Friday, January 22, 2021

Getting started with Azure Synapse Analytics on demand webinars

 Mid December 2020, Microsoft organized some webinars to get Microsoft partners up to speed with Azure Synapse Analytics. All these webinars are now available on demand on the Microsoft events page - just search for synapse and add the filters "category: on demand" and "events for: Partners"


On demand webinars for Microsoft Partners - Introduction to Azure Synapse Analytics

  • Session1: Introduction to Azure Synapse Analytics: Studio and orchestration
  • Session 2: Introduction to Azure Synapse Analytics: Azure Synapse Analytics - Synapse and SQL Serverless
  • Session 3: Introduction to Azure Synapse Analytics: Apache Spark and Synapse Workspace security
  • Session4: Introduction to Azure Synapse Analytics: Azure Synapse Analytics Security, Metastore and Synapse link for Cosmos DB
  • Session 5: Introduction to Azure Synapse Analytics: Azure Synapse Analytics -  Power BI and Azure Synapse Analytics Integration


Thursday, January 14, 2021

MB-600 Dynamics 365 and Power Platform solution architect exam prep and beyond

The last couple of weeks of 2020 I have been prepping for Exam  MB-600: Microsoft Dynamics 365 + Power Platform Solution Architect which I passed end of December 2020. In this blog post I will share some resources I used to study for the exam. I will also share some thoughts on what you can expect on the exam (without breaching the confidentiality - so I can't give specific questions). 

It was the first time I took a Microsoft exam online  due to the exam centers being closed in Belgium due to Covid.  The online proctored exam went quite smoothly but it did make me a little more nervous  especially given some of the horror stories I had heart about these type of exams.

For any Microsoft exam you start by looking at the detailed skills outline document. The MB-600 exam skills outline document  contains an overview of the different topics, you can find this document on the exam details page. Make sure to always look for the latest version since the exam requirements might get updated a couple of times every year - which is logical given the rapid evolution of the platform.


As part of the preparation I started with the MB-600: Microsoft Power Apps + Dynamics 365 Solution Architect Virtual Training Series (May 2020) for Microsoft partners - a 3 part on-demand webinar series  of about 2 hours per topic:

There is an overlap of this training with the Microsoft Learn learning paths which are also outlined on the MB-600 exam details page - Architect solutions for Dynamics 365 and Power Platform

I also started following a number of sessions from the MB-600 virtual study group initiative where a number of consultants share their thoughts on the exam - they will cover all content in 10 different sessions/webinar sessions. The content of the study group is largely based MB 600: Microsoft Dynamics 365 + Power Platform Solution Architect - Revision Guide (Recording are only accessible for CRMUG members)

In hindsight (after passing the exam) all of these resources provide a lot of information about the role of solution architect, the type of activities he/she engages in during the different phases of a customer engagement (Initiate & design, Implement, Support and evolve) but they are not enough for passing the exam. The exam contains quite a few technical questions that you should be prepared for on some of the topics on integration patterns using Azure, Dynamics 365 security model, ALM for Power Platform and Dynamics 365, basic understanding of the capabilities of all of the different products in both Power Platform (Canvas and model driven apps, Power BI, Power Automate Flow, Power Virtual Agents, PowerApps Portals) and Dynamics 365 (Sales, Customer Service, Field Service, etc...), ALM for Power Platform and Dynamics 365, ... 

There are the standard multiple choice questions which you also encounter but what was new for me in this exam was the use of fictional customers case studies which will serve as input for a set of questions afterwards. Normally the MB-600 exam is the culmination in a series of exams for attaining the title of but I only took this last exam up until now. So probably there is an overlap in the technical content covered as part of the other exams.

Alternatives to Azure Notebooks preview

Azure Notebooks Preview will be retired on January 15th, 2021 and all user data will be destroyed - don't forget to download your user data before then.  Microsoft alternatives to use are listed on Quickstart: Export a Jupyter Notebook project in Azure Notebooks Preview