oct 31, 2026) The approval pause is the design, not a limitation to engineer around, and the sprint keeps a person at every consequential action.
It does not replace your operations team. After week seven the workflow needs an owner, and Managed AI and Agent Operations exists for firms that want that owner to be us.
It does not promise a result. The fictional examples on this page show a delivery shape, not a customer outcome, and no price appears before a scoping call.
THE ONE THING TO REMEMBER
One workflow, one named engineer, one written decision per phase, and a handover your team can run.
Said another way: you buy a tested handover, not a block of hours.
Said a third way: phase two is a decision you make after reading phase one, not a line item you inherit.
SHOW YOUR WORK
See the control path on a fictional bank.
The agent action gate
The fictional bank records the exact action and approver.
Coming
See every demonstrationDIRECT ANSWERS
Questions before you decide.
What is a forward-deployed engineer?
A senior engineer who works with your operators and technical owners, in your environment, for a fixed sprint. One agreed workflow is delivered with its operating handover.
How is this different from a consultant?
The engineer builds and tests alongside your team and records your production decision. The handover is a runbook, a rollback path and a named owner, within the agreed scope.
Will phase one lead to an open-ended phase two?
No. Discovery and implementation are scoped separately. Your owner approves the next scope after seeing tested findings and the proposed operating cost, in writing.
How long does a sprint take?
The sample plan is seven weeks. The actual schedule follows discovery, access readiness and your approval process, and is agreed before the sprint starts.
How is it priced?
A fixed sprint is quoted after a scoping call. The quote names the workflow, the acceptance criteria and the operating handover. No price is published.
NEXT STEP
Start with a boundary you can explain.
Choose a focused check, or speak with the team about the workflow you need to improve.