PL-100 Power Platform App Maker is retiring
Microsoft will be retiring the PL-100 certification and course in June 2024. You will be able to renew the certification before the end of June, and the exam and certification will remain valid for a further year beyond the date you took or renewed the certification. The App Maker exam has always been a little bit of a strange exam as it overlapped some of the other Power Platform exams and… Continue Reading Julian Sharp’s...
MCT Lounge
This post is for Microsoft Certified Trainers (MCTs) only. There are a lot of changes coming to the MCT Program in the next few year. Many of these are to solve long term issues and to update out of date information. Microsoft will no longer send emails with changes to MCTs as they have historically been issues with people opting out of emails to the address they use for MCT. So you will need… Continue Reading Julian...
European MCT Summit 2024
The European MCT summit is being held the the Netherlands from January 14th to 17th. All MCTs can register and learn from other MCTs on creating and delivering training. I am speaking on the first day on Beyond MOC: the future of ILT and on the last day on New Microsoft Certified Trainer: What do I do now? Register at https://www.mctsummit.nl Continue Reading Julian Sharp’s Article on their blog European MCT Summit 2024...
25% off my PL-200 exam prep book
Use code 25POWERDEAL at Amazom.com to get 25% off my exam prep book for the PL-200 Microsoft Power Platform Functional Consultant certification exam. Click 25POWERDEAL Code valid until December 15th 2023. Continue Reading Julian Sharp’s Article on their blog 25% off my PL-200 exam prep book Use code 25POWERDEAL at Amazom.com to get 25% off my exam prep book for the PL-200 Microsoft Power Platform Functional Consultant...
Enrique Lima award 2023
Last week I was awarded the Enrique Lima award. Enrique was an MCT who was passionate about the MCT program and a great mentor and advocate for MCTs who sadly passed away. The award was created by Microsoft Learning in his memory to recognize other MCTs who have made significant contributions to the MCT community. I was surprised to even be nominated and in awe of previous awardees. Being an… Continue Reading Julian...
Where have my certifications gone?
Looking at Microsoft Learn recently, I noticed a few changes which seems to have confused a lot of people. First, Certifications appeared to be missing from my profile https://learn.microsoft.com/users/me. In fact, certifications have been replaced with Credentials which you can find at https://learn.microsoft.com/users/me/credentials?tab=credentials-tab in the Certifications tab. The change… Continue Reading Julian...
Microsoft Ignite
Ignite starts on Wednesday for those attending virtually. Sign up at https://ignite.microsoft.com AI will be the focus this year. I’m not attending in person this year but will be moderating two sessions: BRK402LL – Learn Live: Generate images with Azure OpenAI Service https://aka.ms/learnlive-at-ignite-23-Ep2 BRK404LL – Learn Live: Build an AI-enabled chat w/ Azure OpenAI & Azure Cosmos… Continue Reading Julian...
Dynamics 365 exam changes
Some changes to exams have been announced. Here is a summary MB-820: Business Central Developer. This exam has been eagerly awaited and will be released in January 2024. MB-300: Core Finance and Operations. The exam is being retired and its content will be included in the other MB-3×0 exams. MB-220: Marketing Functional Consultant. This is being renamed to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer… Continue Reading Julian...
Microsoft Learn AI Skills Challenge
Learn and develop essential AI skills with the Microsoft Learn AI Skills Challenge by completing unique Microsoft Learn collections! Join my learning community and learn together. There are 4 challenges you can choose from: Cognitive Services Challenge AI Builder Challenge Machine Learning Challenge Machine Learning Operations (MLOps) Challenge The challenge begins on July 17th! If you are… Continue Reading Julian Sharp’s...
Careers in Dynamics 365
I will be presenting at the Microsoft Dynamics 365 career and training webinars. What is Microsoft Dynamics 365 and what does it help organizations do? What kinds of careers are there in the Dynamics 365 space? What do job prospects and growth look like for a career in Dynamics 365? What kinds of skills do I need to go into Dynamics 365, how do I prepare for a career in Dynamics 365, and… Continue Reading Julian Sharp’s...
Power Platform Developer PL-400 Study Group
I am planning a certification study group for the Power Platform Developer exam, PL-400 starting on Sunday May 28th. If you are interested in taking part you need to: Sign up for the Microsoft Build Cloud Skills Challenge on Microsoft Learn. Sign up for my Learning Room Attend session on May 28th. Continue Reading Julian Sharp’s Article on their blog Power Platform Developer PL-400 Study Group I am planning a certification study...
Microsoft Learning Rooms
I am delighted to announce I am an official @MicrosoftLearn expert! In my learning room, we discuss all things about certification for Dynamics 365 and Power Platform! Microsoft Learning Rooms is “a new space to find connections with experts and peers. Facilitated by Microsoft Learn experts, learning rooms are designed to offer you a dedicated and safe environment where you can directly… Continue Reading Julian Sharp’s...
Directions4Partners Days of Knowledge UK 2023
I will be speaking at the Days on Knowledge event on March 23rd in Birmingham. I have two sessions in the afternoon: Document automation with Microsoft Power Platform This session will investigate the automation of documents using Power Automate cloud flows, AI Builder, Power Automate Desktop (RPA), and document automation Build chatbots using Power Virtual Agents Learn how to create chatbots… Continue Reading Julian...
Power BI Summit March 2023
I am speaking at the Power BI Summit on March 6th on the topic of Microsoft Dataverse and Power BI. Power BI links to the rest of the Power Platform. In the session I will explain the different ways to use visualize Dataverse data including Direct Query, Dataflows, Azure Data Lake, and Azure Synapse Link. The session also provides best practice and guidance on using Dataverse and Power BI… Continue Reading Julian Sharp’s...
MCT Connect Virtual Conference
The Microsoft Certified Trainer Connect conference is on March 8th and 9th. I am involved in three sessions: New MCT – What to do next with Dwayne Natwick You have just become a new MCT and there are so many things to find out and nowhere to go. This session will guide you around the MCT program and resources and allow you to discover all the official and unofficial sources of information… Continue Reading Julian...
DP-100 Certified Azure Data Science Associate
I recently passed he DP-100 exam which is about machine learning in Azure. Now I have worked with Azure machine learning over the years and I teach both the AI-900 fundamentals and AI-102 cognitive services courses but there was still a lot for me to learn. Here are the Microsoft resources I used: < ul> Microsoft Learn modules https://aka.ms/dp100-v2 Hands-on labs
20% Discount on Microsoft books from Packt Publishing
For a limited time, until December 12th, you can get 20% off Microsoft books at Amazon US including: Becoming a Microsoft Dynamics 365 Marketing Functional Consultant: Learn to deliver enterprise marketing solutions and insights to exponentially grow your business by Malin Martnes. Administrating Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Online: A practical guide to SaaS administration and… Continue Reading Julian Sharp’s...
Enrique Lima Award
Do you know a MCT that has done amazing work for the MCT Community? The Enrique Lima Award is designed to recognize and celebrate the outstanding work of Microsoft Certified Trainers in the MCT Community, being awarded to only those who show knowledge, passion, and commitment to the Microsoft community as a whole, and specifically to the MCT program. This Award was established in memory of… Continue Reading Julian Sharp’s...
Power Automate RPA Developer PL-500 Study Group
I will be running an online study group for people wanting to take the Power Automate RPA Developer PL-500 exam https://docs.microsoft.com/learn/certifications/exams/pl-500. Although this group is about preparing for the exam, it is not exam prep. The course will run one evening during the week, Thursday 8pm BST, with another session at the weekend on Sunday morning at 8am BST and will take… Continue Reading Julian Sharp’s...
Nordic Summit 2022
Nordic Summit is as in-person Power Platform and Dynamics 365 community conference in Stockholm on the 24th of September. Sign up here: https://nordicsummit.info/ – it’s free! I will be speaking on Power Apps Component Framework – PCF 101 How to start creating your own code components. Power Apps Component Framework is an exciting way to increase the usability of your solutions. But how do you… Continue Reading...
MCT Europe Summit Switzerland September 12-14th
The European MCT Summit is taking place in Zurich, Switzerland 12-14th September. You can register here https://www.mctsummit.eu/ You will be able to learn technical topics, discover information about courses and certifications, and to develop your trainer skills. I will be speaking on the Dynamics 365 certifications and also on using the Power Platform with Azure IoT. The summit includes a… Continue Reading Julian Sharp’s...
MCT Summit Switzerland September 12-14 2022
The MCT Community is running an in-person 3-day summit for Microsoft Certified Trainers in Zurich. There will both technical and soft skills sessions delivered by some of the best MCTs around. Plus over the weekend of September 10-11 there are community activities. If are not an MCT and you want to join the great community of MCTs, there an approved 3-day technical trainer course to qualify… Continue Reading Julian Sharp’s...
Dynamics 365 functional consultant certifications now only require one exam
Until now to gain a one of the Dynamics 365 functional consultant associate certifications: Dynamics 365 Sales Functional Consultant Associate Dynamics 365 Marketing Functional Consultant Associate Dynamics 365 Customer Service Functional Consultant Associate Dynamics 365 Field Service Functional Consultant Associate you had to also pass the PL-200 Microsoft Power Platform Functional… Continue Reading Julian Sharp’s...
Microsoft Build
Microsoft Build starts tomorrow. I will be taking part in a Humans of IT panel on discussion Build the skills you need for today’s tech world on Wednesday at 9PM BST. I will also be answering questions for the following Power Platform Learn Live sessions: Build a Power Apps component Discover and use Web APIs with Power Apps and I am moderating the chat for The New Developer’s Guide to the… Continue Reading Julian...
Exam voucher at Microsoft Build
Microsoft have a cloud skills challenge starting on May 24 where you can get an exam voucher by completing various Microsoft Learn modules. The list of exams covered is small but includes PL-100, PL-200, and PL-300. Sign up at https://www.microsoft.com/en-US/cloudskillschallenge/build/registration/2022 The rules for the challenge can be found at
Speaking at Power Platform Community Sweden May 3
I will be in Stockholm next week for a training session and while I am there I will be speaking at the Power Platform Community Sweden event on May 3. I will be discussing Dynamics 365 Customer Insights. To find out more and register to to https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/power-platform-community-sweden-event-may-2022-biljetter-299003687077 Continue Reading Julian Sharp’s Article on their blog Speaking at Power Platform Community...
Business Applications solutions partner
I posted an overview of the changes to the Microsoft Partner network. In this post I will outline the certification requirements for the Business Application solutions area. To qualify as a Business Applications solution partner you need 70 points out of 100 possible. You can obtain 50% of the points (35 points) from certified individuals. Both Dynamics 365 and Power Platform certifications… Continue Reading Julian Sharp’s...
Microsoft Partner program changes
The Microsoft Partner Network (MPN) program is changing to the Microsoft Cloud Partner Program later this year. No longer will there be many competencies with Silver and Gold levels but six solution areas: Data & AI (Azure) Infrastructure (Azure) Digital & App Innovation (Azure) Business Applications Modern Work Security Partner capability score This new program is going back to a points… Continue Reading Julian...
Taking vs writing an exam
As one of my other activities I “create” items for Microsoft exams and practice tests. For example on the PL-900 exam there are sample questions that you can use to gauge the level of knowledge used in exam item. Now one thing that annoys me is people who misuse the term “write the exam” when they mean to take or sit the exam. These are the definitions I use for exams: Write – the… Continue Reading Julian Sharp’s Article...
Microsoft certification exam renewals
Microsoft Associate, Speciality, and Expert exams like MB-210, PL-200, and PL-600 must be renewed each year rather than retaking the exam every two years. The idea is for you to be able to demonstrate that you are up-to-date without having to retake the exam. Renewals are free and you need to complete an online assessment on Microsoft Learn. The questions in the online assessment tend to… Continue Reading Julian...
Data Analyst exam DA-100 renamed to PL-300
The Power BI exam and certification DA-100 has been renamed and replaced by PL-300 at the end of February. For more information read the blog post https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsoft-learn-blog/announcing-a-new-name-for-the-data-analyst-associate/ba-p/2388941 Continue Reading Julian Sharp’s Article on their blog Data Analyst exam DA-100 renamed to PL-300 The Power BI exam and certification DA-100 has been renamed...
Low-code application development on Azure
Here are my slides for my talk for Festive Tech Calendar 2021 on using Power Platform with Azure where I discuss using Azure Functions and API Management and consumption-based billing for Power Platform usage using your Azure subscription. Continue Reading Julian Sharp’s Article on their blog https://ukcrm.wordpress.com/2021/12/30/low-code-application-development-on-azure/ Blog Syndicated with Julian Sharp’s...
Hands-On Microsoft Lists book review
Hands-On Microsoft Lists: Create custom data models and improve the way data is organized using Lists in Microsoft 365 by João Ferreira and Rene Modery. Microsoft Lists is an application in Microsoft 365 that people can use to track their work. I was interested to discover how Microsoft Lists compared with SharePoint Lists and Microsoft Dataverse and to learn its capabilities so I can decide… Continue Reading Julian...
Cosmos DB with Power Platform and Dataverse
Here are my slides from the Dataverse Summit on the options for Azure Cosmos DB with the Power Platform and Microsoft Dataverse. Continue Reading Julian Sharp’s Article on their blog Cosmos DB with Power Platform and Dataverse Here are my slides from the Dataverse Summit on the options for Azure Cosmos DB with the Power Platform and Microsoft Dataverse. I have worked with Dynamics CRM/365 since 2004 and have been involved in...
AI 101 – Options for using AI in the Power Platform
Here are my slides from the South Coast Summit on the options for using AI with the Power Platform. Continue Reading Julian Sharp’s Article on their blog AI 101 – Options for using AI in the Power Platform Here are my slides from the South Coast Summit on the options for using AI with the Power Platform. I have worked with Dynamics CRM/365 since 2004 and have been involved in over 100 CRM projects. Blog Syndicated with...
Hands-on labs in Microsoft Learn for Power Platform
There are two labs in Microsoft Learn modules that are now hands-on labs in a Virtual Machine that you can perform work without needing a Power Platform environment or license. The labs can be found at Lab – Create a Microsoft Dataverse table Lab – Create a new custom table and enable attachments Continue Reading Julian Sharp’s Article on their blog Hands-on labs in Microsoft Learn for Power Platform There are...
South Coast Summit: AI 101 – Options for using AI in the Power Platform
I am speaking at 10:00 on Greenidge on Saturday 16th October at the South Coast Summit in Southampton UK. I will be describing how you can use Azure Machine Learning, Azure Cognitive Services, and AI Builder with the Power Platform. There are still tickets available at https://www.southcoastsummit.com #SouthCoastSummit Continue Reading Julian Sharp’s Article on their blog South Coast Summit: AI 101 – Options for using AI...
Empowering Organizations with Power Virtual Agents book review
Empowering Organizations with Power Virtual Agents: A practical guide to building intelligent chatbots with Microsoft Power Platform by Nicolae Tarla I have created bots for customers and internal users for several years, mainly with the Azure Bot Framework which required deep coding skills. Power Virtual Agents allows you to create and deploy automated chatbots without requiring a developer,… Continue Reading Julian...
Dynamics 365 Sales MB-210 exam study group
I am starting a new online study group for the Dynamics 365 Sales MB-210 exam. The group will start on Sunday 12th September and meet twice a week’; on Sundays at 08:00 BST and Thursdays at 20:00 BST. The group will take around 5 weeks. Each session will last an hour. Although this group is about preparing for the exam, it is not exam prep. The planned agenda is: Session 1 12/09 –… Continue Reading Julian...
Working with Microsoft Forms and Customer Voice book review
Working with Microsoft Forms and Customer Voice: Efficiently gather and manage customer feedback, insights, and experiences by Welly Lee I have used Customer Voice and its predecessors Forms Pro and Voice of the Customer for a few years, and these are important tools to capture feedback from customer and well as understanding more broadly what customers think about my clients and their… Continue Reading Julian Sharp’s...
DA-100 Data Analyst Exam prep
I gave a presentation at the Power BI Bootcamp https://events.powercommunity.com/power-bi-bootcamp/ last weekend titled DA-100 Certification Overview. This was an run through of the content of the DA-100 Data Analyst exam for Power BI. Hopefully the recording will be made available on the event YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/c/Powerthon but in the meantime here are all the links… Continue Reading Julian...
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Project Operations book review
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Project Operations: Deliver profitable projects with effective project planning and productive operational workflows by Robert Houdeshell Robert Houdeshell – Senior Solutions Architect – Tech Consulting – EY | LinkedIn Utilizing proven successful methodologies, I work closely with my clients to deliver Project Operations and CRM solutions resulting in improved project delivery. I have a long...
PL-100 Study Group June 2021
I am organizing an online community group learning program for people wanting to take the Power Platform App Maker PL-100 exam. To apply for a place on the study group complete the form at https://tinyurl.com/pl100study Although this group is about preparing for the exam, it is not exam prep. The course will run one evening a week, Thursday 8pm, with another session at the weekend on Sunday… Continue Reading Julian...
Power Platform Starter Days Resources
Here are the slides with links to resources from my session today for Power Platform Starter Days https://powerplatformstarterdays.com/ Slides Continue Reading Julian Sharp’s Article on their blog Power Platform Starter Days Resources Here are the slides with links to resources from my session today for Power Platform Starter Days https://powerplatformstarterdays.com/ I have worked with Dynamics CRM/365 since 2004 and have been...
Power Apps Developer Bootcamp: PCF 101
Here are my slides and resources from my session on how to start creating your own code components at the Power Apps Developer Bootcamp https://events.powercommunity.com/powerapps-developer-bootcamp-2021/ Slides Learning Collection Blogs and...
Power Apps Developer Bootcamp: PL-400 Certification review
Here are my slides and resources from my session on the PL-400 Power Platform Developer exam at the Power Apps Developer Bootcamp https://events.powercommunity.com/powerapps-developer-bootcamp-2021/ Slides Learning collection Exam Links Microsoft Certified: Power Platform Developer Associate – Learn If you have a passion for designing, developing, securing, and extending Microsoft Power Platform solutions, this certification...
Renaming Power Automate flows
To reduce confusion, Microsoft have renamed flows. Flows are now Power Automate Cloud flows, the instant, automated, and scheduled flows that connect to web services and APIs via connectors UI flows are now Power Automate Desktop flows, the attended and unattended Robotic Process Automate (RPA) for desktop and web applications that do not have an API, for which you capture steps with Power… Continue Reading Julian Sharp’s...
Free Microsoft certification renewals
When Microsoft moved to role-based examinations almost two-years ago, the plan was to renew certifications to keep up to date with the rapid changes in cloud produces. As I explained in my last post https://ukcrm.wordpress.com/2020/11/28/microsoft-certification-exam-expiration/ Microsoft has extended by six months those certification exams due to expire before June 30th 2021. Microsoft has now… Continue Reading Julian...
Microsoft Certification Exam Expiration
Microsoft switched to role based exams two years ago from MCSE and MCSA. The role based exams are focussed on the day to day tasks of a job role, not the features of a product. You may have seen on your exam transcript https://mcptnc.microsoft.com/ that the role based certifications are valid for two years such as my Sales Functional Consultant Associate below. When the role based… Continue Reading Julian Sharp’s Article...
Terminology in the Common Data Service
After years of using entities, attributes, and option sets in Dynamics 365 and the Power Platform, Microsoft are changing the terminology for elements in the data model as follows: Old term New term Entity Table Field, attribute Column Record Row Option set, Picklist Choice Two options, Boolean Yes/No More details at