Integration of Microsoft Azure Purview and Teams Copilot in Financial and Communication Management of Public Secondary Schools in Imo State

Abstract

This study examined how the integration of Microsoft Azure Purview and Microsoft Teams Copilot influences the financial and communication management of public secondary schools in Imo State. Two objectives, research questions and hypotheses guided the study. A descriptive survey design was adopted. The population comprised 2,027 principals and 23,179 teachers drawn from the 513 approved junior and senior secondary schools in Imo State, giving a total population of 25,206 administrators. Multi-stage sampling comprising purposive, random, stratified proportionate random, and simple random sampling techniques was used to draw a sample of 371 respondents (46 principals and 325 teachers) using Taro Yamane's formula. Data were collected with a structured questionnaire titled “Integration of Artificial Intelligence in the Administration of Public Secondary Schools Questionnaire” (IAIAPSSQ), validated by three experts in Measurement and Evaluation, and found reliable using Cronbach's Alpha. Data were analysed using mean and standard deviation to answer the research questions, while an independent samples t-test was used to test the null hypotheses at the 0.05 level of significance, against a criterion mean of 2.50. Findings showed that Microsoft Azure Purview enhanced the financial management of public secondary schools to a high extent (grand means of 2.50 and 2.53 for principals and teachers respectively), particularly in payroll administration, expenditure tracking, financial reporting, and database management, but contributed less to predictive forecasting, fee collection, and fraud detection. Conversely, Microsoft Teams Copilot enhanced communication management only to a low extent (grand means of 2.43 and 2.49), with its strongest contribution in parent–school communication and teacher collaboration. The t-test results showed no significant difference between the mean responses of principals and teachers on either variable. The study recommends that education authorities in Imo State institutionalize AI-based financial governance platforms with built-in predictive and fraud-detection capacity, while also strengthening the deployment of AI communication assistants beyond parent engagement into broader administrator–teacher and teacher–student interactions.