The Power Platform is a set of tools, including Power BI, Power Apps, Power Automate, and Power Virtual Agents, for building business solutions without the need to write code. Using the Power Platform, anyone can create an app. The Power Platform is not just for citizen developers; the capabilities of the Power Platform can be used by IT professionals and can be extended by developers.
In this chapter, you will be introduced to the exam contents, the purpose of the exam, the skills measured, and who the exam is aimed at. We will discuss role-based certifications and how the PL-200 exam fits in with the Dynamics 365 and Power Platform role-based certifications.
The topics covered in this chapter are as follows:
- Understanding role-based certifications
- Introducing Dynamics 365 and Power Platform roles
- Exploring the PL-200 exam and objectives
- Reviewing the skills measured
- Related exams
By the end of this chapter, you will understand the scope of the PL-200 exam and its structure. You will also have an idea about who the exam is aimed at and be familiar with the exam paper before you sit the exam.
Understanding role-based certifications
In response to customer expectations and feedback on certification, Microsoft has changed the way candidates for certifications are examined in order to provide candidates and employers with more relevant certifications for their jobs.
Certifications have evolved to focus on the core skills aligned to specific job roles, moving toward teaching you how to use the technology to help you develop the skills you need to fulfill a specific job role.
The value of certifications has been reevaluated at Microsoft, with many Microsoft staff now having to gain certifications themselves. This has led to a greater focus on certifications and an increase in the quality of courses and the relevance of certifications.
The PL-200 exam is a good example of the new type of certification testing for certain job roles. The following sections explain the roles and their impacts on the questions in the certification exams.
Job roles
Previously, questions in Microsoft exams were about the features of the Microsoft product that a given exam covers. This often meant that you had to learn about functionalities or capabilities that you never used, and would never use, just to pass the exam.
Microsoft has changed to certifications that revolve around the day-to-day tasks of certain job roles. Microsoft consulted widely to define several job roles and the certifications around those roles across the following core solutions areas: Cloud, Modern Workplace, Data and AI, and Business Applications.
You can see the full list of job roles at http://aka.ms/TrainCertPoster.
There are certifications for each role, with each role certification requiring one or, sometimes, two exams.
Questions in the role-based exams are written to test your day-to-day skills instead of testing your memory.
Exam questions
The migration from product-based to role-based certifications has affected the way exam questions are written. The following diagram represents the levels of complexity in learning. These exams used to concentrate on remembering and understanding. They now focus on evaluating, analyzing, and applying knowledge:
Figure 1.1 – Bloom's taxonomy representing the complexity levels in learning
An effective way to understand these changes is that questions are now about the why and the how, not the what; that is, a question may test you on how to implement a feature, and not on what needs to be implemented.
You'll find some tips and tricks to help you toward the end of the book, in the Tips and Tricks section. This will provide you with tips for taking the exam, as well as two sets of practice test questions to help you prepare.
To find out more about role-based certification, you can visit http://aka.ms/rolebasedcerts.
Question types
Along with the change to role-based certification, the exams themselves have evolved; there are many new question types. If you have taken older Microsoft exams, you may have just experienced multiple-choice questions.
In role-based exams, you can expect to see question types that are more interactive, such as the following, for example:
- Active screen
- Build list
- Case study
- Drag and drop
- Graphic interpretation
- Multi-source reasoning
The introduction of these exam item types has made exams both easier and harder at the same time. Easier, because you no longer need to remember arcane facts, or learn about things you will never use. Harder, because you can't just read and remember; you must be familiar with the Power Platform and have performed the actions that the questions refer to.
Don't worry, we have relevant exercises to help you.
To learn more about the different question types in use, watch the videos at https://docs.microsoft.com/learn/certifications/certification-exams#exam-formats-and-question-types.
Performance-based testing
Performance-Based Testing (PBT) is being introduced to some exams. In this form of testing, you are presented with a system in a controlled browser lab-type environment and are given a set of tasks to perform.
PBT makes it even more important for you to be familiar with and comfortable using the Power Platform.
I have written more about PBT at https://community.dynamics.com/365/b/dynamicscrmukmct/posts/performance-based-testing. You can get some more information on PBT there.
Now that we have outlined the changes to role-based certification, we will now look at the roles relevant to the PL-200 exam.
Introducing Power Platform and Dynamics 365 roles
With the emergence of the Power Platform, Microsoft has sought to distinguish between the functionality of the Dynamics 365 apps and the underlying features of the Power Platform.
There are several roles covering both Dynamics 365 and the Power Platform. The PL-200 exam contributes to several of the Dynamics 365 roles.
Dynamics 365 and Power Platform roles
This section will explore the roles for Dynamics 365 model-driven apps that are relevant to the PL-200 exam, and the impact of these roles on candidates.
The Dynamics 365 and Power Platform roles are as follows:
- Power Platform App Maker
- Power Platform Functional Consultant
- Power Platform Developer
- Data Analyst Associate
- Dynamics 365 Functional Consultant
- Dynamics 365 + Power Platform Solutions Architect
For each of these roles, one or more exams have been created.
The PL-200 exam is required for the Power Platform Functional Consultant role and is one of the two exams that is required for the Dynamics 365 Functional Consultant role. The PL-200 exam is required for the Solutions Architect role, but the true focus for the exam is the Functional Consultant role, which we will talk about next. We will cover more on the PL-200 exam later in this chapter, in the Exploring the PL-200 exam and its objectives section.
The Functional Consultant role
The Functional Consultant role covers many job titles including business analyst, application specialist, and applications consultant. The key denominator here is the gathering of requirements from users and turning those requirements into solutions based on Dynamics 365 or the Power Platform. A functional consultant leverages Microsoft Dynamics 365 and the Power Platform to meet customer needs.
A functional consultant is not a developer; instead, they use the out-of-the-box tools and customization capabilities provided by Microsoft to deliver solutions. Microsoft refers to such capabilities as low code/no code.
Let's start with the definition of a functional consultant.
Role definition
A Power Platform Functional Consultant is responsible for capturing and documenting user requirements and turning those requirements into a working system. The Functional Consultant role implements a solution using the out-of-the-box capabilities provided by Microsoft.
The key activities for the Functional Consultant role are listed next.
Key role activities
The role of a Dynamics 365/Power Platform Functional Consultant is to do the following:
- Gather and document requirements from users.
- Identify where and how Dynamics 365 and Power Platform can be used to...
