Studying D365 & Power Platform Core ...
The MB-200 is the foundation level exam for Microsoft business applications and is relevant for anyone wishing to pursue a career in this area, including business analysts, consultants and developers. The MB-200 is typically the first step for anyone aiming to progress towards becoming a Dynamics ‘Functional’ consultant. It is currently a pre-requisite for any of the ‘Functional Associate’ certificates, alongside the relevant functional exam, i.e. Sales (MB-210), Marketing (MB-220), Customer Service (MB-230), Field Service (MB-240).
The skills measured by this exam are;
- Perform discovery, planning, and analysis (5-10%)
- Manage user experience design (20-25%)
- Manage entities and data (15-20%)
- Implement security (5-10%)
- Implement integration (15-20%)
- Perform solutions deployment and testing (25-30%)
nb. This exam is due to be retired on 31st December 2020, and a new certification PL-200 Power Platform Functional Consultant will be available at that point.
There are a number of ways to study for Microsoft certifications. There are a range of Microsoft Certified trainers available who run courses either in person or remotely. In addition, there is a huge amount of learning material available online for group or self study.
While I was studying for this exam during February and March 2020, I was luckily able to join one of Julian Sharp‘s almost legendary study groups. Julian typically runs 1 or 2 study groups every year and to date, I’ve been able to pass 5 certifications with his help and would 100% recommend signing up if you see the registration invite popping up on social media.
Online Resources ...
As well as joining in with a study group, I also used a number of online resources to prepare for the exam.
Neil Parkhurst, a Microsoft MVP, has a great revision guide for the MB-200 here, which is very comprehensive. I’m also a big fan of the Microsoft Learn site, and advise anyone hoping to become Microsoft certified to check it out. You’ll find learning materials for any of the Microsoft certifications on this site.
To get the most out of your learning experience, and to be able to register for an exam, you need to create a learning profile, which is very straightforward and just requires registering with an email address.
All of the learning materials required to pass this exam can be found on Microsoft Learn by browsing certifications for the MB-200 and following the learning paths displayed;
- Create a Canvas app in Power Apps
- Create a model-driven application in Power Apps
- Work with Power Platform tenants, environments, subscriptions and Dynamics 365 apps
- Automate a business process using Power Automate
- Create and use analytics reports with Power BI
Taking the exam ...
Registering for a Microsoft exam can be done via your learning profile on Microsoft Learn, using the Microsoft Certification ID (MCID) that is created with your profile. All exams have a fee, which is dependent on the country you live in. When I took the MB-200 exam, the fee was £125.60 (incl VAT) although I had fortunately been given an exam voucher as an attendee of Microsoft Ignite the Tour, so was able to sit it for free … which took some of the pressure off!
Exams can be taken in person at a test centre, or remotely. I took this one at a Pearson Vue test centre. I quite like this option as you can just turn up, show some ID and sit the exam, whereas when you take the exam remotely there are a few security hoops to jump through and I find this can become quite stressful when the checks don’t work first time!
The exam itself lasts 210 minutes and contains a number of different types of questions. Microsoft publish some quite useful information about taking exams, including the question formats here.
Once you’ve worked through the questions, and submitted your answers your result is returned immediately. Don’t worry if you don’t pass first time, as you can retake the exam as many times as your budget will allow – the fee is payable every time!