Decoding the DLP part one- your first 90 days

The Dynamics Learning Portal is a great resource. But how can you get the most out of it?

This is the first in an occasional series of tip and tricks and tidbits to help you, and your team, get the most from the DLP.

This first post will be my recommendations for a Learning Plan take for someone in their first 90 days of being a Dynamics professional.

You’ll notice I didn’t call out a developer or an architect or a user or any particular role. That is because I feel there is a particular set of skills, knowledge and awareness that each participant needs to have. Regardless of role.

You can find the custom Learning Plan here, and add it to your DLP profile.

(There are several pre-configured Learning Plans already available and they are great, this is just my take for this particular scenario.)

The Learning Plan is in sections, and each section has learning resources I selected. For the most part, each item is less than 6 months old (at the time of this writing).

I loosely placed the sections in the order to be followed. However, if you can get a workshop on your schedule, go for it. Then come back and backfill any gaps. Within each section I also ordered things based on my suggested path for you to complete.

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First, let’s go over some basic DLP Learning Plan functionality.

Each section can expand and collapse. If you’d like to re-order, or remove, any item from the Learning Plan once you’ve added it to your profile, that’s easy to do. From the Learning Plan, you can see your progress for each asset. You can also add learning time to your calendar.

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From the workshops section, and any workshop/live event you can see two links. You might see a Register Me link, and you should always see the Invite Me link.

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The Register Me link will appear if there is a currently scheduled delivery that you might be able to attend. Some events are in person, some are online. If your selected workshop is not currently on the schedule, or the scheduled delivery doesn’t work for you at this time, click Invite Me. That gives the team insight to course demand and gets you notified when the course does get scheduled.

So, this First 90 Days Learning Plan shows at nearly 60 hours of time needed to complete. And that’s a lot. However, as I go thru the sections in more detail, you’ll see some of those items coming off for many of you. I think a more practical estimate is around 40 hours of time, not including any labs you may take from online courses.

The first section is the Demo Series. It clocks in at over 4 hours. I put this at the top so it was easy to find, but don’t expect you to watch every minute of it. This is a great reference for you to go back to, even after 90 days. It will help by showing you some of the possible.

Next we have Topic Pages. Easy peasy. The first three are role focused, and even if you’re not a presales resource, you should know what presales cares about and so on. Then there’s Power BI and LinkedIn Sales Navigator. Both are great additions, and common additions, to many Dynamics projects. I have never seen Dynamics exist on its own, there’s ALWAYS something more. You need to learn a little about some of the more.

From there we see Blitz. Blitz is an event put on by product resources, the folks designing and making the actual application. CDS (Common Data Service) is here. And it’s great foundational knowledge.

And now we see E-Learning. This is where you’ll spend some time. Here’s a quick matrix of the portions of the course you need in your first 90 days. By all means, watch all of the modules. But, for the purposes of our first 90 days, here’s my suggestions.

Course

Modules in first 90 days

Introduction to Microsoft Dyn365

all

Learning LinkedIn Sales Navigator

all

Microsoft Social Engagement

all

Sales Management in Microsoft Dyn365

0, 1, 2, 3, 6

Customization for Dyn365

0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8

Configuration for Dyn365

0,1,2,5,6,7,

PowerApps and Flow

all

For workshops we have two in this Learning Plan. Dynamics 365 University for Sales Professionals is a good foundational course. If you an make this happen, you’ll not need several of the e-learnings above. As far as the Extensible Platform course, you need a little bit of foundational knowledge before you’ll get a ton out of it. Consider that one your stretch goal.

And now Assessments. You’ll notice none of this has talked about, or targeted any exams. That’s not the goal. However, I know many individuals are motivated by testing their knowledge, even if just for themselves. So, here’s the assessments that most closely represent the knowledge here. The reality is that if you are in your first 90 days, you will not likely do well on the assessments. However, you will continue to build the knowledge needed to pass the assessments soon.

Finally, we have the specialization section. Not everyone needs an intro to Field Service, or Talent, or Project Service Automation. But if you have an interest or a need, these are a good starting point for you.

If you do not have access to the Dynamics Learning Portal, contact your organization’s partner rep or manager.

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