Public documentation copy. No sign-in is required to read this guide or its screenshots here. References to approved sessions apply to the simulation and its app-hosted documentation. This site does not host the application; obtain its URL from your facilitator.

Copilot Earn-In Academy: Simulation User Guide

Edition: Simulation MVP · Updated: October 16, 2026
Audience: Learners, facilitators, reviewers, program administrators, and testers.

Fictional data only. This is a browser-local simulation, not a production learning-management system. Role switching previews interfaces; it does not sign you in or protect records from other people using the same browser. Never enter actual employee details, confidential prompts, customer information, or restricted work content.

This guide explains the current application, not proposed production features. Screenshots were captured from the running app with fictional records. Most show the Developing learner scenario after the actions described; reporting screenshots use freshly loaded Normal cohort and Small cohort scenarios. Dialog screenshots show the visible portion of a scrollable form.

1. Start here

Open the simulation

1. Give your GitHub username to your facilitator for approval, then open the application URL they supply.
2. Select Sign in with GitHub and use the approved account. A GitHub account alone does not grant entry.
3. Confirm that the top banner says Simulation — fictional data only.
4. Wait for Saved in this browser before making changes.
5. Begin with Developing learner, or load New learner for a blank learning record.

The online guide, Markdown downloads, and screenshots require the same approved session. Access denied or 503 means you should contact the facilitator, not try another URL. Sign out of GitHub tester session ends app access but does not erase local simulation records or sign you out of GitHub's website. Use separate browser profiles for separate testers. Offline copies deliberately shared by the facilitator remain readable without sign-in.

If you are using the project workspace, open VS Code's Ports panel, forward port 3000, leave visibility Private, and select Open in Browser. The local address is http://localhost:3000. The workspace must remain running. If the server has stopped, ask the operator to follow section 19.

A five-minute orientation

1. Inspect My dashboard and its recommended habits.
2. Open My 30-day path and select a lesson.
3. Open Evidence journal to see the fictional examples.
4. Change Preview role to Champion to inspect submitted workflows.
5. Change Preview role to Sponsor to inspect the cohort report.
6. Return to Learner to continue.

Switching roles does not delete records. Loading or resetting a scenario does.

2. Understand the simulation controls

The fixed simulation clock

• The simulated date is October 16, 2026, regardless of today's actual date.
• Learners start on October 1, 2026; the learning path therefore shows Day 16 at baseline.
• The reporting cohort spans October 1–30, 2026.
• Dated reporting observations stop at October 16, not October 30.
• New evidence dates are limited to October 1–16.
• Calendar-session examples also use October 2026. They are not live bookings.

This fixed clock makes tests repeatable. New learner means no completed lessons or evidence; it does not move the cohort back to Day 1. A week-three banner is therefore expected even for that scenario.

3. Choose a scenario

Except for Small cohort, the scenarios include 20 fictional learners. Peers may already have redacted submissions. Seeing those submissions in a review queue does not mean Alex's private evidence has been shared.

Load a clean test

1. Select the desired Scenario.
2. Select Load scenario.
3. Read the replacement warning.
4. Confirm to discard the existing simulation, or cancel to keep it.
5. Check the scenario name in the baseline summary and the save status.

Do not reset midway through a journey if you want to keep its changes.

4. Navigate the learner workspace

The six journey phases are Assess, Activate, Repeat, Expand, Contribute, and Demonstrate. Date-based positioning is separate from completed-lesson progress.

The top search button finds lessons and role-relevant workflows. Notifications and sample champion contacts are learning aids, not external messaging integrations.

5. Complete or update your assessment

1. In New learner, select Find my path on the dashboard. Otherwise select Personalize my path on the learning path, or the dashboard's Edit persona and habits control.
2. Choose Your primary role. Ten choices cover sales, management, projects, analysis/finance, HR, marketing, IT/operations, executive support, general work, and a custom starting point.
3. Optionally record a secondary persona.
4. Select time-consuming activities and applications used.
5. Record frequency, Copilot experience, and the outcome you want.
6. Choose a license/access option and record concerns.
7. Review sharing willingness, willingness to help, manager support, and time commitment.
8. Review the recommended habits, applications, capability, and measures.
9. Select Make this my path.

Example outcome: "Prepare a clearer fictional weekly status report with fewer missing action owners."

The outcome is required and must contain at least 10 characters. Changing the primary persona or supported task choices can change recommendations. Some other assessment fields are recorded as context; do not assume every selection changes the recommendation.

For a technical blocker, select Access or technical blocker under Microsoft Copilot license. For a repeatable governance-routing test, load Blocked learner. The current simulation recognizes the literal phrase governance blocker in the concerns field; it does not intelligently classify arbitrary concern text.

Selecting Approved Copilot Chat only or I'm not sure does not itself reduce the numeric readiness score. An explicitly recorded blocker changes the support route.

6. Take a lesson and save completion

1. Open My 30-day path.
2. Select the relevant week, or show all lessons.
3. Open a lesson row. Continue learning on the dashboard also opens the next incomplete lesson.
4. Read the overview, demonstration, guided practice, and example prompt.
5. Expand Read transcript if useful. Current lessons are text-first examples; supplied video recordings are not integrated.
6. Optionally select Copy lesson prompt or Download workflow. These actions do not complete the lesson or execute Copilot.
7. Answer One quick check.
8. Write a practice reflection of at least 15 characters describing the fictional task and your human-review step.
9. Confirm I completed the guided practice and understand the review requirements.
10. Select Complete lesson.

Success: The dialog closes and the lesson row shows Completed. Refreshing should preserve the completion.

An incorrect answer prompts another attempt. Missing reflection or confirmation prevents completion. Reopening an already completed lesson allows review; it does not award another completion.

Lesson completion and evidence are different records. Record workplace evidence opens the evidence form; it does not by itself complete the lesson.

7. Use the workflow library

1. Open Workflow library.
2. Search for a task, title, or prompt text.
3. Narrow results using Persona, Business task, Application, Level, Agent, Time, Data sensitivity, and Status.
4. Use For my persona to set the persona filter and clear the search text. Other active filters remain in place.
5. Open a workflow card to read its prompt and human-review steps.
6. Use Save workflow or a card's bookmark control to save it.
7. Use Saved (count) to toggle the saved-only view.
8. Select Copy prompt. If clipboard access is unavailable, the app downloads a text version instead.

No results: Clear the search and return each active filter to its general option. Turn off saved-only mode if necessary. There is no separate one-click "clear all filters" control.

Verified means an illustrative editorial status in the sample catalog. It is not approval for your organization's data or a guarantee that generated output is correct. Saved prompts remain browser-local. No Copilot session is opened or executed by saving or copying.

8. Record and manage evidence

Save an attempt

1. Open Evidence journal.
2. Select Record a workflow.
3. Complete the fields below using fictional information.
4. Scroll to the review and sharing-permission checkboxes.
5. Select Save private evidence.
6. Check the entry and updated journal totals, then confirm Saved in this browser.

Understand the journal metrics

• Workflows recorded: Number of entries, including unreviewed attempts.
• Self-reported time difference: Sum of baseline minutes minus new minutes.
• Work surfaces explored: Distinct application surfaces, not agent names.
• Outputs reviewed: Reviewed entries divided by all entries.

For an attempt that goes from 30 to 20 minutes, the difference is +10. An attempt that goes from 10 to 15 contributes -5. Slower attempts are retained rather than hidden.

The screenshot below shows four entries and 55 min because a new +10-minute example was added to the Developing learner baseline of three entries and 45 minutes.

Inspect, export, or remove an entry

• Expand Reflection & prompt to inspect the prompt, quality observation, and lesson.
• Select Export my journal to download my-private-evidence.json. This is raw learner evidence; it is not an aggregate or redacted export. The simulation has no journal-import control.
• Use an entry's delete control, read the confirmation, and select Remove entry to delete it.
• Deletion can change totals, readiness, and recognition. It has no undo control.
• Existing entries cannot currently be edited in place. Remove an incorrect entry and create a replacement.

9. Build a private value story

1. Open My recognition or the final section of My 30-day path.
2. Select Build my value story.
3. Describe your fictional role, recurring problem, previous process, workflow, applications/capabilities, human review, result, limitations, and next habit.
4. Write at least 80 characters; the maximum is 10,000.
5. Select Save & reflect on my next step.

Success: The story is saved in the learner record and the next-path assessment opens. Reopen the story later to revise it.

Saving a story does not put it in the champion queue or publish it. To share a workflow, use the separate process in section 11.

10. Understand recognition and next-path recommendations

Recognition in this MVP

Other catalog badges, including formal champion/department/program recognition, are not automatically earned by this simulation. A Champion Candidate recommendation is not a manually approved champion award.

After graduation, Download simulation completion summary produces a simulation-only text file. It is not an official certificate. The current graduation rule checks lessons and story length, not whether thirty actual calendar days have elapsed.

Readiness criteria

Open My next-path assessment from My recognition.

The total is rounded to a whole number. Removing evidence or adding unreviewed evidence may change the score. These are simulation rules, not independent verification of work or a measure of employee quality.

Routing order

1. Blocker Remediation: Any recognized technical or governance blocker, regardless of score.
2. Champion Candidate: At least 80, peer-help confirmation, an actually submitted workflow, and responsible review.
3. Advanced Copilot and Agents: At least 70, the Agent Explorer condition, and responsible review.
4. Continued Habit Building: At least 50 if none of the earlier routes applies.
5. Self-Service with Re-entry Option: Otherwise.

Readiness supports learning and support routing. It must not be interpreted as employment evaluation or an automatic license decision.

11. Use Community and deliberately share a workflow

Stories, questions, and peer help

• Stories: Read four fictional examples. Their outcomes are not verified organizational claims.
• Questions: Enter a sanitized fictional question of 10–2,000 characters and select Ask a question. It appears as Open until a simulated champion answers.
• Challenges: Confirm peer help if your fictional test includes it. This affects Community Helper and the peer-contribution criterion.
• Learn together: Session cards can save a local RSVP and download a sample .ics calendar file. No meeting is booked and no invitation is sent.

Submit a separate redacted workflow

1. Open Community and select Share a workflow, or use Contribute a workflow in the library.
2. Enter a Workflow title of 3–150 characters.
3. Write Reusable workflow text of 40–5,000 characters in the UI.
4. Use placeholders such as [approved source], [audience], and [confirmed owner]. Include the human-review step and limitations.
5. Confirm This is sanitized, approved to share, and includes human review.
6. Select Submit for review.

Success: A new pending submission exists, and the learner's My submissions summary appears above the workspace. The separately typed text enters the simulated assigned-reviewer queue. The application does not copy the private journal into that queue.

There is no automatic publication, submission withdrawal, or consent-revocation workflow in this MVP. To start over with entirely fictional data, reset the scenario; this discards all local simulation edits.

12. Review workflows and nominations

Champion: review submitted workflows

1. Set Preview role to Champion.
2. Inspect Assigned learning status. It shows fictional learner names, lesson counts, and general support status, not journal contents.
3. Find the relevant item in Workflow review queue.
4. Read only the separately submitted redacted text.
5. Choose Approve for simulation or Request changes.
6. Write Review feedback of 5–1,000 characters.
7. Select Save workflow review.
8. Return to Learner and inspect My submissions.

Reviewers can save another decision later. The simulation does not provide an immutable decision history. The learner cannot edit a submitted item in place; a revised example must be submitted separately.

Champion: answer a question

1. Scroll to Submitted questions.
2. Enter a Champion answer of 10–2,000 characters.
3. Select Save answer.
4. Return to Learner → Community → Questions to read the reply.

Answers are saved locally. They do not send email, Teams messages, or notifications to another account.

Learner: nominate a fictional colleague

1. In the sidebar choose Nominate a colleague, or use Community → Challenges → Invite someone to the next cohort.
2. Choose Peer, Manager, or Self-nomination.
3. Enter a fictional name and an address such as learner@example.invalid.
4. Describe the fictional recurring task in 15–2,000 characters.
5. Confirm permission to share the fictional contact details.
6. Select Submit nomination.

Success: The nomination is stored as pending. No message is sent and no real account or cohort membership is created.

Administrator: decide a nomination

1. Set Preview role to Administrator.
2. Scroll past workflow reviews and submitted questions to Nomination review.
3. Read the fictional name, contact address, and reason.
4. Select Approve nomination or Decline nomination.
5. Return to Learner to see approved or declined in My submissions.

Approval only updates local status; it does not provision an identity or send an invitation. Administrators also have the simulated review functions and cohort report.

13. Inspect and export cohort reports

1. Load Normal cohort to begin with reproducible baseline data.
2. Set Preview role to Sponsor. Administrators can also scroll to Cohort report.
3. Inspect the metrics and reporting-window description.
4. Select Export aggregate report to download fictional-cohort-report.csv.

Normal cohort baseline

The displayed Net estimated minutes is a self-reported time-difference total; the current calculation does not separate Estimated and Measured entries into separate totals.

Prove that reports change

1. Note the Normal cohort baseline: 42 attempts and 570 net minutes.
2. Switch to Learner without loading another scenario.
3. Add one October 16 evidence entry: baseline 20 minutes, new duration 10 minutes.
4. Switch back to Sponsor.
5. Expect 43 attempts and 580 net estimated minutes.
6. Refresh to verify persistence.
7. Reset the loaded scenario to restore the baseline.

Small-cohort suppression

1. Load Small cohort.
2. Switch to Sponsor.
3. Expect a suppression notice.
4. Confirm that aggregate values and Export aggregate report are absent.

Privacy limitation: This is a fixed-cohort demonstration. It does not prove protection against repeated-export differencing, overlapping cohorts, or small subgroups inside larger cohorts. Participation, completion, and blocker counts reflect current state, not historical completion-event timestamps. Do not use it for actual employee reporting.

14. Use the application on a phone or with a keyboard

Mobile navigation

1. Find the Open navigation menu button beside the breadcrumb below the simulation toolbar.
2. Select a learner page in the slide-out navigation.
3. The panel closes after selection.
4. Use Close navigation on the dimmed background if you want to dismiss it without navigating.

The simulation toolbar wraps onto multiple rows on small screens. Scenario and role controls are above the learner workspace, not inside its navigation panel.

Keyboard and reading tips

• Use Tab and Shift+Tab to move through controls; visible outlines identify focus.
• Use the Skip to content link when entering the learner workspace.
• In a dialog, Tab cycles through its controls; Escape or Close dialog dismisses it.
• Scroll inside long dialogs to reach lower fields and save actions.
• Open text transcripts instead of relying on video.
• Reduced-motion preferences are respected by styling.

Automated desktop/mobile checks are not a WCAG certification. Manual assistive-technology acceptance is still required before a real pilot.

15. Save, reset, and export safely

What is remembered

The simulation saves assessment, lesson completions, evidence, stories, nominations, submitted questions/answers, peer-help confirmation, saved prompts, local RSVPs, fictional peers, and review decisions in this browser.

It does not synchronize to a server, another device, another browser profile, or another tester. Preview role, dialog drafts, search/filter settings, and the uncommitted scenario selection are not guaranteed to survive refresh. Refresh returns to Learner.

The local-storage key is earn-in-simulation-v2. Older earn-in-academy-v1 data is not imported or deleted by the new simulation.

Reset versus refresh

The MVP has no full simulation backup/import or undo-after-reset control. Keep useful test observations outside the application before resetting.

Use a single active browser tab for a test run. There is no multi-tab conflict resolution; another tab may have stale records and overwrite changes when it saves.

16. Troubleshooting

When reporting a problem, record the scenario, preview role, page, numbered reproduction steps, expected result, actual result, device/browser, and save-status message. Use fictional or redacted screenshots only. Do not attach a real-data journal export.

17. Suggested acceptance test session

Allow approximately 25–40 minutes. Keep observations outside the app; the checklist is for testers, not a persisted in-app form.

Automated tests additionally cover invalid saved records and failed writes. Do not intentionally corrupt a tester's browser storage just to demonstrate the error screenshot.

18. Glossary and boundaries

GitHub sign-in and a server-checked username allowlist now control entry, including online documentation and screenshots. They do not implement production employee identity or role-based record authorization. This milestone still lacks connected database persistence, real video publishing, organizational submissions, real appointments, public publication, formal awards administration, and production reporting privacy controls. All records remain inspectable by someone with access to the browser.

19. Operator reference and guide maintenance

Start the app

The current workspace's two CPU cores and approximately 8 GB RAM are enough. No GPU, model service, or database is required. Normal workspace billing and availability still apply.

From the repository root, with Node.js 22 or 24:

First configure private GITHUB_CLIENT_ID, GITHUB_CLIENT_SECRET, NEXTAUTH_SECRET (random, at least 32 characters), and NEXTAUTH_URL (exact application origin), and add approved GitHub usernames to the repository's tester-allowlist.txt. Register the matching GitHub OAuth callback at <origin>/api/auth/callback/github. The repository's docs/TESTER-ACCESS.md has the full setup and verification checklist. Never put secrets in the allowlist or documentation. Without OAuth settings or a valid nonempty list, the app stays closed.

npm ci
npm run build
npm run start -- --port 3000

If dependencies are already installed, skip npm ci. Run build and start sequentially. Stop a foreground server with Ctrl+C. For development use npm run dev -- --port 3000; do not run dev and production servers against the same build directory simultaneously.

Forward port 3000 privately in VS Code. Private forwarding limits access to the URL, and can block external testers even when their handles are approved. Keep it private until the operator verifies a real GitHub allowed/denied login and explicitly chooses an internet-reachable test deployment. Role previews remain simulation controls, not authorization.

Guide files and screenshots

• HTML page: Open the HTML edition.
• Markdown source: USER-GUIDE.md, alongside the HTML file.
• Images: images/, alongside both editions.

When the app is running, the HTML guide is available at /user-guide/index.html and the Markdown at /user-guide/USER-GUIDE.md. You can also open the HTML file locally without the app; keep the entire user-guide folder together so its image links work. The HTML includes print styling for browser Print / Save as PDF.

Refresh this documentation

From the repository root:

Online screenshots/checks need DOCS_STORAGE_STATE set to a private Playwright storage-state file from an approved sign-in. Set DOCS_BASE_URL if not using http://127.0.0.1:3000. The scripts import cookies only into isolated contexts, never another tester's local simulation records. Treat that file as a credential and delete it after use; the repository setup guide explains how to create it.

# App must already be available on port 3000.
npm run docs:screenshots
npm run docs:build
npm run docs:check

For a different running app URL:

DOCS_BASE_URL=http://127.0.0.1:3001 npm run docs:screenshots

Screenshot capture uses a separate Playwright browser context with fictional records; it does not replace the simulation in your normal browser. Install Chromium once if required:

npx playwright install --with-deps chromium

docs:build renders this Markdown using a pinned Markdown CLI, then generates the styled HTML, navigation, and screenshot captions. The renderer is fetched through npm on first use; an internet connection or an existing npm cache is required. It does not send the guide to an external rendering service.

docs:check verifies both screen sizes, screenshot loading, section links, print styling, no-JavaScript reading, and local-file/offline image paths. Like screenshot capture, it requires the running app and installed Playwright Chromium runtime. If public assets were created after a production server started, restart that server before checking or opening the guide.

Screenshots are documentation examples, not proof of production deployment, authenticated privacy, or accessibility certification.