Op-Ed | February 26, 2026
Useful Copilot AI Prompts by Department
Introduction
As a follow up to my previous op-ed, “How to Get Better at AI Prompting”, I would like to offer a “Starter Kit” of AI prompts that can help you be more productive. To help ease you into this, below, you can find some useful/practical AI prompts to help you start your AI journey today.
Please be advised that certain prompts may not function as intended depending on your level of access to organizational data. Some prompts may require you to edit to match your permissions. Give it a try and have fun!
Human Resources (HR)/People Operations
| AI Prompt | Purpose |
|---|---|
| “Create a 30-60-90 onboarding plan for a in with links to key docs; generate a welcome email and first week agenda.” | To quickly generate a structured 30-60-90 day onboarding plan complete with key documents, a tailored welcome email, and a first week agenda to streamline new hire ramp-up for any role and department. |
| “Summarize this week’s employee onboarding feedback and highlight areas for improvement.” | Use this to quickly identify trends and actionable insights from onboarding surveys. |
| “Draft a new job description for a Software Engineer based on our company’s competencies and current needs.” | Efficiently create tailored job postings that reflect organizational requirements. |
| “Generate a FAQ document for employee benefits based on our latest policy updates.” | Automate creation of helpful resources for staff. |
| “From recent survey comments, produce a themes & actions brief (what’s working, friction points, top 5 fixes). Draft a comms plan.” | To distill employee survey feedback into clear themes and actionable fixes while generating a targeted communications plan that drives awareness, alignment, and follow-through. |
| “Generate a job description and interview rubric for ; include 6 competency-based questions and a scorecard.” | To quickly generate a complete hiring package including a tailored job description, competency-based interview rubric, six evaluation questions, and a scoring framework. |
| “Summarize policy updates into a one pager and FAQ for employees. Draft an announcement for Outlook and a Teams post.” | To convert policy updates into clear, employee-friendly communications — a concise one-page summary, an FAQ for common questions, and ready-to-send announcements for Outlook and Teams. |
Finance/Accounting
| AI Prompt | Purpose |
|---|---|
| “Prepare a summary of Q4 expenses and flag any categories that exceed budget limits.” | Rapidly analyze financial data and surface budgetary issues |
| “Draft a monthly financial report template including key metrics and charts.” | Simplify recurring reporting tasks with reusable templates. |
| “Explain the differences between last month’s revenue and this month’s figures.” | Gain quick insights into financial performance fluctuations. |
| “In Excel, reconcile these two exports (GL and bank) and surface discrepancies by category; propose likely causes and a correcting journal entry template.” | To automate financial reconciliation by comparing GL and bank exports in Excel, highlighting category level discrepancies, identifying likely root causes, and generating a ready to use correcting journal entry template. |
| “Build a 12 week cash forecast using historical inflows/outflows and flagged invoices; call out risk weeks and suggest levers.” | To generate a forward-looking 12-week cash flow forecast based on historical inflows, outflows, and flagged invoices highlighting risk periods and recommending actionable financial levers to maintain liquidity and stability. |
| “Draft a month end close checklist with owners and SLAs based on our prior closes; highlight automation candidates.” | To standardize and streamline monthly close by generating a clear checklist with owners and SLAs while identifying high impact automation opportunities that reduce manual effort and improve accuracy. |
| “Summarize license usage vs cost for Copilot, identify under utilized seats, and propose reallocation.” | To analyze Copilot license usage versus cost, identify underutilized seats, and recommend reallocation strategies that improve efficiency and reduce unnecessary spend. |
Sales/Capture/Business Management
| AI Prompt | Purpose |
|---|---|
| “Turn this discovery call transcript into a MEDDICC summary, buying map, and next step email to the champion.” | To transform a discovery call transcript into a structured MEDDICC qualification summary, a clear buying map, and a ready to send next step email ensuring deal clarity, stakeholder alignment, and forward momentum. |
| “Draft a personalized email proposal for [Client Name] based on their purchase history.” | Accelerate outreach with tailored messaging. |
| “Create a tailored one pager and 3-slide mini deck for , using our standard value props. Keep jargon minimal.” | To quickly create clear, industry specific collateral a tailored one pager and a concise 3-slide deck using standard value propositions while keeping language simple and accessible for nontechnical audiences. |
| “Summarize recent customer interactions from our CRM and suggest follow-up actions.” | Stay on top of client relationships and never miss an opportunity. |
| “Generate a slide deck highlighting this quarter’s sales achievements.” | Quickly produce presentations for team meetings or leadership reviews. |
| “Summarize competitor updates into a battlecard with strengths, weaknesses, traps to set, and landmines to avoid.” | To turn competitor insights into a clear, strategic battlecard that highlights strengths, weaknesses, traps to set, and landmines to avoid equipping teams to position effectively and win competitive deals. |
| “Draft a proposal executive summary from these notes and pricing; include measurable outcomes and timeline.” | To turn raw proposal notes and pricing into a polished executive summary that highlights measurable outcomes, timeline expectations, and key value drivers giving reviewers a clear, compelling snapshot of the proposed solution. |
Marketing/Communications
| AI Prompt | Purpose |
|---|---|
| “Draft social media posts for our upcoming product launch targeting three customer personas.” | Optimize marketing efforts with data driven recommendations. |
| “Convert this technical white paper into two LinkedIn posts, a tweet length hook, and a visual brief for a carousel.” | To repurpose a technical white paper into concise, audience ready social content two LinkedIn posts, a punchy tweet length hook, and a visual brief for a carousel to maximize reach and engagement. |
| “From recent customer quotes and case data, build a case study outline (challenge, approach, results, metrics) and a press ready paragraph.” | To transform customer quotes and case data into a clear case study outline capturing the challenge, approach, results, and metrics along with a press ready paragraph that highlights measurable impact and credibility. |
| “Analyze recent campaign performance and recommend strategies for higher engagement.” | Save time by automating content generation for diverse audiences. |
| “Create a competitor analysis report based on the latest market research.” | Stay informed and proactive in your marketing strategy. |
| “Assemble a campaign plan for audience, key messages, content calendar, offers, channels, and KPIs; include 5 content ideas with CTAs.” | To generate a complete quarterly marketing campaign plan covering audience, key messages, content calendar, offers, channels, and KPIs plus five content ideas with CTAs to accelerate execution and measurement. |
| “Turn this webinar transcript into a blog post, FAQ, and email nurture (3 touches).” | To repurpose a webinar transcript into clear, audience ready assets via a blog post, an FAQ, and a three-touch email nurture sequence to drive education, engagement, and follow through. |
IT & Operations/Security/Cyber Security
| AI Prompt | Purpose |
|---|---|
| “Summarize recent support ticket trends and identify recurring technical issues.” | Efficiently monitor system health and user pain points. |
| “Draft a change advisory for Tuesday’s patch window: scope, risk, back out, comms, and verification steps.” | To generate a clear and complete change advisory for an upcoming patch window by outlining scope, risks, backout steps, communications, and verification actions to ensure controlled, safe, and well-coordinated change execution. |
| “Summarize Copilot adoption and usage (active users, interactions, trends) and list top teams by growth; recommend enablement next steps.” | To generate a concise Copilot adoption report, summarize active users, interactions, and usage trends, highlight top teams by growth, and recommend targeted enablement actions to expand effective use. |
| “Generate a weekly status update for ongoing IT projects.” | Streamline communication with stakeholders. |
| “Generate a RBAC/permissions matrix for this app, derive least privilege roles, and flag SoD conflicts.” | To produce a complete security aligned permissions blueprint by generating an RBAC matrix, defining least privilege roles, and flagging segregation of duties (SoD) conflicts to ensure safe, compliant access design. |
| “Create a post incident review from these alerts and notes: root cause, timeline, blast radius, and prevention actions.” | To generate a clear, comprehensive post incident review that captures the root cause, timeline, blast radius, and preventative actions, supporting accurate documentation, accountability, and future risk reduction. |
| “Draft an incident response plan for a potential cybersecurity breach.” | Prepare ready to use protocols for critical situations. |
Program Operations/PMO
| AI Prompt | Purpose |
|---|---|
| “From the latest standups and Planner/ADO boards, produce a rollup RAID log and critical path for Projects A–C. Propose course corrections.” | To consolidate daily standup notes and Planner/ADO task data into a single RAID log and critical path view for Projects A to C, enabling clear visibility into risks and driving informed course correction recommendations. |
| “Create a stakeholder update email: accomplishments, blockers, decisions needed, and next steps. Keep to 150 words.” | To consolidate daily standup notes and Planner/ADO task data into a single RAID log and critical path view for Projects A to C, enabling clear visibility into risks and driving informed course correction recommendations. |
| “Draft a lessons learned summary across these 3 projects; cluster themes and propose 5 process improvements with owners.” | To quickly summarize lessons learned across three projects and generate five actionable improvement recommendations with clear owners. |
| “Turn these meeting transcripts into actionable sprint goals with acceptance criteria. Generate a burndown summary for the weekly update.” | To convert meeting transcripts into clear, measurable sprint goals (with acceptance criteria) and produce a burndown-style weekly progress summary for stakeholder updates. |
Legal/Contract Management
| AI Prompt | Purpose |
|---|---|
| “Create a clause comparison between these two MSAs, highlighting deltas in IP, indemnity, data protection, and termination; propose redlines.” | To compare two MSAs clause-by-clause (IP, indemnity, data protection, termination), highlight key differences, and draft proposed redlines to align the contract with your preferred risk and compliance position. |
| “From this SOW and the client RFP, produce a compliance matrix with gaps and clarifying questions.” | To produce a clear compliance matrix by comparing the SOW against the client’s RFP, identifying where requirements are met, partially met, or missing, and generating gap notes and clarifying questions for unresolved or ambiguous items. |
| “Draft a change order for scope expansion; include rationale, effort estimate, and timeline impact.” | To generate a clear, client-ready change order documenting a scope expansion, including the reason for the change, the estimated effort required, and the resulting timeline impact. |
Customer Service/Support/Sustainment
| AI Prompt | Purpose |
|---|---|
| “Summarize the last 90 days of tickets into top 10 issue themes, average time to resolve, and automation candidates. Propose 3 self-help articles.” | To turn 90 days of ticket data into the top recurring issues, resolution performance metrics, and automation opportunities, plus three draft self-help articles to reduce future ticket volume. |
| “Convert this call transcript into a case note and knowledge article draft, with repro steps and workaround.” | To convert a call transcript into a concise case note and a draft knowledge article that includes repro steps and a workaround for future reference and support efficiency. |
| “Draft a proactive customer email for users impacted by the incident; include status, ETA, and next steps.” | To send a clear, proactive incident update to affected users that communicates the current status, estimated time to resolution, and the next steps they can expect. |
Engineering/Service Delivery
| AI Prompt | Purpose |
|---|---|
| “From this backlog, group stories into epics, add acceptance criteria, and propose a release plan with risks.” | To transform a backlog into a structured release plan by grouping related stories into epics, adding clear acceptance criteria, and outlining a proposed release plan with identified risks. |
| “Summarize code review comments into a refactoring plan; list quick wins vs structural items.” | To turn code review feedback into a focused refactoring plan that separates quick, low effort fixes from larger structural improvements needed for long term code quality. |
| “Create a test plan from these requirements with positive/negative cases and data sets.” | To turn stated requirements into a complete, executable test plan that validates expected behavior using positive and negative test cases and defines the test data sets needed to run them. |
| “Turn meeting notes into a deployment checklist and a rollback plan for Friday’s release.” | To convert meeting notes into a clear deployment checklist and a rollback plan for the upcoming Friday release, ensuring a smooth deployment and a safe fallback option if issues arise. |
Procurement/Global Supplier Chain
| AI Prompt | Purpose |
|---|---|
| “Build a vendor scorecard from recent POs, SLAs, and delivery variance; flag under performance and draft corrective actions.” | To quantify vendor performance using PO history, SLA attainment, and delivery variance; identify underperforming suppliers and produce corrective action recommendations to improve service levels and reduce risk. |
| “Summarize lead time risks and propose alternatives and buffer strategy given current constraints.” | To evaluate current lead time risks, then recommend alternatives and a buffer strategy to protect delivery dates under existing constraints. |
| “Draft an RFQ email and a comparison table for the top 3 suppliers.” | To create a professional RFQ email for suppliers and generate a comparison table that evaluates the top three vendors side-by-side for easier decision making. |
Executive Leadership
| AI Prompt | Purpose |
|---|---|
| “Draft an internal memo outlining strategic priorities for the next quarter.” | Communicate vision and direction efficiently. |
| “From the last 30 days of reports and meeting recaps, build a one-page business review: top achievements, risks, mitigations, and 90-day priorities. Append a 5slide deck.” | To synthesize the last 30 days of updates into a one-page business review (achievements, risks, mitigations, 90day priorities) and produce a 5-slide executive deck for leadership-ready reporting. |
| “Analyze recent market trends and suggest opportunities for expansion.” | Leverage Copilot for strategic business intelligence. |
| “What changed this week? Summarize deltas in revenue pipeline, delivery health, and talent (hires/open reqs/attrition), and suggest 3 interventions.” | To provide a concise weekly delta summary by highlighting what changed in the revenue pipeline, delivery health, and talent metrics (hires, open roles, attrition), and to recommend three targeted interventions to address emerging risks. |
| “Convert this strategy memo into a CEO all hands script and a 5slide narrative deck with speaker notes.” | To turn a strategy memo into a CEO-ready all-hands talk track and a 5-slide narrative deck with speaker notes for clear, aligned messaging. |
| “Summarize key performance indicators across all departments for the monthly board meeting.” | Aggregate and distill critical information for decision makers. |
Conclusion
I trust you found this “Starter Kit” for AI prompts beneficial. I hope this helps you take your first step into your AI journey and that you are empowered to leverage AI to work smarter, faster, and with greater confidence.
About the Author
My name is Huy H. Nguyễn, and I am a managing partner at Bayen Group. We specialize in partnering with organizations to plan and implement the Technology Enterprise Modernization Roadmap. If your organization is starting or in the process of its own Digital Transformation, don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We would love to be your guide through the Digital Transformation journey.
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