Stay Up to Date in Employee Self-Service [MC1400829]

Message ID: MC1400829

[What and Why:]

We’re introducing Stay Up to Date, a new capability in the Employee Self-Service (ESS) agent that proactively surfaces personalized updates on the ESS landing page. This feature helps employees stay informed about IT, HR, and workplace requests without needing to search across systems. By presenting actionable updates as prioritized cards that launch contextual conversations, Stay Up to Date improves productivity, reduces status-check inquiries, and supports more efficient self-service experiences.

[Rollout Schedule:]

• General Availability (Worldwide): We will begin rolling out in late July 2026 and expect to complete by mid-August 2026.

[Impact on Your Organization:]

Who is affected:

• Organizations with an active ESS deployment and Microsoft 365 Copilot licenses
• Employees using ESS for IT, HR, or workplace requests
• IT and HR admins managing ESS experiences

Platforms/Services:

• Microsoft 365 Copilot
• Employee Self-Service (ESS) agent

What will happen:

• A new Stay Up to Date carousel will appear on the ESS landing page
• Employees will see personalized update cards for ticket status, follow-ups, and time-sensitive actions
• Each card includes a status indicator, summary, and link to resume a related conversation
• Cards are prioritized and expire automatically
• The feature is enabled by default for eligible tenants
• At least one configured connector (e.g., ServiceNow) with ticket-related topics capable of reading ticket data
• Stay Up to Date does not create or modify tickets; it surfaces updates from configured systems only

[Action Required/Recommendations:]

No action is required to enable this feature for eligible tenants.

However, we recommend administrators review the following:

• Verify that your ESS deployment includes at least one configured connector with ticket-related topics.
• Communicate this change to helpdesk and support teams to prepare for reduced status inquiry volume.
• Update internal ESS documentation to reflect proactive updates on the landing page.

If desired, manage the feature:

• Go to Microsoft 365 admin center → Copilot → Settings → Employee Self-Service 
• Select your agent
• Navigate to Insights cards settings
• Toggle Stay Up to Date on or off and save

Learn more: Customize the Employee Self-Service agent | Microsoft Learn

[Compliance considerations:]

Compliance Area	Assessment
Introduces or modifies AI/ML capabilities interacting with customer data	Uses Copilot capabilities to surface personalized updates from enterprise data sources.
Alters how existing customer data is processed or accessed	Reads and surfaces ticket data from connected systems (e.g., IT, HR tools) in ESS.
Provides a new way for users to interact with generative AI	Users can initiate contextual Copilot conversations directly from update cards.
Adds integration with third-party software	Depends on connectors (e.g., ServiceNow, Workday, SAP) for ticket data.
Introduces admin control	Feature can be enabled or disabled in Microsoft 365 Admin Center.
Stores new customer data	Surfaces existing data; documentation does not specify new storage or caching behavior.
New communication method between users or tenants	Enables contextual conversations tied to updates, but not a new standalone communication channel.
Impact to Purview (DLP, labeling, audit, retention, etc.)	No explicit changes stated; depends on how underlying data sources are governed.
Changes to compliance monitoring or reporting	No explicit changes documented; monitoring may depend on existing Copilot/ESS telemetry.
Changes to GDPR data subject rights	No direct changes stated; feature surfaces existing data already governed by Microsoft 365 controls.
User ability to enable/disable feature	Controlled at admin level; users interact but do not manage availability.

Source: Microsoft

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