AI for Business Professionals Certificate
AI certification for business professionals: practical AI skills for everyday work
Learn to use AI the way business professionals actually work: drafting, analyzing, summarizing, and delegating with confidence and good judgment. Training centers on Microsoft 365 Copilot in the apps you already use, with other leading AI assistants discussed and demonstrated, in small live online classes. Prepare for the Microsoft AB-730 exam with the voucher included. No coding required. Enroll any time.
- Training careers nationwide since 2006
- 100% live instruction, never recordings
- WIOA and DVR funding eligible
Program snapshot
Schedule
Upcoming Classes
These classes are confirmed and accepting students. Register to take an open seat, or talk to an advisor first about funding and fit.
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Don't see a time that works? Enroll any time. A new class forms once enrollment fills, typically within 2 to 3 weeks; class start timing depends on enrollment and cannot be guaranteed.
How enrollment works
No cohort calendar to wait for
Enroll any time. Classes are small and live, and a new class forms once enrollment fills.
Curriculum
What the AI for Business Professionals program covers in 78 hours
The curriculum teaches AI as a business skill: how generative AI works, how to prompt and verify it, and how to put it to work on real business tasks. Microsoft 365 Copilot is the main tool, because it is where most business work happens and it is the platform the Microsoft AB-730 exam assesses. Other generative AI assistants are discussed and demonstrated along the way, so your skills transfer to whatever tools your employer uses. Every module combines live instruction with hands-on work, and every exam-aligned module ends with a competency check. Six modules, delivered in twenty-six 3-hour sessions.
Generative AI Foundations for Business (12 hrs)
Outcome: understand how generative AI and tools like Copilot produce their answers, recognize the common risks of AI-generated content, and apply verification steps that keep sensitive data protected.
- How generative AI works: models, prompts, context, and work data
- How AI assistants differ, and how Copilot works across Microsoft 365
- Responsible AI at work: inaccuracies, prompt injection, over-reliance, and human review
- Data protection and privacy when using AI with business information
Prompt Writing and Your AI Workspace (12 hrs)
Outcome: write, refine, save, and share effective prompts, and keep your AI chats and Notebooks organized so good work is never lost.
- The structure of an effective prompt, model selection, and choosing resources to reference
- Prompt patterns for drafting, summarizing, and analyzing, and a personal prompt library
- Saving, scheduling, and sharing prompts; how AI assistants use memory and instructions
- Managing chats and organizing information with Copilot Notebooks
AI in the Apps You Use Every Day (18 hrs)
Outcome: produce and validate AI-assisted work products in Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, using Copilot the way the AB-730 exam expects.
- Email with AI: drafting, replying, summarizing threads, and managing your inbox in Outlook
- Documents with AI: drafting, rewriting, and summarizing in Word
- Data with AI: analysis, formulas, charts, and validating the numbers in Excel
- Presentations with AI in PowerPoint, plus connectors and cross-app workflows
Meetings, Collaboration, and Teams (9 hrs)
Outcome: walk into a meeting prepared, leave with clear action items, and turn discussion into shared, editable team content.
- AI in Teams meetings: preparation, real-time catchup, and Intelligent recap
- The Facilitator agent and end-to-end meeting workflows
- Collaborating on business content with Copilot Pages
AI Agents and Delegating Work (12 hrs)
Outcome: match AI agents to business workflows, delegate a piece of work, and review an agent’s plan, progress, and results with appropriate oversight.
- Prebuilt agents and where they improve a workflow
- Building and sharing your own Microsoft 365 Copilot agent, no code required
- Microsoft Copilot Cowork: multi-step tasks, skills, security considerations, and limits
- Delegating and reviewing AI work, and managing scheduled tasks and prompts
Transferable AI Skills, Exam Prep, and Capstone (15 hrs)
Apply your prompt writing and verification skills across other generative AI assistants and learn what transfers between platforms, complete structured AB-730 review and a full practice assessment, and finish a capstone built around your own role with a portfolio of AI-assisted work products.
Lesson content and order may vary based on instructor approach and changes in the industry. Each student purchases their own Microsoft 365 Copilot license for the program; it is not included in tuition.
Who this is for
Who this AI training is for
Marketing and communications pros
You draft campaigns, emails, social content, and reports every week. Turn scattered AI experimentation into a repeatable workflow across Word, PowerPoint, and Outlook, with a Microsoft credential and a portfolio to show for it.
Finance, accounting, and operations
Your work lives in Excel and the reports built from it. Learn to analyze data, generate charts, and validate AI output so the numbers you present hold up, then delegate repeatable process work to agents.
Managers and team leads
Your team is already using AI, with or without guidance. Become the person who sets the standard: running meetings with Intelligent recap, delegating work to agents with oversight, and modeling responsible AI use.
Also built for
More professionals who take this program
Open each group below to see how the program fits. You should be comfortable in Microsoft 365 apps like Outlook, Word, and Excel, but you do not need a technical background, coding experience, or any prior AI training.
HR, administrative, and office management professionals
Correspondence, scheduling, meeting notes, policies, and onboarding documents fill your days. Copilot handles the first draft and the recap; this program teaches you to direct it well, review it critically, and build simple agents for the workflows you repeat every week.
Job seekers using workforce funding
Employers now screen for AI aptitude across ordinary business roles, not just technical ones. If you are unemployed or underemployed, WIOA funding may cover your tuition, and with rolling enrollment your training can begin once your funding is approved instead of waiting for a cohort.
Employer-sponsored employees
Your company is rolling out Microsoft 365 Copilot and needs people who can actually use it. DWC invoices employers directly, provides documentation for reimbursement programs, and offers daytime and evening class options that fit around your workload. Training more than one person? Ask about group rates.
Why it works
Small live classes built around your real work
The moment an AI response looks wrong, incomplete, or too good to trust is the moment to ask. In a small live class your instructor answers on the spot, watches how you write prompts, and corrects habits before they become workplace problems. Sessions use business scenarios that mirror real roles: the client email, the budget spreadsheet, the board deck, the meeting recap.
Career outcomes
AI skills employers can see
You finish with a Microsoft credential path, a capstone portfolio of AI-assisted work products built around your own role, and career coaching to position both for a promotion or a job search.
Career outcomes
How business professionals use this AI certification
This is a career-acceleration credential rather than a career-change credential. Students use it to make a promotion case, to stand out in a job search where AI skills are screened, and to step into the informal AI champion role most organizations are trying to fill. Open each role below to see how the program prepares you.
Marketing and content specialist
Draft campaigns, repurpose content across channels, summarize performance reporting, and build decks in a fraction of the time.
In this program: Copilot in Word, PowerPoint, and Outlook (Module 3), and prompt libraries for your role (Module 2).
Business analyst and operations or process analyst
Analyze spreadsheets, generate charts and insights, document processes, and validate AI output before it reaches a decision maker.
In this program: Copilot in Excel (Module 3), and delegating repeatable process work to agents and Copilot Cowork (Module 5).
Executive and administrative professional
Draft correspondence and policies, manage meeting recaps and follow-ups, and build agents for the workflows you repeat weekly. Modules 3 and 4 cover the core apps and Teams meeting workflows.
Project coordinator or project manager using AI
Prepare for meetings faster, turn discussion into action items with Intelligent recap, and hand multi-step work to agents with proper oversight.
Team lead and AI adoption or enablement specialist
Your team is already using AI, with or without guidance. This program makes you the person who sets the standard: modeling responsible AI use, verifying output, protecting sensitive data, and helping colleagues adopt approved tools well.
About the Microsoft credential
Passing exam AB-730 earns the Microsoft Certified: AI Business Professional credential, the Microsoft certification built for business users of AI rather than developers. The exam is proctored and focuses on practical, hands-on use of Microsoft 365 Copilot. Your training follows the current published exam objectives, and your voucher is issued for the exam version you will sit.
AI at work
How AI is changing everyday business work
AI is reshaping ordinary business work faster than most organizations can write policy for it. Many people are already bringing their own AI tools to work, and the gap between adoption and governance is exactly where trained professionals stand out: the people who can use approved tools well, protect sensitive data, and verify what AI produces.
Copilot can draft the email, summarize the meeting, and analyze the spreadsheet, but a person still decides whether the draft is right, whether the numbers hold up, and whether sensitive information stayed protected. That judgment is what this program builds, through hands-on work in every core Microsoft 365 app plus the verification and responsible AI practices the AB-730 exam tests directly. Microsoft updates the exam objectives as Copilot evolves, so you study these tools as they exist now.
Tuition
AI for Business Professionals certificate cost
*Example only: $5,995 tuition less a $2,000 average scholarship, with the remaining $3,995 financed over 36 months at 13.99% APR, Climb's lowest current rate; $100 registration fee applies; subject to credit approval. Average award shown as an example only; scholarships are reviewed and awarded individually, and award amounts are not guaranteed. Each student purchases their own Microsoft 365 Copilot license for the program.
Funding
Five ways to cover your tuition
LZ
Excellent resources, generous opportunity, and high quality instruction.
Luis Z., DWC graduate
Included with tuition
Support every step of the way
Guidance from pre-enrollment to graduation, included for every student at no additional cost.
Admissions advisors
From pre-enrollment through your first day, an advisor walks you through program details, funding, and scheduling.
Instructor mentoring
Your instructor is your mentor before, during, and after class, helping you become industry-ready.
Student support
A dedicated student affairs manager helps you set up accounts, check your technology, and get class files.
Career coaching
Meet one-on-one with a career coach on your resume, LinkedIn, portfolio, job search, and interviews.
Tech support
Stuck mid-program? Reach tech support by Slack, email, or phone and get moving again.
Internships and alumni
Join the Parker Dewey micro-internship network for real project experience, plus the DWC alumni community.
Since 2006
Why DWC trains differently
Most online AI training is a video library and a discussion forum. DWC has delivered live, instructor-led career training nationwide since 2006, and every hour of this program is taught live over Zoom, hands-on with Microsoft 365 Copilot and other AI tools, doing the real work of a business professional. Every exam-aligned module ends with a hands-on competency check, so exam day feels like another working session.
Your tuition includes the AB-730 exam voucher, a capstone portfolio, career coaching for your resume and interviews, and access to the DWC micro-internship network and alumni community. You graduate with the DWC AI for Business Professionals Certificate, a professional certificate issued by Digital Workshop Center, and a clear path to the Microsoft credential.
FAQ
AI certification questions, answered
Still curious? Attend a free info session or call 970-980-8091.
When can I start the AI for Business Professionals program?
Classes are small and live, with rolling enrollment. Enroll any time, and your class start date, session days, and session times are set once enrollment fills, typically within 2 to 3 weeks. Class start timing depends on enrollment and cannot be guaranteed. Daytime and evening options are available. When a class is already scheduled and open to new students, it appears under Upcoming Classes on this page.
Is the Microsoft AI Business Professional certification worth it?
For most business professionals, yes. AI aptitude has become a hiring and promotion factor across ordinary business roles, not just technical ones. The AB-730 credential is Microsoft’s own validation that you can use AI to get real business work done, and this program pairs it with a capstone portfolio of AI-assisted work products, so you interview with both the credential and the evidence.
How long does it take to get certified?
The program is 78 hours of live instruction over 13 weeks: two 3-hour sessions per week, 26 sessions in all. Exam preparation is built into the final module, so most students sit the AB-730 exam shortly after finishing.
Do I need a technical background or coding experience?
No. The program is built for business professionals in roles like marketing, finance, HR, operations, and administration. You should be comfortable in Microsoft 365 apps like Outlook, Word, and Excel, but there is no coding anywhere in the program; even the agents you build are created without writing code. If you are unsure whether your current skills are a fit, talk to an advisor before you enroll.
Will I learn AI tools other than Microsoft 365 Copilot?
Yes. Microsoft 365 Copilot is the main tool in the program, because most business work happens in Microsoft 365 and Copilot is the platform the AB-730 exam assesses. Other generative AI assistants are discussed and demonstrated throughout, and Module 6 focuses on applying your prompt writing, verification, and responsible AI skills across platforms, so what you learn carries over to whatever AI tools your employer uses.
How hard is the AB-730 exam?
AB-730 is a proctored Microsoft certification exam that tests practical, hands-on use of Microsoft 365 Copilot rather than theory. That is why this program is built around hands-on work in every domain, with a competency check at the end of each exam-aligned module and a full practice assessment before test day. Your training is aligned to the current published exam objectives.
Do I need my own Microsoft 365 Copilot license?
Yes. Hands-on work happens in Microsoft 365 Copilot, and each student purchases their own Microsoft 365 Copilot license for the program: a qualifying Microsoft 365 plan with the Copilot add-on, month to month for the length of the program. The license is not included in tuition. DWC provides setup guidance before your first session, and no other paid AI subscriptions are required.
Is the exam voucher included in tuition?
Yes. Your $5,995 tuition includes the Microsoft AB-730 exam voucher, so there is no separate fee to sit the exam the first time. Retakes, if needed, are purchased separately at Microsoft pricing.
Can WIOA pay for AI training?
WIOA funding covers job training for eligible unemployed and dislocated workers through local American Job Centers, with eligibility and funding amounts determined individually. Rolling enrollment means there is no cohort calendar to wait for, so training can begin once funding is approved. Start with our WIOA funding guide and what WIOA pays for, then ask admissions to help you connect with your local workforce center.
Can vocational rehabilitation or my employer pay for training?
Often, yes. State vocational rehabilitation (DVR) agencies fund training for people with documented disabilities, and DWC coordinates directly with your counselor, including assessments and custom training plans where needed. Many employers fund AI training because a Copilot license only pays for itself when people know how to use it; DWC invoices employers directly and provides documentation for reimbursement programs. Our guide on how to ask your employer to pay includes talking points and email templates.
Is there a scholarship for veterans?
Yes. The Next Mission Scholarship takes 80% off standard tuition for eligible U.S. veterans and qualifying active-duty service members within 180 days of separation. Eligibility requires verified veteran status (DD-214 or equivalent), separation within the past 7 years, and individual annual income between $30,000 and $75,000. Veterans outside that range may qualify for WIOA, VA Vocational Rehabilitation, or the Community Heroes Discount of 40% off.
What does this certification do for my career?
It puts verifiable AI aptitude on your resume at a moment when employers are screening for it, and it gives you a Microsoft credential plus a portfolio of AI-assisted work products from your capstone. Students use it to advance in a current role, to strengthen a job search, and to step into the AI champion role most organizations are trying to fill. Your tuition includes career coaching for resume, portfolio, and interview preparation.
Is this program online or in person?
The program is 100% live online over Zoom, taught in real time by your instructor, never pre-recorded video. Hands-on work happens directly in Microsoft 365 Copilot, so you need a computer, a webcam, reliable internet, and your own Microsoft 365 Copilot license. Your admissions advisor helps you set it up before your first session. To see how live online training works before enrolling, attend a free info session.
What credential will I earn?
Graduates earn the DWC AI for Business Professionals Certificate, a professional certificate issued by Digital Workshop Center. Passing exam AB-730 earns the Microsoft Certified: AI Business Professional credential, the Microsoft certification built for business users of AI rather than developers. Your voucher is issued for the exam version you will sit.
Keep exploring
Related programs and classes
Enroll any time. Start within weeks.
Request program information and an admissions advisor follows up within one business day to plan your schedule, walk you through Copilot license setup, and sort out funding. You can also attend a free info session to meet an instructor first.
*Class start timing depends on enrollment and cannot be guaranteed. Monthly payment example: $5,995 tuition less a $2,000 average scholarship, with the remaining $3,995 financed over 36 months at 13.99% APR (Climb's lowest current rate); $100 registration fee applies; financing subject to credit approval. Each student purchases their own Microsoft 365 Copilot license for the program; it is not included in tuition. Scholarships are reviewed and awarded individually, and award amounts are not guaranteed. Microsoft, Microsoft 365, and Copilot are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies. An advisor follows up within one business day.