I am often asked what exam to take...how do I know it applies to me? It is super important to understand that the numbers with the certification exam do not convey any level of difficulty. 

Here's my summary of the Business Applications exams.

PL-100- Power Platform App Maker (aka the citizen developer exam)- Your job is not Power Platform. Maybe you’re an accountant, maybe you work on the shop floor. You are an expert in what you do but you want to solve problems with Power Apps. This is a good way to show IT that you can be trusted to make apps in ”their” environments, or maybe even transition to a role of making Power Apps.

PL-200 -Power Platform Functional Consultant- You make Power Apps with low code or no code. You automate stuff with Power Platform resources using Power Fx, cloud flows, and connectors. This is your explicit job. (In my opinion, this is the toughest exam because it covers SO MUCH STUFF).

PL-300- Power BI Data Analyst- You transform data in a way that makes it consumable to stakeholders.  You need to understand the sources for the data, and that may or may not be a Power Platform data source.  This is your explicit job.

PL-400-Power Platform Developer-You extend Power Apps with code. You will do this better if you also understand what’s needed from PL-200/MB-200 above. This is your explicit job.

PL-500- Power Automate RPA Developer- You automate tasks with robotic process automation, and you do it with pro-code level skills. This is your explicit job.

PL-600-Power Platform Solution Architect-An advanced certification for architecting Power Platform solutions. You need to know a bit of everything and be able to apply it to solve real problems. This is your explicit job.

PL-900- Power Platform Fundamentals- Your job might be Power Platform, but the non-technical side. It’s important for you to understand abstract ideas about what the platform can and should do.

MB-210- Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales Functional Consultant- You implement Dynamics 365 Sales. You understand the sales process and how users best work with sales automation software. You recognize and mitigate inefficiencies. You have a strong base knowledge of Power Platform, specifically model-driven apps and cloud flows.  This is your explicit job.

MB-220- Microsoft Dynamics 365 Marketing Functional Consultant- You implement Dynamics 365 Marketing. You understand traditional and digital marketing needs and strategies. You recognize and mitigate inefficiencies. You have a strong base knowledge of Power Platform, specifically model-driven apps and cloud flows.  This is your explicit job.

MB-230- Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Service Functional Consultant- You implement Dynamics 365 Customer Service. You understand how and why users use software to track and solve customer service issues. You recognize and mitigate inefficiencies. You have a strong base knowledge of Power Platform, specifically model-driven apps and cloud flows.  This is your explicit job.

MB-240- Microsoft Dynamics 365 Field Service Functional Consultant- You implement Dynamics 365 Field Service. You know how users can manage and implement software solutions in the field to better service customer needs. A solid understanding of Internet of Things will help you do your job better. You recognize and mitigate inefficiencies. You have a strong base knowledge of Power Platform, specifically model-driven apps and cloud flows.  This is your explicit job.

MB-260- Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Data Platform Specialist- You implement solutions for customer profiles and engagement tracking.  You have a very good understanding of Power Platform that includes Dataverse, Power Query, and general CRM principles.  You have a general understanding of the common data model and Azure concepts like Azure Machine Learning, Azure Synapse and Azure Data Factory. This is your explicit job, likely along with either Power Platform or CRM-type implementations.

MB-300- Microsoft Dynamics 365 Core Finance and Operations- You need to know the common features and concepts for the finance and operations apps.  You might become a functional consultant, developer or other supporting role for an implementation. You will likely specialize in one of the other ERP-focused areas.  This is your explicit job.

MB-310- Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance Functional Consultant- You analyze business requirements and turn them into business solutions and processes using the finance application.  You understand industry best practices and how it applies to ERP-related operations. You are capable with other finance and operations apps, but specialize in finance solutions.  This is your explicit job.

MB-330- Microsoft Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management Functional Consultant- You analyze business requirements and turn them into business solutions and processes using the supply chain application.  You understand industry best practices and how it applies to ERP-related operations. You are capable with other finance and operations apps, but specialize in supply chain solutions.  This is your explicit job.

MB-340- Microsoft Dynamics 365 Commerce Functional Consultant- You analyze business requirements and turn them into business solutions and processes using the commerce application.  You understand industry best practices and how it applies to ERP-related operations. You are capable with other finance and operations apps, but specialize in commerce solutions.  This is your explicit job.

MB-500- Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations Apps Developer- You implement business logic for finance and operations apps using pro-code solutions to extend these apps.  You need a solid understanding of out of the box configuration options so that you do not code things that are best as configured options.  This is your explicit job.

MB-700- Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations Apps Solution Architect- This is an advanced certification for architecting solutions with finance and operations applications.  You orchestrate and watch over all aspects of the implementation from planning to building to testing.  This is your explicit job.

MB-800- Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Functional Consultant- You implement the core setup of Business Central.  You configure the application to meet the needs of the client.  You fully understand the business needs that are solved with the application. This is your explicit job.

MB-910- Microsoft Dynamics 365 Fundamentals (CRM)- Your job might be something with Dynamics 365, but not the technical aspects.  You support people who use these products or implement these products.  You need to understand the business reasons for implementing various customer relationship management software.

MB-920- Microsoft Dynamics 365 Fundamentals (ERP)- Your job might be something with Dynamics 365, but not the technical aspects.  You support people who use these products or implement these products.  You need to understand the business reasons for implementing various enterprise resource planning software.

The Microsoft Learn platform hosts Collections.  These collections are several learning assets in a container.  There are official collections like the Biz Apps Skilling collection (https://aka.ms/BAPSkilling).

You can also make (and share) your own collections.  You may have just completed a training such as one of the Business Applications Skilling cohort experiences and want to build your “what’s next” collection.  Here’s how. 

Login to Learn and click on your profile in the top right.  This will load a page like this one.  Select Collections from the options.  Click +New collection.

Name and save your collection.

You can fill your collection starting from the collection.  Add items to the collection.

Or from viewing a lesson in Learn, when you click the +Save option.

And choosing the collection.

Collections can be just for you, or you might want to share one.  This is also where you can edit some of the details about your collection.



See it in action as I build and organize a collection.

Every business uses technology.  This is business management software, or business applications. These business applications can be quite simple or quite complicated.

Microsoft’s Business Applications include a suite of products and services called Dynamics 365. Dynamics 365 applications can be organized into a few different groups.

Sales and marketing

Service

Finance

Commerce

Supply chain

Within the sales and marketing group you will find Dynamics 365 Sales, Dynamics 365 Marketing, and Dynamics 365 Customer Insights.

Within the service group you will find Dynamics 365 Customer Service, Dynamics 365 Field Service, Dynamics 365 Remote Assist, Dynamics 365 Customer Insights, and Dynamics 365 Customer Voice.

In the finance group you will find Dynamics 365 Finance, Dynamics 365 Project Operations and Dynamics 365 Human Resources.

In the commerce group you will find Dynamics 365 Commerce, Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management, Dynamics 365 Sales, Dynamics 365 Fraud Protection, Dynamics 365 Intelligent Order Management, Dynamics 365 Customer Insights and Dynamics 365 Marketing.

Within the supply chain group, you will find Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management, Dynamics 365 Intelligent Order Management, Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Insights, and Dynamics 365 Guides.

You probably noticed that a few of the products I mentioned were repeated.  That’s because these products are versatile and can support businesses in different ways.

Additionally, these products are built to work directly with other Microsoft products such as Microsoft Teams, Power Bi, LinkedIn Sales Navigator and more. 

Dynamics 365 products also work well with products made and maintained outside the scope of Microsoft.  These are called integrations.  Some of these integrations require a simple plug-and-play connector and others require a professional developer to write code to allow communications between the systems to share data and actions.

These Microsoft Business Applications are robust and solve many business problems.  They are also configurable to allow businesses to offer users the applications they need to do their jobs.  They are also customizable to allow professionals to pick and choose what to offer users with a strong foundation of the Dynamics apps.

Careers in Dynamics 365 are quite varied.

Let’s think about what it takes to make and support business software.

First you have to plan and design the solutions. This requires industry experts who understand what the business needs.  You’ll need someone to capture and document the needs and solutions.  And you’ll need a solution architect to orchestrate the overall solution to be made.

Then you need to build the solution that was just planned.  If this is with Dynamics 365, you will need professionals skilled in configuration of the apps, who also understand the requirements of the business.  Sometimes you need professional developers to write code to build these applications.  You need team members proficient in automation.  You need a team to test the solutions.  You need someone to train users.  And so on.

This is of course an over-simplified narrative.  But the point is that with Dynamics 365 you can find great career opportunities for skilled professionals. 

Looking to learn more about Dynamics 365?  Join our user group for learning.  https://aka.ms/BAPCommunity  

Wow, it's been a hot minute since we've all met in person, no?

I am immunocompromised and as vaccinated as vaccinated can be.  My doctor and I decided I can travel again, even speak at events.  So, come October, I'll be out there with you all.

I had written a post about being prepared for an event (CRMUG Summit 2016 to be precise).  And it is all still good advice.  But now we have to add a a few more items to the list.

• We all missed in-person events, but many of us are still terrified of germs and have spent the last few years avoiding them.  Please don't be the person that gets me (or other vulnerable people) sick.  If you suspect you have an active contagious anything, stay home this round.
  
  
• Don't be offended when someone like me is wearing a mask, or asks your vaccination status before giving that hug (can we establish a V hand signal, like V for victory and V for vaccinated??).  There are still people dying from COVID and flu.  I'd rather not be one of them.
  
  
• Remember what we all loved about being in person.  Talking about the cool things we've been doing.  Sharing our stories from the field. Learning from each other.
  
  
• Be forgiving.  We've all had an isolating couple of years.  We may have lost some of our social skills, we may have gained a few pounds, many have lost loved ones.
  
  
• Be smart. Wash your hands often.  See a sanitizer station- use it.  Don't sneeze or cough toward others.
  
  I'm really getting excited about seeing my community again.  I really did miss you all.
  
  
  
  Original list:
• Minimize distractions back at the office. Work extra hard now to avoid the trap of trying to work AND attend the conference. If you find yourself replying to emails three times in every session you attend, you aren’t really going to get much out of the session. If you have to keep up with the folks back at work, set aside time and plan for a session to spend working in a quiet corner instead of being partially engaged in several sessions.
• To ease the stress of leaving behind people at the office that would rather be at the conference with you, get their questions to take with you. What are their burning questions or concerns? Make sure you find the answers and resources to take back with you. Share the schedule with them in advance and then set up a lunch-and-learn the week you return and share your new knowledge and skills.
• Dress for comfort. Now, I will say no jammies for sure. But also, not a suit. Good shoes are the best thing you can bring. Promise.
• Stash some good snacks in your bag. You may find yourself in a great discussion and miss a conference meal or break. So grab some granola bars, some durable candy, whatever helps you make it to the meal later on. And drink water. You will be walking more than you plan, avoid dehydration.
• Every speaker, planner, expert is approachable, so approach them. Raise your hand in the session. Wait after the talk to ask your question. Find them at lunch and sit at the same table. Go to the medics’ station. They are there to share their knowledge. So let them.
• Plan your sessions in advance, mostly. Be open to last minute choices.
• Get yourself a fresh CRM trial before you go so you can immediately try that new cool thing you learned. Ok, get at least THREE new free trials. I suggest one that is bare, one that specializes (like sales or service) and one with a solution like Field Service or Project Service in it. Different things work different ways with added customizations or data.
• Take notes. Doesn’t matter if you’re a pen and paper person (me too!), if you like to scribble on your tablet or if you type it all organized. Take notes. I promise you won’t remember it all the next day.
• There will be booze. Don’t be THAT person that acts a fool and gets everyone to pull out their cameras and you find yourself rather embarrassed.
• Make friends, make memories.

I recently posted a tweet, asking you how you got to Power Platform.  The responses were great, full of so many different answers.  I love how diverse they were, and how it really solidified for me that any path can be the right path.

For me, my path here was anything but intentional. Anyone that knew me as a young adult would have had me editing a big glossy magazine and living in Manhattan.

But a broken leg changed my path. When I was stuck with nothing to do, I started working as a software tester. Then I was writing requirements. Then I was architecting solutions. And now here I am. 

Back when we called Power Platform plain old XRM, I was amazed at how much I could build without a single line of code.  Now, we have an entire ecosystem to empower anyone.  Wow.

I was always interested in tech, curious about how things work, how can we solve problems in the most logical way. When I had the chance to teach others how to do the same thing, I knew I found my place. The opportunity to help people find a better version of themselves is quite a motivator.

My work has brought me around the world.  Seeing great things, meeting great people, eating great food. 

I’ve presented probably hundreds of times. I’ve evaluated hundreds of sessions.

What sessions get picked? What sessions don’t get picked?

In general…

1. Relevant topic is important. Super important.
2. Unique topic is important. But not so niche that only 2 people will attend the session.
3. Catchy, but not cutesy session title. Shorter is better.  We can help you with this later if needed.
4. Catchy, but not cutesy session description. At least a paragraph, but not so long that I no longer need your presentation.
5. If your session description is one poorly written sentence, but your bio is 5 paragraphs of perfection, that means you care about you (good) but don’t care about my event (bad).
6. Fill out the details on the call for speakers. There’s lots of empty cells on those spreadsheets when we review, if yours is full of answers, we pay attention.
7. When asked “how did you find out about us?” don’t say “online.” OF COURSE, you found out online, where, how, who?
8. We don’t have to know you, but if we don’t make sure you have enough of an online presence that we can evaluate your fitness as a presenter and subject matter expert. Also, answer the question above if you have a named person that we do know that said to go submit, that gives credibility.
9. I personally love to nurture new talent. So, don’t let lack of experience prevent you from submitting. And don’t assume a long pedigree is a magical front of the line pass.
10. Ask for peer review on your submissions. Find someone that has subject matter expertise, and a good handle on the event, and get their feedback.

For years I blogged a lot.  It’s how many of you got to know me.  Then it became a chore and I let it slide lower and lower on my priority list until it no longer had a place on my to-do.  My last post was nearly 4 years ago, my last tech post, even longer.

I tried to revive my writing at the beginning of the pandemic, but my heart just wasn’t in it.  So, I decided to give myself a break and not feel like I had to exceed at everything all of the time.

With the pandemic I went from travelling more than 100,000 miles per year to nearly no miles per year.  We would go months without putting gas in the car.  Photography has always been a hobby, but without new adventures that slowed down so much that I wasn’t even keeping the batteries charged for my camera.  We couldn’t see our kids.  We couldn’t see our parents. I was in quite a funk like most all of us. 

I love to eat, so I’ve always loved to cook.  But now we were cooking all of our meals. I started documenting more of what we made.  I learned how to make my own wine, I named it Tipsy Traveler.

My random pandemic accomplishment was design school.  I attended, and graduated from, a self-paced online interior design program.  I’ve been putting that to use in designing our new house.

So, here I am trying this writing thing again. 

I split my blog, one for tech, one for the other stuff.

From a tech perspective my role has evolved to more training and curriculum and less hands on keys making things for clients.  I joined the board of directors for a non-profit that helps excite high schoolers in technology. I still share my voice to decision-makers in DC trying to help small tech and app makers.

For the other stuff, I started to document and share some of my cooking and design work.  And it makes me happy to relive the stories behind the photos, so I’ll be including that here.  And who knows, maybe there will be some new travels and new photos, too.

The techy stuff will be here, the non-techy stuff here.  And there will certainly be crossover between the two because that is who I am.

Oh, and I got a puppy.  His name is Lio. 

Some days I have regular old situational depression.

My old dog died a month ago.  I’ve been sad. 

I have a chronic illness that will never go away and promises a lifetime of pain.  That really sucks.

And with the empty nest we have now, it gets kinda quiet and lonely sometimes.

These are all normal; I don't need drugs for that. As much as that makes me sad some days, I welcome it, I don't shy away from emotions.  But sad terrifies me.

The battle against depression is a long one. Every variety of depression looks a little bit different than the next. For me it’s crying. Just crying. If you asked me what was wrong, I'd have no answer.

When life itself was miserable, depression just felt ordinary. But I knew I needed help when I had everything I could have ever dreamed of, and I still cried every day. Literally every day. I am currently responding well to my meds, and I have been for over a decade. It took a couple of tries to find the right one for me. That’s where a good doctor can help. I still feel a full range of life's emotions.  But without the weight of the beast that is depression sitting on my shoulders.

I have achieved personal and professional success. I still have depression. It is not situational.

Luckily, my depression does not come with the despair and hopelessness that so many others feel. However, if not treated, I can see how it could go there quickly.

I have found great success with a good doctor and good medication.  If I was not that fortunate, then I could totally see where self-medication would be a welcome relief.  This is how many many addictions find their way into the lives of people you love.

If you need help, please get it. It is a sign of strength to get that help, not a sign of weakness. Find a doctor that will step you thru the process of finding your way out from under the weight of depression. It is exhausting to pretend to be ok when you are not.

If you know someone that needs help, help them find that help. If you don’t know what to do, ask someone (like me) for ideas.

If you are reading this, know that I will be there for you. I am happy to be your 3am phone call when the tears just won’t end.

I am not ashamed. I should be ashamed if I didn't seek treatment or if I hid behind a diagnosis.

Most days I win. Some days the demons win. I am fortunate that my battles are small ones.

It took us ten years to get here.  But many of us already were “here”.  We’ve been using the platform as a platform for a very long time.  In 2008 we published our first XRM book for developers, CRM as a Rapid Development Platform.

So much has changed, so much as stayed the same. Microsoft CRM 4.0 gave us so many of the core platform capabilities we still use today.

I have two quotes to set the stage.

The first is from a book review posted on Amazon.

“The perception is that Microsoft have put out a 'CRM product' but what most people don't realise is that Microsoft CRM is actually an application development platform that happens to come pre-configured with CRM functionality. “ (from Guy Riddle)

And the second is from the book itself. More specifically, Chapter 2 on making line of business applications.

“I think that it cold be argued that what Microsoft should have done with CRM 4.0 was separate its application development platform from the implementation as a CRM application. By doing that it could have established the CRM 4.0 platform as a solid development platform for building line of business applications. Then they could market CRM 4.0 as being built on this application development platform. Then developers would be able to license just the platform portion and be charged a license fee that is appropriate for using only the application development platform capabilities.”

CDS 2.0 is essentially exactly these two things from ten years ago.

In 2008 we were talking about the cool new features of platform functionality that we now had with CRM 4.0. Some of the things we could not even imagine going without today.

CRM 4.0 gave us user-defined workflows. You no longer needed a developer to automate the system. The birth of Citizen Developers!

And now you could trigger workflows based on more events without needing to engage a developer. Suddenly record changes were triggers. For users to define automation.

Both CRM Online and multi-tenancy were introduced.

With the addition of multi-currency and multi-language capabilities we now had the basis for an implementation that had users all over the world working together in a single tenant.

For me the relationship changes for that release are the unsung hero. Sure CRM 4.0 gave us many-to-many relationships. But it also gave us multiple relationships between entities (system and custom), and self-referential relationships. We could make create hierarchical data with this stuff. We also now had the ability to display columns of data from related entities in our views. We could see the address of the parent account while looking at a contact grid. Come on, how can we brush aside the R in CRM? Think about how you use the platform today? These items are just taken for granted.

Email integration improvements. We got email tracking that no longer required the tracking token. And we could now track emails from POP3 and not just Exchange configurations.

We also saw a host of other random platform updates that we now take for granted.

· Automatic resolution on lookup fields

· User defined duplicate detection

· Report wizard

· Callouts became plugins

· Backward compatibility.

I had the lofty goal of a blog series written by me covering feature by feature, chapter by chapter the then verses now. And now I have instead begun asking some of the super smart folks around me of writing guest posts with their take on these things. Stay tuned.

The is the next installment of the occasional series to offer custom learning paths. Access to the Dynamics Learning Portal is required to use this plan. https://mbspartner.microsoft.com

What happens if one day you come to work and suddenly you are left in charge of your company’s Dynamics 365 (for customer engagement) system. It’s a small company, last week you were just the power user, a champion of the system. But now, the dedicated “CRM guy” has suddenly left. What do you need to know to administer the system once they give you the keys?

Fear not! I have made a custom learning plan for you to follow o help guide you through this potential disaster.

https://mbspartner.microsoft.com/MyLPShare/006df59d-9503-40ff-823b-d3cdc902f8f0

There are four sections, Lessons, Integrations, Demos and Miscellaneous. Let’s look at each one.

Lessons

These are videos that for the most part are less than an hour. They have been extracted from larger courses just for this Learning Plan. If you are totally new to the admin role, start at the top and work your way down the list. If you have some experience and need to backfill the gaps, choose the one(s) that help you the most. These are focused on what to do and how to do it within your Dynamics 365 CE itself.

Integration

In all of my time in this Dynamics bubble I have never seen a CRM implemented on its own. There is always something else. ALWAYS. So in here you will see lessons on using other business solutions, Outlook, Microsoft Social Engagement and so on. There is also a link to documentation for portals.

Demos

Yes, demos. You say to yourself, I don’t do sales, I don’t need a demo. But you do. This is a great way to watch someone use the system. That makes you better at administering it.

Miscellaneous

There are some webinars, new release details and a link to an actual instructor led workshop.

If you need a lesson in using the Dynamics Learning Portal, have a read here http://julieyack.blogs.com/my_weblog/2018/01/decoding-the-dlp-part-one-your-first-90-days.html