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Lab X1 - Find launch blockers in a register

Lab X1 Excel heading

In this lab you will add a custom skill to Copilot in Excel. Then you will ask Copilot to review a fictional pilot register for launch readiness. Copilot will build a launch review with formulas you can inspect.

In this lab you will learn:

  • Where Excel stores custom skills
  • What a skill file looks like
  • How to ask for the task without naming the skill
  • How to verify the result and its formulas

Introduction

Watch this short video first. It shows the whole lab from start to finish, using the real Excel run. The video has on-screen captions and no sound.

Lab files

Exercise 1: Add the skill

Step 1: Open the practice workbook

Upload ERGO-Skill-Launch-Before.xlsx to your OneDrive and open it in Excel for the web. Select Copilot to open the Copilot pane.

Step 2: Open the skills folder

In the Copilot pane, select … (Settings and more), then Manage plugins & skills, then Custom skills. Select Add, then Add in OneDrive.

Opening Add in OneDrive from Excel Custom skills

Different from PowerPoint

In this Excel version, Add offers only Add in OneDrive. If you see Create skills folder instead, select it first.

Step 3: Upload the skill folder

Excel opens your OneDrive skills folder. Select Create or upload, then Folder upload, and choose the unzipped ergo-launch-review folder.

The ergo-launch-review folder in the OneDrive skills folder

Return to Excel and select Refresh in Custom skills.

Folder, not ZIP

Upload the folder, not the ZIP. The folder name must match the skill name.

Step 4: Read what the skill tells Copilot

Open SKILL.md inside the folder. The top lines tell Copilot when to use it: launch-readiness reviews, overdue action checks or owner-and-dependency reviews. The numbered rules describe how, for example:

  • Use the register's 30 September snapshot, not today's date
  • Count blocked and overdue items separately
  • Use inspectable formulas and keep the source unchanged

Reading the trigger and rules in SKILL.md

Exercise 2: Ask Copilot

Step 1: Ask normally

Go back to the workbook. Type this request, without selecting or naming the skill:

Review this register for launch readiness.

Copilot validates the 24 records, then builds the review. This can take a minute or two.

Copilot answering a normal launch-readiness request

Step 2: Ask which skill was used

Which custom skill did you use?

Copilot naming the ergo-launch-review skill

In rehearsal, Copilot answered ergo-launch-review.

Step 3: Check the launch review

Open the new Launch review sheet.

The Launch review sheet with 24 items, 3 blocked and 2 overdue

Check Expected
As of 30 Sep 2026
Total items 24
Blocked items 3: R04, A04, A08
Overdue actions 2: A03, A08

Step 4: Inspect the formula

Select the Overdue actions count and look at the formula bar. It counts open actions whose due date is before the snapshot date.

Selecting the overdue-action count to show its formula

Exercise 3: Discuss as a leader

Ask Copilot:

Why aren't all blocked items overdue?

Then discuss in your group:

  • Which overdue action would you escalate first, and to whom?
  • Which recurring check in your own area should always follow the same rules?

Troubleshooting

The skill does not appear in Excel

Check that you uploaded the unzipped folder and that it contains SKILL.md. Then select Refresh in Custom skills.

Copilot gives a general answer instead of a Launch review sheet

Start a new chat and ask again. As a fallback, type @ergo-launch-review Review this register for launch readiness.

The counts differ from the table

Check the reporting date in cell B2. The lab uses the register's snapshot date, 30 September 2026, not today's date.

The workbook already has a Launch review sheet

Use a fresh copy of the practice workbook so everyone starts from the same register.

Congratulations! You have completed Lab X1.

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