Last weekend, I passed Exam PL-200: Microsoft Power Platform Functional Consultant and I thought it would be beneficial to the community to share my experience preparing for the exam.
PL-200 experience
Based on my experience passing many Microsoft CRM exams, The PL-200 exam is different in many ways. Unlike the previous versions of the exam, MB-200 and MB2-716 (both retired), which was forcing to configuring and customizing Dynamics 365.
I believe that Power PlatForms is highly important for many organizations and have a greater future.
Meanwhile, Dynamics 365 functions are still covered in other exams, such as MB-210, MB-220, MB-230 and MB-240.
The new exam focuses on Power Platforms, as shown in the set of measured skills. Personally, I have intensive experience with Datavers, Power Apps, Power Automate and AI Builder.
However, I am new to Power Virtual agent, and it was clear during the exam where I struggled.
Renewing my Certificates
The best thing that happened, which I was not expecting, is that I received a new set of certificates in Sales, Marketing, Customer Service and System Architecture.
As PL-200 is replacing MB-200 as prerequisites for these certificates, I met the requirements to obtain the certificates. The preowned certificates are still exiting with the same expiry date, which is 2 years from the date of issue. Fortunately, the newly issued certificates have new expiry dates with 2 years of validity, starting now.
Certificates validity
A new Microsoft certification policy was announced back on December 15, 2020, the certificates earned before June 2021 has a 2 years validity, while the certificates earned after will have a one-year validity. read more about the Microsoft exam policy and how to get the certificates renewed.
Before June 2021
The validity of the certificates currently is 2 years
After June 2021
The validity of the certificate will be 1 year
As this post is written in May, all the newly issued certificates received a 2 years validity. Therefore, I strongly advise every consultant to take advantage of the current situation and take the exam in the near future.
Compare to MB-200
The fact that MB-200 was replaced with PL-200 made me feel that I will go in a similar exam, however, this is not true. First, the main difference is using the new Microsoft lingo replacing CDS with Datavers, Tables instead of entities and Columns to replace fields.
Furthermore, when I took the MB-200, I felt it is a Dynamics 365 exam; This is not the case anymore. PL-200: Microsoft Power Platform Functional Consultant as the name indicates is a Power Platforms focus. Before taking the exam, you are required to have hands-on experience and training using Power Apps and Power Automate, in addition to Datavers.
Finally, the last difference in my opinion is the certificate Microsoft Certified: Power Platform Functional Consultant Associate that you obtain with exam PL-200, while MB-200 was not qualifying for a certificate on its own.
Gained Certificates
Power Platform Functional Consultant Associate Certificate
PL-200 provide a certificate by itself as shown on the Microsoft Certified: Power Platform Functional Consultant Associate certificate page.
Once PL-200 is passed, the user will immediately gain a certificate without any prerequisites – Microsoft Certified: Power Platform Functional Consultant Associate.
The exam is also a prerequisite for other certificates.
Other certificates, PL-200
As exam PL-200 is replacing MB-200, any pre-existing gained certificates will be reissued. The covered certificates are the ones gained after passing any of the following exams (Sales MB-210, Marketing MB-220, Customer Service MB-230, Field Service MB-240 and Solution Architect MB-600).
Exam PL-200 skills
This exam covers a number skills as shown in the exam page.
- Configure Microsoft Dataverse (25-30%)
- Create apps by using Power Apps (20-25%)
- Create and manage Power Automate (15-20%)
- Implement Power Virtual Agents chatbots (10-15%)
- Integrate Power Apps with other apps and services (15-20%)
