[Update Path] Recruit NextGen

[aprildunnam]

[Update Path] Recruit NextGen

Summary

Modernize the Agent Academy Recruit learning path for the current Microsoft Copilot Studio authoring experience. The path should take a new learner from environment setup and agent fundamentals through declarative and custom engine agents, solution-aware development, reusable skills, tools, workflows, publishing, and licensing.

This parent issue owns the path-level learning progression, shared standards, dependencies, and release readiness. Each mission specification is tracked as a child issue and remains independently authorable and reviewable.

Path outcome

A learner completes a practical Contoso IT Concierge scenario and can explain when to use declarative agents, custom engine agents, skills, tools, and workflows; build within a solution; publish the finished agent; and understand the licensing and cost implications of the architecture.

Audience

• New Copilot Studio makers and agent builders.
• Learners with no prior Agent Academy completion requirement.
• Makers who need current terminology and authoring patterns rather than classic experiences.

Ordered roadmap

Mission	Scope	Child issue
00	Course setup	#3136
01	Introduction to agents	#3138
02	Build a declarative agent	#3141
03	Copilot Studio fundamentals	#3139
04	Create a solution for the agent	#3140
05	Build a custom engine agent	#3137
06	Add a reusable skill	#3143
07	Add tools	#3145
08	Automate with workflows	#3142
09	Publish the agent	#3146
10	Understand licensing and cost	#3144

Path-level deliverables

• Eleven authored and reviewed missions with a coherent progression.
• Reusable Contoso IT Concierge assets and fictitious test data.
• Current screenshots and UI labels for the validated tenant experience.
• Working cross-mission links, analytics tags, and completion navigation.
• Accessibility review, Markdown validation, and a successful documentation build.
• End-to-end learner test from setup through publication and cost review.

Shared acceptance criteria

• Keep terminology, navigation, prerequisites, and screenshots aligned with the current Copilot Studio experience.
• Use one continuous scenario and make every mission’s starting and ending state explicit.
• Clearly distinguish declarative agents, custom engine agents, skills, tools, and workflows.
• Keep all sample identities, incidents, messages, and business data fictitious.
• Validate every product-specific step in a representative tenant before publication.
• Include accessible alt text, descriptive links, and repository-compliant callouts.
• Preserve required mission metadata and analytics tags.
• Verify prerequisites, licenses, permissions, preview dependencies, and fallback guidance.
• Test mission cleanup and reset paths so learners can recover from failed runs.
• Run repository frontmatter and Markdown validation and npm run docs:build.
• Review the rendered path on desktop and mobile and complete one end-to-end learner walkthrough.

Dependencies

• A validated Microsoft 365 and Power Platform training tenant.
• Current Copilot Studio access and appropriate maker permissions.
• Declarative agent and custom engine agent capabilities required by the child specs.
• Shared solution and sample assets available before dependent missions are authored.
• Product documentation and UI validation close to publication because labels and preview availability can change.

Out of scope

• Operative or Commander path content.
• Production deployment guidance and enterprise application lifecycle management.
• Third-party agent platforms.
• Deep administration, governance, or architecture content beyond a Recruit-level introduction.

Risks

• Rapid product changes can invalidate screenshots and navigation.
• Tenant licensing and preview availability can prevent consistent learner access.
• Mixed agent terminology can blur architectural boundaries if definitions drift between missions.
• Shared assets can create cascading rework if their schema changes late.
• Path-level duration can grow if individual missions duplicate setup or conceptual content.

Definition of done

• All eleven child issues are complete and linked to this parent.
• Shared assets and prerequisite statements are consistent across the path.
• No broken links, missing images, metadata errors, or build failures remain.
• A fresh learner account can complete the full path in the documented order.
• The path owner signs off on accuracy, accessibility, and release readiness.