The Microsoft PL-200 exam, also known as Microsoft Power Platform Functional Consultant, is designed to test the candidate’s knowledge and skills in using Microsoft Power Platform to design and implement solutions that automate business processes, create dashboards and reports, and build chatbots and virtual agents.
Microsoft PL-200 Exam Glossary
- Power Platform: A low-code platform that allows you to build custom applications, automate workflows, and create business intelligence solutions.
- Common Data Service (CDS): A cloud-based data storage and management service that allows you to securely store and manage business data.
- Power Apps: A suite of apps, services, connectors, and data platforms that allow you to build custom business applications.
- Learn Power Automate: A cloud-based service that allows you to create automated workflows between applications and services.
- Power BI: A business analytics service that allows you to create interactive visualizations and reports.
- Chatbots and Virtual Agents: Software applications that can simulate human conversation using natural language processing (NLP) and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies.
- Model-driven apps: Power Apps that are built on top of the Common Data Service and provide a structured approach to data modeling and application development.
- Canvas apps: Power Apps that provide a more flexible approach to app development, allowing you to create custom user interfaces and workflows.
- Connectors: Pre-built connectors that allow you to integrate Power Platform with a wide range of external services and data sources.
- Power Platform administration: Managing users, environments, and security for Power Platform solutions.
- Solution design and development: Designing and building custom solutions using Power Platform.
- Next, Solution deployment and testing: Deploying and testing Power Platform solutions.
- Solution maintenance and support: Maintaining and supporting Power Platform solutions after they have been deployed.
Microsoft PL-200 Exam Guide
- Exam page: The official Microsoft PL-200 exam page provides an overview of the exam, its objectives, and the skills measured. You can also find information on the exam format, registration, and pricing. Here’s the link to the exam page: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/certifications/exams/pl-200
- Exam skills outline: The exam skills outline provides a detailed breakdown of the exam objectives and the percentage of questions related to each objective. This can help you focus your study efforts and ensure that you are well-prepared for the exam. You can find the exam skills outline on the exam page.
- Microsoft Learn: Microsoft Learn provides free online training courses and learning paths that cover the topics and skills measured on the PL-200 exam. You can take interactive modules, complete hands-on labs, and earn badges and certifications as you progress through the learning paths. Here’s the link to Microsoft Learn: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/certifications/pl-200
- Official PL-200 study guide: Microsoft offers an official study guide for the PL-200 exam that covers the exam objectives in detail and provides sample questions and exercises to help you prepare. The study guide is available for purchase from Microsoft Press. Here’s the link to the study guide: https://www.microsoftpressstore.com/store/microsoft-power-platform-functional-consultant-9780136916274
- Exam reference book: Microsoft also offers an official exam reference book for the PL-200 exam, which provides in-depth coverage of the exam objectives and includes real-world scenarios, case studies, and practice exercises. The reference book is available for purchase from Microsoft Press. Here’s the link to the exam reference book: https://www.microsoftpressstore.com/store/exam-ref-pl-200-microsoft-power-platform-functional-9780136877681
Microsoft PL-200 Exam Tips and Tricks
- Understand the exam format: The PL-200 exam consists of multiple-choice questions, with a time limit of 150 minutes to complete the exam. It is important to understand the exam format, how the questions are structured, and how you will be evaluated.
- Review the exam skills outline: The exam skills outline provides a detailed breakdown of the exam objectives and the percentage of questions related to each objective. Use this as a guide to focus your study efforts on the topics that are most important for the exam.
- Use Microsoft Learn: Microsoft Learn offers free online training courses and learning paths that cover the topics and skills measured on the PL-200 exam. Take advantage of these resources to gain a deeper understanding of Power Platform and improve your skills.
- Practice with sample questions: Practice makes perfect! Use the sample questions provided in the official study guide and exam reference book to test your knowledge and prepare for the exam.
- Join a study group or forum: Joining a study group or forum can help you connect with other PL-200 exam takers and share tips, strategies, and resources. You can also ask questions and get feedback from others who are preparing for the same exam.
- Get hands-on experience: Hands-on experience with Power Platform is key to understanding how it works in real-world scenarios. Consider taking on some Power Platform projects or working with a mentor to gain practical experience.
- Take breaks and manage your time: It’s important to take breaks and manage your time effectively while studying for the exam. Break up your study sessions into manageable chunks, take regular breaks, and try to maintain a healthy balance between studying and other activities.
Study Guide for Microsoft PL-200 Exam
For the PL-200 exam, you will undertake research, requirement capture, engagement with subject matter experts and stakeholders, requirement translation, and configuration of Microsoft Power Platform solutions and apps. Moreover, you will gain knowledge for obtaining skills for application upgrades, customized user experiences, system integrations, data conversions, custom process automation, and custom visualizations. So, let’s get into the exam details to get more clarity about the PL-200 exam!
Step 1: Understanding the exam requirement and format
The Microsoft PL-200 exam is for individuals with skills for using the design provided by a solution architect, as well as the standards, branding, and documents created by User Experience Designers. This exam enables you to create integrations that allow third-party apps and services to work together seamlessly. Furthermore, to achieve this, extensive collaboration with members of the quality assurance team is required to guarantee that solutions fulfill functional and non-functional criteria. And, this will also help in identifying, developing, and distributing artifacts for packaging and deployment to DevOps engineers, as well as providing Microsoft Power Platform administrators with operations and maintenance training.
Skills gained with the PL-200 exam:
- As a candidate for this certification, you will gather requirements and then implement Microsoft Power Platform solutions with the help of stakeholders and subject matter experts such as solution architects, developers, and testers. Model-driven, canvas, and portal applications are among the types of apps you may create.
- Secondly, you will also use Power BI visualization and dashboards to construct Power Automate processes, design chatbots with Power Virtual Agents, and analyze data using Power BI visualization and dashboards.
- Lastly, you will also develop bespoke user interfaces, system integrations, data conversions, custom process automation, and custom visualizations.
Role of a Functional Consultant:
Use this qualification to better promote yourself as a functional consultant for projects and other engagements. That is to say, Microsoft Functional Consultants are responsible for creating solutions that would ordinarily necessitate the use of a developer. Moreover, they should be knowledgeable about how to extend and configure Microsoft programs and services including Teams, Dynamics 365, Excel, and Word utilizing Microsoft Power Platform components.
Getting familiar with the Exam Format:
It is essential to have all of the necessary details for any certification exam so that you can receive a quick overview of the exam. To put it another way, exam details assist you in better understanding the exam method and pattern. Exam details for the Microsoft Power Platform Functional Consultant (PL-200) exam, on the other hand, are as follows:
- Firstly, the Microsoft PL-200 exam is can be considered as an associate-level exam. Passing this exam, will help you in becoming a Certified Microsoft Power Platform Functional Consultant Associate. Then, to pass the Microsoft PL-200 exam, there is a passing score of 700.
- Lastly, the Microosft PL-200 exam can be given in English and Japanese language. And, the cost for the exam is $165 USD.
You must know:
Related to the PL-200 exam, the rebranding of Common Data Service as Microsoft Dataverse was just finished by the product team. The security role of Common Data Service User has been renamed to Basic User. Secondly, the Microsoft Dataverse connector has replaced the Common Data Service connector. As of November 24, 2021, this change is shown on the exam.
Step 2: Grasping the PL-200 exam objectives
Understanding the primary areas and ideas using the test topics is essential for the Microsoft PL-200 exam. Exam objectives will assist you in better learning and understanding the difference. The following topics are covered in the Microsoft Power Platform Functional Consultant (PL-200) exam:
1. Configure Microsoft Dataverse (25-30%)
1.1 Manage a data model
- Create or modify standard, activity, or virtual tables
- create new tables or modify existing tables (Microsoft Documentation: Create a custom table, Editing Table)
- Determine which type of relationship to implement, including one-to-many and many-to-many (Microsoft Documentation: Table relationships, Create N:N (many-to-many) table relationships, Create one-to-many or many-to-one table relationships)
- configure table relationship including behaviors cascading rules (Microsoft Documentation: Configuring entity relationship cascading behavior, Table relationships)
- create new relationships or modify existing relationships (Microsoft Documentation: Create and edit One-to-many or Many-to-one table relationships, Create a relationship between tables)
- After that, create new columns or modify existing columns (Microsoft Documentation: Create and edit columns)
- configure table properties
1.2 Manage Dataverse
- Configure Dataverse search, and manage the search index
- After that, Managing auditing (Microsoft Documentation: Auditing, Configure entities and attributes for auditing)
- Describe options for importing and exporting data
- configure duplicate detection settings (Microsoft Documentation: Detect duplicate data, Enable and Disable duplicate detection, Set up duplicate detection)
- Configure bulk deletion
1.3 Configure security settings
- Firstly, Manage business units (Microsoft Documentation: Security concepts in Microsoft Dataverse, Create or edit business units)
- create and manage security roles (Microsoft Documentation: Create users and assign security roles, Security roles and privileges)
- After that, create and manage users and teams (Microsoft Documentation: Microsoft Dataverse for Teams environment, Create users and assign security roles)
- create and manage column security
- configure hierarchy security (Microsoft Documentation: Hierarchy security to control access)
- Configure Microsoft Entra ID group teams
2. Create apps by using Microsoft Power Apps (25-30%)
2.1 Create model-driven apps
- create and configure multiple forms types (Microsoft Documentation: Create and design model-driven app forms)
- Use controls in the form designer
- create and configure views (Microsoft Documentation: Create and edit public or system model-driven app views)
- Configure custom pages
- configure site maps and compose model-driven apps
- Configure modern commanding by using Power Fx
- Embed a canvas app in a model-driven app form
- Add Microsoft Power BI dashboards and reports in a model-driven app
2.2 Define canvas apps
- Describe canvas app structure
- Describe form navigation, formulas, variables and collections, and error handling (Microsoft Documentation: Back and Navigate functions in Power Apps, Understand variables in canvas apps, Errors function in Power Apps)
- Describe how Microsoft Power Automate flows are called from a canvas app
2.3 Build Microsoft Power Pages
- Configure pages, forms, and navigation (Microsoft Documentation: About basic forms, Manage web pages)
- Describe advanced Power Pages features, including document management, search, multi-step forms, and Power BI
- Configure website security including web roles and page access (Microsoft Documentation: Create web roles for portals)
- Describe use cases for templates (Microsoft Documentation: Use Word templates to create standardized documents)
- Describe authentication options
3. Create and manage logic and Process Automation (25-30%)
3.1 Create and manage cloud flows
- Firstly, describe types of flows, use cases and flow components including when to use a classic workflow (Microsoft Documentation: Different types of flows)
- Describe components of a connector
- Implement logic controls including branches, loops, conditions, error handling, and variables (Microsoft Documentation: Create loops that repeat workflow actions, Handle errors and exceptions in Azure Logic Apps)
- Implement dynamic content and expressions
- Work with the Dataverse connector
- Test and troubleshoot flows (Microsoft Documentation: Troubleshooting a cloud flow)
3.2 Create and manage business process flows
- configure a business process flow (Microsoft Documentation: Create a business process flow)
- Add stages, workflows, and action steps to a business process flow (Microsoft Documentation: Create a business process flow)
- Manage the business process flow table for a business process flow (Microsoft Documentation: Business process flows)
3.3 Create and manage classic Dataverse workflows
- Configure a workflow
- Troubleshoot workflows (Microsoft Documentation: Troubleshoot and diagnose workflow failures in Azure Logic Apps)
- Manage workflow logs
3.4 Implement low-code logic
- Configure low-code plug-ins
- Write and use Power Fx functions and formulas
- Create and configure business rules
4. Define an environment strategy (15–20%)
4.1 Participate in Application Lifecycle Management (ALM)
- Describe use cases for App Checker and Solution Checker (Microsoft Documentation: Use the solution checker to validate your model-driven apps in Power Apps)
- Create and manage solutions (Microsoft Documentation: Solutions overview)
- Describe the difference between managed and unmanaged solutions (Microsoft Documentation: Solution concepts)
- Manage Microsoft Power Platform environments for development
- Import and export Dataverse solutions
4.2 Describe interoperability with other services
- Configure email integration
- Configure Microsoft SharePoint integration
- Describe options for document management
- Work with Microsoft Word templates
Step 3: Upgrading preparation level with Microsoft Learning Path
Microsoft provides learning paths that are divided into sections and contain the required material to help you comprehend and learn while preparing for the Power Platform Functional Consultant (PL-200) exam. Some of the learning pathways for the Microsoft Power Platform Functional Consultant (PL-200) exam include:
• Get started using Dataverse
This learning path will teach the fundamentals underlying Dataverse as well as its benefits. Also, there’s information on setting up an environment, entities, fields, and options sets.
Prerequisites:
Features and activities in this learning path require a valid Power Apps license and being a member of the Administrator Role in an environment. If you have not been assigned a Power Apps license or have not been added to the Administrator Role, you should build a personal environment by going to the Community Power Apps plan and following the guidelines in the overview part of the first module to set up a personal environment. The Community plan gives you access to all of the features of a Power Apps license while only requiring you to use one environment (your Developer environment).
Reference: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/paths/get-started-cds/
• Manage permissions and administration for Dataverse
You will learn the process of controlling permissions linked with environments and entities in this learning path. You’ll also learn how to use various administrative portals of how to use.
Prerequisites:
Features and activities in this learning path require a valid Power Apps license and being a member of the Administrator Role in an environment. If you have not been assigned a Power Apps license or have not been added to the Administrator Role, you should build a personal environment by going to the Community Power Apps plan and following the guidelines in the overview part of the first module to set up a personal environment.
Further, the Community plan gives you access to all of the features of a Power Apps license while only requiring you to use one environment (your Developer environment). If you wish to follow along with the instructions described in this learning path, sign up for a Community Power Apps plan today using the link in the summary part of this module one.
Reference: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/paths/manage-permissions-administration-common-data-service/
• Building a canvas app: Power Apps
This path guides you through the basics of Power Apps, including how to develop and configure an app, as well as how to manage and distribute it.
Prerequisites:
- Knowledge of,
- OneDrive
- SharePoint
- Excel.
Reference: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/paths/create-powerapps/
• Buidling a model-driven application: Power Apps
This learning path will show you how to utilize Dataverse to create a model-driven app in Power Apps.
Prerequisites:
- Knowledge of,
- Power Apps
- Excel
- Power Automate.
Reference: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/paths/create-app-models-business-processes/
• Building a business process flow: Power Automate
This learning path will show you how to use Power Automate to create business process flows.
Prerequisites:
- Knowledge of Microsoft Power Automate.
Reference: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/paths/create-business-process-flow/
• Beginning with Power Automate buttons
This learning path shows you how to design button flows and exposes you to Power Automate buttons.
Prerequisites:
- Knowledge of Microsoft Power Automate.
- Understanding the methods involved in developing an event-driven flow and using a Power Automate licence on a mobile device.
Reference: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/paths/get-started-power-automate-buttons/
• Building and using analytics reports: Power BI
This learning path will show you how to utilize and create business intelligence reports using Power BI.
Prerequisites:
- Firstly, knowledge of Excel
- Then, access to the Power BI service
- Lastly, knowledge of Power BI Desktop
Reference: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/paths/create-use-analytics-reports-power-bi/
• Creating bots with Power Virtual Agents
This Learning Path begins with bot creation, continues through bot enhancement, and concludes with bot management.
Prerequisites:
- Access to Power Virtual Agents.
Reference: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/paths/work-power-virtual-agents/
• Bringing AI to business: AI Builder
This learning path guides you through AI Builder, teaches you how to create models, and shows you how to utilize them in Power Apps and Power Automate.
Prerequisites:
- Registered for Power Apps or Power Automate
- Then, access to Microsoft Dataverse
Reference: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/paths/bring-ai/
Step 4: Getting hands-on experience using Instructor-led Training
For the Microsoft PL-200 exam, Microsoft provides instructor-led training. This includes:
Microsoft Power Platform Functional Consultant
This course will teach you the process of discovering requirements, capturing them, engaging subject matter experts and stakeholders, translating them, and configuring Microsoft Power Platform solutions and apps. You’ll also utilize hands-on labs to design application upgrades, bespoke user experiences, system connectors, data conversions, custom process automation, and custom visualizations to augment their learning.
Further, this covers components such as Power Apps, Power Automate, Power BI, and Power Virtual Agents. We’ll also go through these four components in this course, with a special emphasis on Microsoft Dataverse, AI Builder, connections, and portals.
Audience Profile
This course requires the skills of a functional consultant. However, a Microsoft Power Platform Functional Consultant is responsible for developing and configuring apps, automation, and solutions for the Microsoft Power Platform. Moreover, they function as a point of contact for users and the implementation team. Within a company, the functional consultant advocates the use of solutions.
The functional consultant furthermore, can do research, meet with experts and stakeholders, collect requirements, and map requirements to features. For example, application upgrades, bespoke user experiences, system connections, data translations, custom process automation, and simple visualizations are some of the solutions they execute.
Step 5: Evaluate yourself with Practice Tests: Microsoft PL-200 Exam
It is important to take practice examinations in order to improve and level up your preparation. You will be able to examine yourself as well as learn about your weak and strong areas with these tests. But the most essential thing is to obtain the greatest Microsoft PL-200 practice exams available. There are several PL-200 training resources available that are offering unique exam practice tests. However, you must perform some study in order to obtain the best practice exams.
Expert’s Corner
Holding a Microsoft Power Platform certification will help you grow your business and increase your recruiting and promotion possibilities. That is to say, the demand for jobs requiring this accreditation has increased significantly. As a result, passing the Microsoft PL-200 test may result in numerous opportunities and assist you in pursuing your desired career path. So, it is critical to study hard and expand knowledge. You can use various helpful resources, details, training, and practice tests to assist you to pass the exam utilizing the above information to help you become Microsoft Certified: Power Platform Developer Associate. Lastly, start preparing well for the exam.
