The Copilot Dashboard in Viva Insights: What It Measures and How to Read It
The short answer: the Copilot Dashboard lives in the Viva Insights web app, under Copilot Dashboard in the left menu. You don't need a paid Viva Insights or Copilot licence to view it, but what you see depends on how many licences your tenant has. It shows readiness, adoption, impact and sentiment. The first three cover the previous 28 days, up to 6 days late.
Read it as a trend line. The famous "assisted hours" number is a modelled estimate, small teams show "--", and some 2025 numbers were undercounted. Here's how to read it without fooling yourself.
Copilot Dashboard vs Copilot Analytics: the names in 2026
Copilot Analytics is the umbrella. Microsoft lists 6 parts: the readiness and adoption report in the Microsoft 365 admin center, the Microsoft Copilot Dashboard and the Agent Dashboard in Viva Insights, a Consumption Dashboard, Copilot Analytics reports, and Advanced Reporting with more than 100 Copilot metrics and pre-configured Power BI dashboards.
The dashboard dropped the "365" along with the product, which is now Microsoft Copilot (formerly Microsoft 365 Copilot). It's the part Microsoft built for leaders and managers, so it's the one this page is about.
Where it is, and who can open it
1The way in
Open the Viva Insights web app and select Copilot Dashboard on the left. You'll find direct links in blog posts, but Microsoft's page only gives the menu path, so I'm sticking to that.
2No paid licence to view
Any customer with a Microsoft 365 or Office 365 business or enterprise subscription and an active Exchange Online account qualifies. Neither a paid Viva Insights licence nor a Copilot licence is required to view it.
3But licences change what's inside
With at least 1 Copilot licence, you get Copilot adoption insights plus Copilot Chat usage by people without a Copilot licence. With at least 50 Copilot or 50 Viva Insights licences, you also get agent insights, benchmarks, intelligent summaries, group-level data, delegation and survey data. Data processing starts after 1 Copilot licence or 50 Viva Insights licences are assigned, and takes up to 7 days.
4Who sees it automatically
Global admins (in tenants with Privileged Identity Management, maybe not), Viva Insights analysts with global access, delegates and enabled managers. Senior leaders in the top 3 levels get automatic access only in tenants with at least 2,500 Entra users where most people sit in a single reporting line. Anyone with access can delegate it. Managers don't see the readiness page.
5How IT controls access
Microsoft's admin page says the old admin center toggle and the PowerShell control are gone, and access now follows turning the Viva Insights web app on or off. The dashboard page itself still mentions PowerShell. The 2 pages conflict, and I'd follow the admin page. Also, the AI Administrator role doesn't get the web app automatically.
What each metric means
1Active Copilot users
Employees who did at least 1 Copilot activity in the previous 28 days. Compare it with Copilot licensed employees, the total with a licence. That ratio is the first number I'd look at.
2Copilot assisted hours
Microsoft calls it an estimate of the time employees were assisted by Copilot over 28 days, calculated from their actions in Copilot and multipliers from Microsoft's research. It's modelled from actions, not measured time saved, and Microsoft itself says to view it as a general estimate.
3Copilot assisted value
Assisted hours times an hourly rate. The default is $72, from US Bureau of Labor Statistics data. You can change the rate and the currency in settings, and outside the US you should, before anyone screenshots it for the board.
4Satisfaction rate
The share of thumbs up out of all thumbs up and down, over a rolling 28 days. It only reflects the people who bothered to click.
5Sentiment
Survey results from Viva Glint, Viva Pulse, or a .csv file your Viva Insights admin uploads.
Some impact metrics (assisted hours, emails sent with Copilot, Teams meetings summarized, chat conversations summarized) need optional diagnostic data turned on to be complete. Facilitator and Interpreter usage counts in overall usage. External benchmarks represent at least 20 companies.
The blind spots: what the dashboard doesn't tell you
1It's always a little late
Readiness, adoption and impact cover the previous 28 days, with up to a 6-day delay. It refreshes daily, and newly licensed people take up to 7 more days to appear. Launched Copilot on Monday? Don't open the dashboard on Friday.
2Small groups show "--"
Group metrics only appear for groups at or above the minimum group size, 10 by default. The AI Administrator or Viva Insights Administrator can lower it to 5, and the change takes 24 hours. Per-person usage in a small team isn't the point of this tool.
3Free Chat users outside Microsoft 365
Use of free Copilot Chat by employees without a Microsoft 365 licence isn't counted.
4Removing a licence rewrites history
People who only had a Copilot licence drop out of every analysis, for every time period, once the licence is removed. Reshuffle licences and last quarter's numbers change.
5The 2025 undercount
Microsoft confirmed that email draft and email summary metrics, assisted hours and assisted value were underestimated from 1 June 2025 to 18 February 2026, fixed from 18 February onwards. Microsoft said it would restore the historical data, so check whether that has happened. Until then, don't compare across that window.
6Researcher and Analyst
Microsoft's Researcher FAQ (October 2025) says there's no reporting tool for agents like Researcher and Analyst. The dashboard now has agent-related insights at 50 or more licences, but I can't tell you whether they cover these two, so check your own tenant.
The admin center usage report (the IT view)
Same underlying data, different audience. The dashboard is for leaders, technology decision makers and managers. The usage report is for IT admins: Microsoft 365 admin center, Reports > Usage, then Microsoft Copilot > Copilot.
It covers the last 7, 28, 90 or 180 days, with metrics like Active Users and Total prompts submitted in Copilot Chat. On freshness, Microsoft's pages disagree (48 hours on one, 72 on the other), so plan on 2 to 3 days. Separately, and on a different screen, Microsoft announced in September 2026 that end users can view their own credit usage, remaining balances and usage history directly in Microsoft Copilot.
For what to do with the numbers once you have them, see Copilot ROI for management and Microsoft Copilot adoption.
Questions about the Copilot Dashboard
Where is the Copilot Dashboard?
In the Viva Insights web app. If you have access, select Copilot Dashboard on the left.
Do I need a licence to see the Copilot Dashboard?
No paid Viva Insights or Copilot licence is needed to view it. Your tenant needs a Microsoft 365 or Office 365 business or enterprise subscription and an active Exchange Online account. Data and features depend on having at least 1 or at least 50 licences.
What is the difference between Copilot Analytics and the Copilot Dashboard?
Copilot Analytics is the umbrella with 6 parts, including the admin center readiness report, the Agent Dashboard and Advanced Reporting. The Copilot Dashboard in Viva Insights is the part built for leaders and managers.
How current is Copilot Dashboard data?
It shows the previous 28 days with up to a 6-day delay and refreshes daily. Newly licensed employees can take up to 7 more days to appear.
Why do some rows in the Copilot Dashboard show "--"?
To protect privacy, metrics aren't shown for groups smaller than the minimum group size, which is 10 by default and can go down to 5.
What are Copilot assisted hours?
An estimate of the time employees were assisted by Copilot over the past 28 days, calculated from their Copilot actions and multipliers from Microsoft's research. It isn't measured time saved.
Numbers flat after rollout?
I run live online Copilot adoption workshops for groups of up to 20 people, from 1.5 to 4 hours.