AB-900 Copilot and Agent Administration: Licences, Billing and Agent Approvals (2026)

Last updated: October 2026. Written and fact-checked by the Examinotion editorial team against the official Microsoft Learn study guide for AB-900 (skills measured as of 14 October 2026), the Microsoft 365 admin centre documentation and the Copilot Studio admin documentation.

TL;DR The AB-900 Copilot and agent administration domain is worth 25-30% of the exam. It tests licences versus pay-as-you-go billing, which Copilot features admins can switch on or off, Researcher and Analyst use cases, usage reporting, and how agents are approved, restricted and monitored in the Microsoft 365 and Power Platform admin centres.

Exam AB-900: Microsoft 365 Copilot and Agent Administration Fundamentals gives this domain the name most candidates expect the whole exam to be about. "Perform basic administrative tasks for Copilot and agents" is the third of three domains, worth 25-30% of the exam [1]. It is the most hands-on part of a fundamentals exam, and it is full of admin centre paths, default settings and role names that are easy to confuse under time pressure.

This guide walks through every skill in that domain as Microsoft lists it, explains what the exam is really testing behind each one, and flags the traps. It sits alongside our guide to the larger AB-900 data protection and governance domain, and together they cover roughly two thirds of the exam. Every claim is sourced from Microsoft Learn or Microsoft's own product pages, with the full source list at the end.

What the AB-900 Copilot and agents domain covers

The AB-900 Copilot and agents domain contains 14 skills in three functional groups, and the exam questions follow Microsoft's verbs closely [1]. The official study guide lists the three AB-900 domains with these weightings:

The third domain breaks down as follows [1]:

The groups split neatly into two kinds of question. The first group is about judgement: given a business need, which capability or licensing model fits? The second and third groups are about location and ownership: where does an admin do this, and which role is allowed to do it? Revising both kinds separately is the most efficient way to prepare.

What changed in the AB-900 exam on 14 October 2026

The English version of AB-900 was updated on 14 October 2026, and the study guide now reads "Skills measured as of October 14, 2026" [1][2]. The change log records a Minor change to "Identify the core security features of Microsoft 365 services", which sits in the first domain, not in the Copilot and agents domain [1]. The audience profile and the core features skill area are marked as unchanged.

For a candidate, the practical impact on this domain is small. The skills in the table above are what Microsoft currently publishes, and that is the list to revise against. Localised versions of Microsoft exams usually follow the English update by around eight weeks, so if you sit AB-900 in another language, check the study guide for the version you will actually take [1].

One naming change is worth knowing about even though the exam title has not moved. Microsoft's documentation now states that "Microsoft 365 Copilot is now named Microsoft Copilot, and Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat is now named Microsoft Copilot Chat" [3]. You may see either name in questions, in the admin centre and in Learn modules, so treat them as the same product.

Copilot licensing: monthly licence versus pay-as-you-go

Copilot licensing on AB-900 comes down to one comparison: a per-user monthly licence for people who use Copilot every day, against metered pay-as-you-go billing for occasional or agent-driven use. The skill wording is "Compare Copilot monthly license model to pay-as-you-go, including SharePoint" [1].

The monthly licence. The Copilot licence is an add-on. A user needs "a Microsoft Copilot license and a qualifying prerequisite license", such as Microsoft 365 E3, E5, Business Standard or Business Premium, or Office 365 E3 or E5 [4]. Microsoft 365 E7 includes Copilot outright [4]. Microsoft lists the enterprise add-on at $30.00 per user per month, paid yearly, in the United States as of October 2026, and notes that prices vary by country and region [8].

Copilot Chat without a licence. Eligible users who sign in with a Microsoft Entra work or school account get Copilot Chat at no extra cost [22]. Microsoft's licensing page draws the line clearly: web-grounded chat is included, while work-grounded chat over a user's organisational content needs a Copilot licence [4]. This distinction is a favourite exam trap, because "Copilot Chat is free" and "Copilot can read my mailbox" are both partly true for different users.

Pay-as-you-go. Metered billing lets an organisation pay for agent usage in Copilot Chat and for SharePoint agents through an Azure subscription, rather than buying a licence for every user [5]. Microsoft charges $0.01 per Copilot Credit for this usage [7]. Some older Learn pages still describe the unit as a "message", so expect both terms.

Assigning Copilot licences in the Microsoft 365 admin centre

Copilot licences are assigned in the Microsoft 365 admin centre, either per product or per user, and the admin needs at least the License Administrator or User Administrator role [9]. There are two routes the exam expects you to recognise:

1. Billing > Licenses. Select the Copilot product, then Assign licenses, and add up to 20 users or groups at a time [9].
2. Users > Active users. Select a user, open Licenses and apps, and tick the Copilot licence. For several users at once, use Manage product licenses [9].

Group-based licensing through Microsoft Entra is the scalable option. When a licence is assigned to a group, everyone added to that group receives it automatically, and the Licenses page shows the group rather than individual names [9]. If an assignment fails, for example because a user lacks a qualifying base licence, the Errors & issues tab lets you fix the cause and select Reprocess [9].

Admins can also decide whether users may buy Copilot for themselves. The self-service purchase setting under Copilot settings offers three options: allow, allow trials only, or do not allow [10].

Monitoring and managing Copilot pay-as-you-go billing policies

A Copilot pay-as-you-go billing policy is the object that links metered Copilot usage to an Azure subscription and a defined set of users. Microsoft describes it as "a unique billing identifier that you can associate with a group responsible for the incurred cost" [5]. Creating the policy alone does not switch anything on; it must then be connected to a service [5].

The setup sequence in the Microsoft 365 admin centre is [6]:

1. Go to Copilot > Billing & usage > Billing policies and select Add a billing policy.
2. Choose the Azure subscription and resource group that will be charged.
3. Add the users or groups the policy covers, and optionally set a budget.
4. On the Pay-as-you-go services tab, connect the policy to Microsoft Copilot Chat or SharePoint agents.

Several details make good exam distractors [6]:

• Pay-as-you-go is disabled by default. Nothing is billed until an admin creates and connects a policy.
• Budgets are alerts, not caps. Microsoft's setup page says the system "doesn't enforce the budget or prevent your organization from exceeding it."
• Roles matter. A Billing Administrator, AI Administrator or Global Administrator can set it up, and the Azure subscription must be in the same tenant with Owner or Contributor rights.
• Limits apply. A tenant can have up to 50 billing policies, and disconnecting a policy can take up to two hours to take effect.

Microsoft has also introduced a newer Copilot Cost management area for services such as Copilot Cowork, but the AB-900 skill wording refers specifically to "pay-as-you-go billing policies" [1], so focus your revision there.

Which Copilot features admins can enable or disable

Admins control Copilot behaviour from Copilot > Settings in the Microsoft 365 admin centre, where the settings sit under tabs including User access and Data access, and the AI Administrator role can change them [10]. The skill "Identify which Copilot features can be enabled or disabled" asks you to recognise what lives here [1].

Settings documented on that page include [10]:

• Web search in Copilot, controlled through the "Allow web search in Copilot" cloud policy
• Image generation
• Pinning Copilot Chat for users
• Self-service purchases of Copilot
• Pay-as-you-go billing for Copilot Chat
• Agents, including access controls covered later in this guide
• AI providers, which governs whether other large language models can be used

The exam often frames this as a scenario: a compliance team wants Copilot answers to stay within organisational content, so which setting do you change? The answer is the web search control, not a licence change and not a Purview policy. Read every option for the object being changed before you choose.

Researcher, Analyst and custom agents: when to use each

Researcher, Analyst and custom agents answer three different business needs, and the AB-900 study guide lists a separate use-case skill for each [1].

Researcher is described by Microsoft as "an intelligent assistant within Microsoft Copilot, designed to handle complex, multi-step research tasks" that draws on web and work content and produces cited reports [11]. Use it when a user needs a researched briefing, such as a market summary or a competitor overview, built from many sources.

Analyst is Microsoft's data-analysis agent. It reasons over data, can run Python, and suits tasks such as analysing spreadsheets, spotting trends and producing charts [12]. Both Researcher and Analyst became generally available in June 2025 [12].

Custom agents are built by the organisation for a specific job, such as answering HR policy questions from a defined SharePoint site. Use them when the knowledge, instructions or actions are specific to your organisation.

One governance detail separates good answers from guesses. Microsoft states that "Researcher and Analyst are part of the core Copilot chat experience and will not fall under any agent-related settings" [13]. So an admin who restricts custom agents has not necessarily restricted Researcher and Analyst.

Monitoring Copilot usage: Copilot Analytics and the admin centre

AB-900 expects you to know two monitoring surfaces: the usage reports in the Microsoft 365 admin centre, and the Copilot Dashboard in Viva Insights, which forms part of Copilot Analytics [1].

Microsoft 365 admin centre reports. Under Reports > Usage, the Microsoft Copilot report shows enabled users (those with a licence), active users, the active users rate and adoption by app, over 7, 28, 90 or 180 days [14]. Data typically lags by up to 48 hours, and usernames are hidden by default [14]. A separate Copilot Chat report covers users without a Copilot licence [14].

Copilot Dashboard. The dashboard focuses on readiness, adoption and impact across the organisation. Microsoft states that "neither a paid Viva Insights license nor a Microsoft Copilot license is required to view the dashboard", though the full feature set unlocks once a tenant has 50 or more Copilot licences [15].

Managing prompts: saving, sharing, scheduling and deleting

Prompt management on AB-900 covers what users can do with prompts and where admins have influence over that behaviour [1]. Users can save prompts they reuse, share them with colleagues, and schedule a prompt to run automatically, for example a Monday-morning summary of the previous week's email.

Scheduled prompts need a Copilot licence, and they depend on connected experiences being allowed in Office, which admins govern through cloud policy [21]. Microsoft also documents a PowerShell route for admins to review scheduled prompts across the tenant [21]. For the exam, remember the pairing: users create and manage their own prompts, while admins control the policies that make features such as scheduling available.

Configuring user access to agents and the approval process

Agent access and approval in AB-900 are handled in the Agents area of the Microsoft 365 admin centre, and governance actions such as approving requests can only be performed by the AI Administrator or Global Administrator roles [16][17].

User access. Under Agents > Settings > User access, an admin chooses who can use agents: all users (the default), no users, or specific users or groups [16]. A separate control sets which publishers' agents are allowed: those built by Microsoft, by your organisation, or by external publishers [16]. Sharing settings for agents built with Microsoft Copilot Agent Builder are configured here too [16].

The approval process. Microsoft states that "when a member of your organization publishes an agent to your tenant, the agent requires administrator approval before becoming available tenant-wide" [17]. The admin reviews submissions at Agents > All agents > Requests, then chooses Publish to store or Reject submission [17]. Agents built in Copilot Studio, Microsoft Foundry or the Microsoft 365 Agents Toolkit can all arrive through this queue [17].

Three points come up repeatedly in practice questions:

1. Updates also need approval. When a creator updates an approved agent, users stay on the previous version until the admin selects Update in store [17].
2. Publishing has scope. When approving, the admin can target specific users or groups and choose whether to preinstall the agent [17].
3. Blocked Microsoft agents can be requested. If policy blocks a Microsoft-built agent, users can request it, and the admin must unblock and approve it [17].

Creating an agent. The study guide also lists "Create an agent" [1]. At fundamentals level, this means knowing that simple agents can be built from Copilot Chat with Agent Builder, while more complex agents with actions and integrations are built in Copilot Studio. If you want the business context first, our Microsoft Copilot agents business guide explains the agent types in plain terms.

Monitoring agents across both admin centres

AB-900 asks you to monitor agent usage, operational insights and lifecycle using two admin centres, and the question is usually which one holds the control described [1].

Microsoft 365 admin centre. The agent registry at Agents > All agents > Registry is the inventory of agents in the tenant, grouped by publisher type such as Microsoft, external partners, your organisation and agents shared by their creator [18]. From here admins can block, remove or export agents, and pin up to three agents for users [18]. Agent management rules support bulk lifecycle actions, such as blocking ownerless agents that have no usage [16].

Power Platform admin centre. Copilot Studio agents run in Power Platform environments, so their governance lives here. Data policies under Security > Data and privacy > Data policy can block specific knowledge sources, connectors, HTTP requests, publishing channels and unauthenticated chat [19]. Under Licensing > Copilot Studio, admins assign Copilot Credit capacity to environments, set monthly credit limits per agent and download consumption reports [20].

How this domain is tested, and the traps to avoid

Microsoft labels AB-900 a beginner-level exam for administrators, yet its audience profile still expects familiarity with Microsoft 365 services, security, identity, data protection and governance, and the main admin centres [2][1]. Fundamentals here does not mean easy. The exam is 45 minutes with a passing score of 700 [2][1], so there is little time to work out an admin centre path from first principles during the exam.

The traps in this domain follow a pattern:

• Licence versus setting. If a question asks how to stop a behaviour, the answer is usually a setting or policy, not removing licences.
• Budget versus cap. Pay-as-you-go budgets send alerts; they do not stop spending.
• Researcher and Analyst are not custom agents. Agent restrictions do not automatically cover them.
• Two admin centres. Approvals and user access sit in the Microsoft 365 admin centre; Copilot Studio data policies and capacity sit in the Power Platform admin centre.
• Default states. Pay-as-you-go is off by default, and agent user access defaults to all users.
• Role names. The AI Administrator role appears throughout Copilot and agent administration, alongside Global Administrator.

Microsoft also notes that AB-900 may include questions on preview features "if those features are commonly used" [1], so recent admin centre changes are fair game. The best way to make these paths stick is to answer scenario questions against them repeatedly. Our AB-900 practice questions and the AB-900 30-day study plan give you a structured route through all three domains, and how to pass AB-900 covers exam-day strategy. If scenario formats are new to you, read our guide to Microsoft exam question types.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much of AB-900 is about Copilot and agent administration?

Copilot and agent administration makes up 25-30% of the AB-900 exam, according to Microsoft's official study guide. It is the smallest of the three domains. Data protection and governance is the largest at 35-40%, and core Microsoft 365 features and objects account for the remaining 30-35%, so candidates should not revise Copilot administration alone.

What changed in the AB-900 exam in October 2026?

Microsoft updated the English version of AB-900 on 14 October 2026. The study guide change log records a Minor change to the skill "Identify the core security features of Microsoft 365 services" in the first domain. The Copilot and agents domain keeps the same structure, and localised versions usually update around eight weeks after English.

What is the difference between a Copilot licence and pay-as-you-go?

A Copilot licence is a per-user monthly add-on for people who use Copilot daily across Microsoft 365 apps and work-grounded chat. Pay-as-you-go bills metered agent usage in Copilot Chat and SharePoint agents to an Azure subscription through a billing policy, at $0.01 per Copilot Credit, which suits occasional or unpredictable usage.

Where do admins approve agents in Microsoft 365?

Admins approve agents in the Microsoft 365 admin centre at Agents, All agents, Requests. When an employee publishes an agent to the organisation, it needs administrator approval before becoming available tenant-wide. The admin can publish it to the store for chosen users or groups, or reject it. Only AI Administrators or Global Administrators can approve requests.

Can admins turn off web search in Copilot?

Admins can control web search in Copilot through the "Allow web search in Copilot" cloud policy, which is referenced from the Copilot settings page in the Microsoft 365 admin centre. Turning it off keeps Copilot responses grounded in organisational content rather than public web results, which is a common requirement in regulated or security-conscious organisations.

Is Copilot Analytics on the AB-900 exam?

Copilot Analytics is on the AB-900 exam. The study guide skill reads "Monitor Copilot usage and adoption, including Copilot Analytics and the Microsoft 365 admin center". Candidates should know the difference between the admin centre usage reports, which show enabled and active users by app, and the Copilot Dashboard, which tracks organisation-wide readiness, adoption and impact.

Do I need admin experience to pass AB-900?

Admin experience helps but is not formally required for AB-900. Microsoft's audience profile expects familiarity with Microsoft 365 services, security, identity, data protection, governance and the main admin centres. Candidates without hands-on admin access can prepare by learning admin centre paths, default settings and role names, then testing themselves with scenario-based practice questions.

Conclusion

The AB-900 Copilot and agents domain rewards precise knowledge rather than broad familiarity. Know when a monthly licence beats pay-as-you-go, how a billing policy is created and connected, which settings switch Copilot features on or off, what Researcher and Analyst are for, and which admin centre holds each agent control. Pair this guide with our data protection and governance guide and the official AB-900 study guide on Microsoft Learn, and you will have covered the bulk of the exam.

When you are ready to test yourself, start practising for AB-900 with Examinotion's AB-900 practice tests, work through the AB-900 study guide, or browse all Examinotion exam preparation courses. Practice reduces risk on exam day; it does not guarantee a pass, so use your results to find and fix weak areas before you book.

Sources

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2. Microsoft 365 Certified: Copilot and Agent Administration Fundamentals - Microsoft Learn, accessed 2026-10-14
3. Microsoft Copilot requirements - Microsoft Learn, accessed 2026-10-14
4. Microsoft Copilot licensing - Microsoft Learn, accessed 2026-10-14
5. Pay-as-you-go billing overview - Microsoft Learn, accessed 2026-10-14
6. Set up pay-as-you-go billing - Microsoft Learn, accessed 2026-10-14
7. Copilot Credits licensing guidance - Microsoft Licensing, accessed 2026-10-14
8. Microsoft Copilot enterprise pricing - Microsoft, accessed 2026-10-14
9. Assign licences to users - Microsoft Learn, accessed 2026-10-14
10. Copilot page in the Microsoft 365 admin centre - Microsoft Learn, accessed 2026-10-14
11. Researcher agent in Microsoft Copilot - Microsoft Learn, accessed 2026-10-14
12. Researcher and Analyst are now generally available - Microsoft Copilot Blog, accessed 2026-10-14
13. Manage Copilot agents in the Microsoft 365 admin centre - Microsoft Learn, accessed 2026-10-14
14. Microsoft Copilot usage report - Microsoft Learn, accessed 2026-10-14
15. Copilot Dashboard in Viva Insights - Microsoft Learn, accessed 2026-10-14
16. Agent settings in the Microsoft 365 admin centre - Microsoft Learn, accessed 2026-10-14
17. Manage agent requests in the Microsoft 365 admin centre - Microsoft Learn, accessed 2026-10-14
18. Agent registry in the Microsoft 365 admin centre - Microsoft Learn, accessed 2026-10-14
19. Configure data policies for Copilot Studio agents - Microsoft Learn, accessed 2026-10-14
20. Manage Copilot Studio Copilot Credits capacity - Microsoft Learn, accessed 2026-10-14
21. Scheduled prompts in Microsoft Copilot - Microsoft Learn, accessed 2026-10-14
22. Manage Microsoft Copilot Chat - Microsoft Learn, accessed 2026-10-14