Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2015 Exams

January 9, 2015 11 Comments

Some of the details of exams for Dynamics CRM 2015 are now available.

Take careful note of the “Skills measured” sections for these, as they are not exactly aligned to the equivalent 2013 exams in all cases. Courses for these are all e-learning, available via the Dynamics Learning Portal (DLP) for customers and partners signed up to appropriate support plans. Some learning providers may also offer these as a “blended learning” experience, with a classroom instructor to walk you through the course and address areas of difficulty and answer questions. It remains to be seen whether this is a popular option for many people or not.

MB2-704 Microsoft Dynamics CRM Application

Slightly strange title on this one. Watch out for the fact that this includes some aspects of social listening, so if you are not using that in your organisation you need to do some good reading on the subject.

MB2-707 Microsoft Dynamics CRM Customization and Configuration

Looking at the skills measured, it seems that the only new areas covered are calculated and rollup fields. There seems to be no mention of hierarchical security, or configuring sales or service modules (arguably the right choice, as those are possibly business area manager tasks, rather than initial customisations).

MB2-706 – Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online Deployment

Strangely the skills measured for this exam (as of 28th Jan) have lots of overlap with MB2-708, including knowledge about installing the server.roles, SSRS and ADFS for example (I get that ADFS can be used for authentication with online, using federation, but the description sounds more like normal IFD config to me). You will also need to know about online admin of users in the Office365 platform, or Microsoft Online Services as they prefer us to call it these days.Integration with Exchange, Lync and Yammer are included too.

Upgrades, troubleshooting, VSS and data encryption all seem to include topics that would only apply to on-premises environments. This is a truly confusing exam outline, it will be interesting to see what it is like in reality.

MB2-708 Microsoft Dynamics CRM Installation

This one is aimed at skills needed to implement and manage CRM On-Premises deployments, including things like configuring IFD, high-availability options and troubleshooting.

MB2-720 Functional Application in Microsoft Dynamics Marketing

Focussed entirely on MDM rather than the limited marketing functionality in CRM itself.

I’ll update this post with details of other exams as they become available.

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CRM Masters Spring Special Offer

May 14, 2014 Leave a comment

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We have a limited time special offer discount on our Dynamics CRM training at CRM Masters.

Book on one of our June or July courses now and get £45 off

Register for any of our scheduled Dynamics CRM training courses before the end of May for the special early bird price of only £350 per person per course.

You can book as many people on as many courses as you want, and get the discount for each person.

In order to give you the best possible training, seats on our custom CRM training courses are strictly limited, so hurry to book your place while they are still available.

This offer applies to four of our courses: Update Your Skills to Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013, Managing Business Processes with Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013, Visualizing Microsoft Dynamics CRM Data and What’s New in the Leo Release of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013

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Training for Dynamics CRM from CRM Masters

April 25, 2014 Leave a comment

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I’m excited to announce that I’ve partnered with Feridun Kadir to set up a new Dynamics CRM training business, CRM Masters Ltd.

We have a schedule of training courses that will give you the practical knowledge that you need to implement, customize and maintain CRM 2011 and 2013.

Our courses are designed to give you highly-focused instructor-led training to cover topics you won’t find on other courses.

Please review our list of Dynamics CRM courses and if there is an area that you feel you would like training in that you don’t see please let us know.

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CRMUG Summit – Early Bird Discount runs out in 10 days

June 21, 2013 Leave a comment

CRMUG_Summit2013_webtampaCRMUG Summit is only four months away now, so it’s time to get yourself a place before the early bird discount period runs out on June 31st.

If you are not already a Premium Member, join today to save $200 then get a further $200 off by registering before the end of June.

If you have fewer than 10 users, these saving pay for Premium membership on their own, if you have 10-99 users and send two attendees, you will save more than the membership costs you! If you miss the June cut-off date, prices go up, but is then steady until September 15th.

What is there to do at Summit?

The Summit schedule from Tuesday October 22nd to Thursday 24th, and will be jam packed with loads of great sessions led by people from other organisations just like yours, using CRM to run their businesses, manage their processes and measure their outcomes.

There will of course be plenty of discussion and content around the new “Orion” release (whether it has actually taken place by then, if on schedule, or if not then the air will be even more buzzing in anticipation!), both from Microsoft themselves and from your colleagues and industry experts.

If you are not sure if there will be something for you, read “Why should I attend CRMUG Summit 2013?”

In addition, why not use this as an opportunity to top up your skills at one of the CRMUG Academy training sessions on Monday 21st October (additional fees apply).

Have you signed up yet? Let me know in the comments below

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CRM 2011 Training courses update 2012

February 6, 2012 Leave a comment

I realised the other day that my previous article about the Microsoft official training courses available for CRM 2011 is now over 6 months old, and I felt it was about time for a fresh look to update some of the items there with new material.

I also wrote about how you can get qualified in CRM  through the MS Dynamics CRM 2011 Certification Tracks and Exams. Again, some of this was getting out of date so I have included information in this single post about the courses and the exams to take if getting certified in CRM 2011 is your goal.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 is going through a period of very high adoption, with many CRM 4.0 customers upgrading their on premises system to CRM 2011, or switching to a cloud solution with CRM Online. People with skills in Dynamics CRM are in high demand as a result, as well as internal staff looking for ways to get their knowledge updated to the latest version.
Read more about the latest courses and exams for Dynamics CRM 2011»

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CRM 2011 Training Options

October 24, 2011 1 Comment

There are loads of resources for official and unofficial CRM training available, so to try and make things easier, here’s a few starting points.

Official E-learning, classroom training and books

The easiest way to find all the official Microsoft options in one place is to start with the Microsoft Training Catalog for CRM.

This includes Online training courses and instructor-led classroom training which map to the exams, as well as some courses which are more general (such as 80442 Introduction to CRM  2011). The classroom training also provides links to search for training providers near you, although this simply lists partners that may or may not offer the specific courses you are looking for, so you will need to check their own websites to see if they have public scheduled courses to suit you.

You will also find links to the exams with full details of the objectives covered and their weightings. There are also links to “Learning Plans” which guide you to resources specifically aimed at gaining the skills to pass a particular exam, but it seems that all the plans available describe the CRM 4 tracks, not CRM 2011
Read more about training options and free resources for learning about CRM 2011»

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MS Dynamics CRM 2011 MOC training courses

June 7, 2011 6 Comments

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Update Feb 2012: I’ve written a much newer article bring up to date all the information about Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 training courses and exams in one place here: CRM 2011 Training Update 2012

As a follow-up to my previous post about the new Dynamics CRM 2011 exams and certification tracks, this article describes the official courses available to help prepare you for gaining CRM 2011 certification, or upgrading your skills from a previous version, or simply to find out more about the software to help you do your job without actually taking any exams.

All the courses described below are available now on the courseware download library (for MCTs) and on PartnerSource (for suitably certified MS Partners), except where stated.

Microsoft Official Courseware (MOC) courses for CRM 2011

Although there are four main exams (Applications, Customization, Installation, Extending) there are many more courses, some of which are already released, others around the corner. All of these are discussed in this article. Find out about MOC courses available for Dynamics CRM 2011»

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MS Dynamics CRM 2011 Certification Tracks and Exams

June 7, 2011 13 Comments

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Update Feb 2012: I’ve written a much newer article bring up to date all the information about Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 training courses and exams in one place here: CRM 2011 Training Update 2012

I see lots of people asking about the CRM 2011 certification track, exams and courses and although most of this information is available, it is not very well linked together. So, to try and get things straight and written down in one place, here’s my take on “how to get certified in CRM 2011”.

Individual CRM 2011 exams

There are three core exams already available for CRM 2011, very similar in concept to their 4.0 equivalents, and the details of what is required for each one are on these pages (and their various tabs for skills measured, preparation materials etc):

MB2-866 – Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Customization and Configuration

MB2-867 – Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Installation and Deployment

MB2-868 – Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Applications

The fourth exam “Extending Dynamics CRM 2011” is not yet available, but it is planned for release in August, and I’ll update this page once details are up on the Microsoft Learning website. Update: the details for Course 80295A Extending MS Dynamics CRM 2011 are now available.

Read more about the available certifications for CRM 2011 and what you need to pass to achieve each one»

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