Office 365 Certification, Study Guide, and the Small Business Competency

So it's been a couple months since Microsoft announced the new Office 365 exams and it looks like they've added another one.  The first two are required for the MCP and MCTS certs.  The new one is a Microsoft Office Specialist exam and covers features and end-user support ans experience mostly.

Exam 70-321 Pro: Deploying Office 365
Exam 70-323 MCTS: Administering Office 365
Exam 77-891 MOS: Microsoft Office 365, and Features

70-321 has no prep materials from MeasureUp or SelfTest yet.

70-323 has an e-learning course listed, 10954AE, although there appears to be no way to access the materials.  When I search on the Microsoft Online Training page I receive links back to the tests, not to any course, and the site appears broken (maybe I should try again later) because every time I try to search the course catalog I get an error page instead.

There are also no classroom or Microsoft Press books yet for either one. For future updates on prep materials see 70-321 Prep Materials and 70-323 Prep Materials.  See my earlier article Office 365 Exams & Certifications in April! for more on the first two Office 365 exams, 70-321 and 70-323.

77-891 is listed as an "Exam in development." I found the MOS Study Guide for Microsoft Office 365, though I'm confused as to why they released a study guide for an exam that hasn't been released yet... especially when there are no resources for the other two exams yet.  Note that MOS stands for "Microsoft Office Specialist" and isn't one of the premium Microsoft certifications.  Taking this test shows you know the end-user experience for the product, but demonstrates little with regards to administration, migration, etc.  Maybe that is why the study guide came out first for 77-891... its more of an entry-level exam.

Small Business Competency
Microsoft did announce that 70-321 and 70-323 would count toward the Small Business Competency for Partners.

You can learn more about the requirements for Silver at Earn the Silver Small Business competency.

You can learn more about the upgrade to Gold at Earn the Gold Small Business competency.

Essentially though, you can obtain the competencies by having one person passing two exams (77-321 & 77-323 when they are released) plus meeting some business and/or revenue requirements and paying a fee.  To earn the Gold you have to have two people pass two exams instead and more of everything else.

Note that other competencies seem to require more MCPs to pass tests than does the Small Business Competency it seems.  That makes sense I guess because many partner organizations that serve Small and Medium Businesses (SMBs) are themselves small.

How To Certify

Well, two of the tests are available but the study materials are scant.  There are some third-party books available for Office 365 but if you search Amazon.com for either 70-321 or 70-323 you get a list of O-rings.  The Amazon books I found on Office 365 are general books on the subject mostly and do not seem to prepare you specifically for an exam.

I guess if you're comfortable with the component products and have studied the materials that are available on the Office 365 Wiki and the Office 365 Deployment Guide you should be able to take the tests with hands-on experience.  I've heard some people say the tests were easy and some say they took multiple times to pass.  I haven't tried yet but am planning to soon.  I'll post an update when I do.

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Overland Park Microsoft Store Grand Opening

Oak Park Mall Microsoft Store Coming Soon!

I had a chance to stop by the new Microsoft Store in Overland Park at the Oak Park Mall yesterday morning, and it was busy!

I'm sure some of the interest was really for Blake Shelton, but plenty of people stuck around and shopped too.

For those of you who haven't visited a Microsoft Store before its a lot like Apple stores.  They have Microsoft products like software, hardware and whatnot.  They also have lots of products from Microsoft OEM partners like Samsung and HP.

When I arrived I was met by a couple 'softies I know from the Overland Park Microsoft office.  As a Microsoft Partner I was pointed to a separate table set up for just Partners.  I was greeted again and handed a nice portable folding backpack-chair before I headed in to the store proper.

Microsoft Store Entrance

At the entrance there was a long line of people waiting to take the Windows Phone Challenge.  They give you a list of actions to perform on a Windows 7 Phone and if you can beat it with a non-Microsoft phone you had a chance at a $1,000 (or $100?) gift card.

I bypassed the line (can't waste work hours playing games, right?) and went on in to the store.  The store itself is brightly lit and inviting.  There are rows of LCD monitors down both walls, looking almost like a single long monitor.  There were rows of neatly arranged desks in the front of the store with a service counter / cashier in the middle toward the back.  In the rear of the store was a "theater."  I think that's stretching the term a bit, it's really just a medium-sized room behind the counter, separated by a glass panel.  There were seats and tables and what might have been a presentation area.  Apparently you can reserve it for events.  It is also used for Summer Camps for kids ages 8-13.

There are a series of events planned at the store already.  You can check the store website at http://content.microsoftstore.com/store/detail/Overland-Park-KS to sign up for events and camps and get information about the store and services they offer.  Among the events are an Overland Park Chamber of Commerce breakfast reception today, a dance competition on the Xbox, and a few training classes on Microsoft Office applications (Word and Publisher so far).

Continuing through the store, I found areas with different focuses.  There was an area near the entrance with Windows 7 Phones.  Moving back in to the store on the left side were business solutions and Microsoft hardware/software areas.

There was a good selection of various different vendor solutions that ran Microsoft products as well as the Microsoft products themselves.  You can purchase most of what is on display right within the store itself.  It's also a hardware repair and software troubleshooting depot.  They service many major manufacturer's equipment either in-store or through mail-in service.  They offer hardware and software installation services for products purchased in-store as well.

There was an area set up toward the back on the left side where they had an Xbox and Kinect set up.  I saw kids busy back there for the whole time I was in the store.  They're smart to put out stuff to keep kids busy while the parents shop.  Although... to me, the whole store is a toy store... who needs the Xbox?  There were PC games and hardware accessories back in that same area as well.

Along the right side of the store I didn't see much in the "Cloud Services" area except more computers and some tablet PCs (no Surface yet!) on display.  Hopefully that will change and they'll get some good Office 365, InTune and Azure messaging and demos going!

Speaking of tablets, you can't see very well in the picture but they had several there including a Samsung that was loaded with a preview Windows 8 Pro version.  I got a demo of the device and it was impressive.  I'm interested in replacing my aging Acer Iconia a500 with something on which I can actually do some work.  I think a Windows 8 Pro tablet might be the answer... I'll definitely have a look at the Microsoft Surface when it comes out.

The kids that weren't playing or in line for the Xbox were all hanging out on the other side of the store... where the Xbox games were.  They had a pretty good selection of Xbox games and accessories out although I didn't look too closely... I don't have an Xbox.  Maybe I'll grab a 360 S when the Surface comes out and use SmartGlass on my new Surface.  By then my aging Wii will probably need replacing...  I'm sure my kids would approve!

 

I'm excited to have a new place to hang out in the mall.  Before, it was either Gamestop or Brookstone. Now I have twice as many gadgets to look at while my wife shops!  Is it an Apple Store?  No.  It's not quite like anything else I've seen.  Will it be successful?  Considering that the store's purpose is really to build brand awareness and identity I think it's right where it should be.

Enjoy the new store... I will!

Microsoft Store Logo

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Linux, Linux! Wherefore Art Thou Linux?

I continue to hear geeks (like me) talk about Linux and how it's going to eventually rule the Operating System (O/S) space eventually.  They say, "Look at Android!" and I say, "Look at Chromebook!"

I agree Linux is a great operating system and has come far from the early days when you had to deal with complicated and inaccessible command lines and customer configurations.  On the other hand though, the thing that continues to hamper Linux both at home and in business is applications.

Yes, you can get some Microsoft Office look-alike programs that do 50-80% of what Microsoft's versions do, but you don't get support for those (community support aside) without paying extra.  You're not going to run a business on something with no support.  When you add support in, it still costs less than Microsoft's Office, but its not nearly such a good deal any more.

Office isn't the only app at issue either... can you run Quickbooks on Linux? (I honestly haven't checked lately, but I'm guessing not.)  Can you run your company's tightly-integrated Windows-based ERP system on Linux?  The number of top-tier software companies that support Linux is expanding, but it's just not there yet.

Until you have good solutions for the app problem, Linux will remain the red-headed stepchild in the O/S space.  Cloud has the potential to even the playing field somewhat, but look at Google Chromebooks... the technology is there but they fell flat on their face with the marketing.  They have the same app problem Linux does too... there's only so much available for the Chromebook and there aren't enough cloud-based services to satisfy people (at least not yet).

Android is the stand out in the lineup.  And why has Android succeeded while Linux has not?  Because of apps.  Initially, nobody besides geeks (like me again) bought the devices, but as the number of apps exploded so did the platform.  It doesn't matter how good your O/S is, if you can't DO anything with it, nobody will buy.

So, until Linux (and Google's Chromebooks) proves to people (especially businesses) that they are ready for the enterprise they'll remain what they are... cool toys for geeks like us.

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