Financial services
A sample policy exception with identity checks and an approval record.
See the sample pathGOVERNED WORKFLOWS
Put AI to work with clear permissions and a human decision.
Explore sample workflows by industry. Each one names what an AI system can read and draft, what a person must approve, and what evidence stays with the outcome.
01 Source02 Boundary03 Human decision04 Evidence
START WITH CONSTRUCTION
See the permission and approval row for each workflow.
Our first detailed example follows fictional Contoso Builders across safety, certified payroll, RFIs and owner reporting.
Explore construction workflowsLegal
A cited matter draft that stays within the signed-in user's access.
See the sample pathHealthcare
An administrative workflow that keeps clinical decisions with qualified staff.
See the sample pathTHE DEFINITION
What is a governed workflow?
An AI workflow inside Microsoft 365 with a permission row that says what AI may see and draft, what a person must approve, and what evidence stays with the outcome.
Each one is written for a real job: a daily brief, a payroll exception, an RFI, a policy question, a matter summary. The AI drafts, a named person approves, and the record is what you show an owner, a board or an auditor.
THE MICROSOFT INSIGHT
Can Microsoft 365 run a multi-step workflow and still stop for a person?
Yes: 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.
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)
Design the workflow around the pause and the approval is a minute. Design around speed and the correction is an afternoon.
THE PERMISSION ROW
What are the four columns of the permission row?
May see, may draft, may do with approval, may do alone, agreed before the workflow runs and recorded with every outcome.
- May see: the sources the workflow reads, limited to what the signed-in person may already open.
- May draft: the documents and messages it prepares, with sources cited.
- May do with approval: the actions a named person releases, recorded with the approval.
- May do alone: nothing that changes a customer record or sends a message, at the start.
THE FOUR QUESTIONS
What do you decide before an AI workflow acts?
What it can reach, which actions need approval, whether outside content can redirect it, and whether your team can stop it.
Those four questions are the review every workflow passes before it runs on live data. The answers go into the row and the row goes into the evidence record.
Answer them before the pilot and the row is a design. Answer them after and the row is an incident report.
THE FIRST RUNG
Which industry pack is ready to read today?
Construction, with four Contoso Builders workflows on Harbor Point Tower B; financial services, legal and healthcare carry one sample path each.
Every pack uses fictional organizations and sample data. The construction pack ships on SimpleOS Delivery and Simple Time, which are Simple Intelligence Group products, separate from the Simplicity IT service that switches them on.
AFTER TWO WEEKS
What will be working after two weeks?
- One workflow from your industry pack is chosen and its owner named.
- Its permission row is written and the four questions are answered in your words.
- It runs on fictional or sample data and the approver has seen the first drafts.
- You hold the live-pilot scope and its quote as a written decision.
HONEST ABOUT LIMITS
What this does not do yet
It does not cap the cost of the agents it introduces by itself. 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) The cap per agent is set in the admin center as part of the pilot, so the row and the budget line are agreed together.
It does not run on live data until the approver trusts the draft and you decide in writing.
It does not claim a saving or a time figure: the baseline is yours to compare.
THE ONE THING TO REMEMBER
AI drafts, a person approves, and the evidence stays with the outcome.
Said another way: the permission row is the product; the workflow is how it is used.
Said a third way: nothing that changes a record or sends a message runs on its own at the start.
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.
Which industries have a pack?
Construction has four detailed workflows today. Financial services, legal and healthcare each carry a sample path, and more packs follow the same permission-row format.
Does a workflow ever act on its own?
Only in the may-do-alone column, which starts empty for anything that changes a customer record or sends a message, and widens one action at a time on evidence.
Where does the evidence live?
With the outcome, in your tenant: the draft, its sources, the approval and the result. Simple Council can hold the approval and evidence layer where a client chooses it.
Are the examples real customers?
No. Contoso Builders, Harbor Point Tower B, Hartwell Trust Bank and Corliss Bay Construction are fictional, so no client is named and no result is implied.
How is it priced?
Quoted after a scoping call. The pack and its switch-on are separate scopes, and the Marketplace listing carries the product plan.
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.