Certification Updates!

Last week was already a great week with these amazing things:

• My Microsoft Data Platform MVP renewal
• The delivery of an MVP thank you kit, containing an MVP mug, hoody and sticker, by the MVP team

Thanks @Microsoft @MS_KellyKaye and @TinaStenderup for this amazing MVP gift package! https://t.co/HprkpcYF1n pic.twitter.com/3V8hhg9EW4

— Nicky van Vroenhoven (@NickyvV) July 6, 2022

But aparently there was more! 😀

I noticed this weekend that several other people received their results on the DP-500 exam:  Designing and Implementing Enterprise-Scale Analytics Solutions Using Microsoft Azure and Microsoft Power BI, so I thought I'd check out mine too.

And you might have already guessed it: I passed! 🥳

DP-500 History

Almost 2 months ago I took the (then beta) exam DP-500, on which I wrote about earlier how to master this exam.

As the name of the exam suggests, this is not an exam for beginners. To recap a little bit from my previous blog post, the exam covers the following products/services:

• Microsoft Power BI, including some external tools
• Microsoft Purview (a.k.a. Azure Purview)
• Azure Synapse Analytics
• Azure Data Lake Gen2
• DevOps

At the end of June, the exam went live, so it's no longer in beta. This also means there is now an official course available. Although I think you could manage just fine with all the online material there is already. I mentioned quite a few in my last post. And new materials have already been added to that list, for example the newest course on PluralSight, called Optimize Enterprise-scale Data Models - DP-500, by friend and fellow MVP Nikola Ilic (@DataMozart, B).

But depending on the type of learner you are, you might do better with an in-class training, so it all depends... 😁

Never stop learning

I honoustly did not think I passed the exam, because it covers quite a few topics I do not master yet, or haven't touched that often. 

DP-500 Score report

And according to the scoring report I received, I still have some things to do on the following topics:

• Query and transform data (mainly Synapse questions for me I think hope 😀)
  This part of the exam covers:
• Query data by using Azure Synapse Analytics
• Ingest and transform data by using Power BI
• Explore and visualize data (also mainly Synapse, and some R/Python in Power BI probably)
  This part covers:
• Explore data by using Azure Synapse Analytics
• Visualize data by using Power BI

You can check out the detailed outline and all the subtopics off the exam here.

Renewed Certification

Last but not least, I also renewed my PL-300 certification (a.k.a. DA-100), the Power BI Data Analyst Associate. I got a notification that renewal was possible. It only took me 15-20 minutes, online behind my laptop. So no exam site or proctored exam room this time.

I made it with 96% of the questions right, I missed (I think) 1 question in data modeling 😇

Do you have any plans for exams? Did you get any certifications lately?

If you have any remarks and/or questions about one of these topics I mentioned, please let me know!

Mastering The Role-based DP-500 Exam

In our world of data, I don't think we ever stop learning. In January 2021 I got both the DA-100 (now PL-300) and PL-900 certifications. But lately I've been busy learning again for a specific purpose. That purpose is the DP-500 exam, which I have scheduled to take for next week.
In case you are wondering: DP-500, is that a new exam? Yes it is! However, it's still in beta. That doesn't have to be an issue, there are just a few things you need to be aware of.

First, you will not immediately get your score after you take the exam, these will only be calculated when it goes out of beta. The exam is still in beta because they want to gather feedback on the quality of the exam and the questions. They might need to fix questions, or improve the quality or accuracy based on the data and comments from the participants. Usually, the scores to the exam will be released 10 business days after the exam goes live.

Second, the exam details page will list the skills measured, as well as a more detailed PDF, but there are no preparation materials, like learning paths, modules or instructor-led training. However, our amazing Power BI community already got you covered for a large part, more on that later.

Next, a good thing: you mostly get a nice discount to beta exams, if you act in time that is 😀. On April 19th, a post went out on the Tech Community site announcing the new exam and a discount code for the first 300 people scheduling it.

Azure Enterprise Data Analyst Associate

Now onto the exam, its full name is: Designing and Implementing Enterprise-Scale Analytics Solutions Using Microsoft Azure and Microsoft Power BI.

Let that sink in for a while. Designing, implementing, an enterprise-scale solution, with Azure and Power BI. That means it will cover the following products/services:

• Microsoft Power BI, including some external tools
• Microsoft Purview (a.k.a. Azure Purview)
• Azure Synapse Analytics
• Azure Data Lake Gen2
• DevOps

This exam is required for the new Microsoft Certified: Azure Enterprise Data Analyst Associate certification.

Are you interested to know where this certification/exam fits into the bigger picture, or are you interested in other certifications? Have a look at the Microsoft Certification poster.

Skills measured

This is the overview of the skills measured, you can download a detailed PDF here.

• Implement and manage a data analytics environment (25–30%)
• Query and transform data (20–25%)
• Implement and manage data models (25–30%)
• Explore and visualize data (20–25%)

I'm not going into more detail, because Andy Cutler and Nikola Ilic teamed up and did a great job already: New Certification: Microsoft Certified Azure Enterprise Data Analyst Associate.

He also lists resources for studying for every subject in the skills measured section.

Resources for studying

Next to the curated page by Andy, I find the below resources to be very helpful during my learning journey:

• Nikola Ilic (@DataMozart) has some great posts already on his blog, more are added every week
• Andy Cutler (@MrAndyCutler) has a YouTube channel and a blog
• Andy and Nikola are also doing a session at Dataweekender covering the skills needed for this exam: The Essential Guide to the new Azure Enterprise Data Analyst Associate Certification
• Wolfgang Strasser (@wstrasser) has a section on Purview on his blog
• Erwin de Kreuk (@ErwindeKreuk) also has great content on Purview and Synapse
• MS Learn content around the skills and products
• I created my own DP-500 collection

Are you interested in taking this exam, or maybe you already took it?

What do you think of it and would it be a good fit for you?

Let me know if you have any questions or comments.

Suggested reading: MDX Date Picker, MS Certification Paths, Dynamics 365

I found some posts, news and came across some issues you might be interested in.

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I'm creating some reports for a client and am working with SSAS Tabular. I therefore have to deal with MDX based parameters and I wanted to have my date parameter to resemble a Date Picker as you normally would have when using SQL Server as a source:

• Calendar Date Picker for MDX based SSRS Reports on MSSQLTips.com

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Microsoft has changed their MCSA and MCSE exams by aligning to industry-recognized areas of competence. There's no need anymore to recertify every (three) year, but you can re-earn you certification each year. Due to the fact that the technology changes faster than a few years ago, (SQL Server had changes in the way updates were rolled out earlier this year, Azure changes almost every week) they decided to switch to a more aligned model for certification.

Certification paths

The Data Management & Analytics Path is most appropriate for me and in detail looks like this:

What this means is you will have to earn one of the MCSA's listed here and then take one elective exam to earn the MCSE. You can then re-earn the MCSE each year by taking a new elective exam and in this way adding knowledge every year.
The Microsoft Learning team is already developing a solution where some exams will be eligible for a retake every (calendar) year with rapidly changing technologies, for example Azure.
You can find more information here:

• Microsoft Streamlines Technical Certifications by Larry Kaye on Born To Learn
• Top 12 Questions About the New Streamlined Certification Paths by Larry Kaye on Born To Learn
• Microsoft Certification Changes by James Serra on his blog

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Since I made the switch to Pulse I started working with Dynamics AX, Microsoft's ERP system. This Tuesday Microsoft had a First Look event at the AXUG Summit 2016 on (the new) Dynamics 365 for Operations, which is the new name for Dynamics AX. Dynamics NAV is also renamed and is now called Dynamics 365 for Financials.

I came across a very good blog by Fredrik Sætre (b | @AxFredrik) which summarizes the First Look event very well. He speaks about the Common Data Model that will be replacing the Entity Story introduced earlier in AX 2012 R2 and will be the core of Dynamics 365, for AX, NAV and CRM.