In the middle of next month (May 18, 2022) the MS-900 exam gets it’s first major overhaul in quite a while. If you are going to be sitting the exam prior to this date, I strongly recommend you use this earlier resource guide as it will more closely map to the current (at time of writing) exam. Normally exam description updates are refinements and corrections to the previous one, but not this time. There has been a major restructure, the weighting of sections has changed, and some topics have been added while others have been removed.
A change I was hoping to see has been included – the inclusion of Windows 365, which is definitely a better fit than Azure Virtual Desktop. However… Azure Virtual Desktop is still included, including another thing I thought might be included including why you would choose one over the other. Otherwise you will notice that while things initially look different, there is still a huge amount of overlap with the previous exam description, but the structure has changed. Mentions of Azure, Dynamics, PowerApps, and System Center (incorrectly included for quite a while) have been removed, amongst others.
If I’ve missed anything in the change let me know, reorganizing and adding new entries means there’s a pretty good chance I’ve messed something up. If there are other Microsoft exams you are considering, here’s the link to the latest exam resource guides that I’ve been updating.
Describe cloud concepts (10-15%)
Describe the different types of cloud services available
- describe Microsoft’s IaaS, and PaaS offerings
- cloud-based productivity solutions for organizations and individuals
- describe differences between Office 365, Microsoft 365, and Windows 365
Describe the benefits of and considerations for using cloud, hybrid, or on-premises
services
- describe public, private, and hybrid scenarios
- compare advantages of cloud-based versus on-premises services
- identify factors that drive organizations to move to the cloud
- describe hybrid working strategies, flexible working strategies, and frontline workers
Describe Core Microsoft 365 Services and Concepts (50-55%)
Describe productivity solutions in Microsoft 365
- describe the core productivity and teamwork capabilities in Microsoft 365 including Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft 365 apps, and OneDrive
- describe Microsoft 365 Apps including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote
- describe work management capabilities in Microsoft 365 including Project, Planner, Bookings, and ToDo (Tasks)
- describe business class email and calendaring solutions with Microsoft Exchange
Describe collaboration solutions in Microsoft 365
- describe the collaboration capabilities in Microsoft 365 including Microsoft Teams, Teams Phone, Yammer, SharePoint, and Stream
- describe the collaboration workloads of Microsoft Teams and the value that they provide
- describe the core employee experience capabilities in Microsoft Viva
- describe the ways that you can extend Microsoft Teams by using collaborative apps
- describe the features of Microsoft SharePoint and Microsoft OneDrive that promote collaboration
- describe how Yammer helps communities connect and grow
Describe endpoint modernization, management concepts, and deployment options in
Microsoft 365
- describe the endpoint management capabilities of Microsoft 365 including Microsoft Endpoint Manager (MEM), Windows 365 Cloud PC, and Azure Virtual Desktop.
- Cloud PC lifecycle
- Device management overview for Cloud PCs
- Microsoft Endpoint Manager and Intune for Azure Virtual Desktop
- Microsoft Endpoint Manager overview
- Manage devices
- Choose between MDM for Office 365 and Microsoft Intune
- Use app protection policies
- Windows enrollment methods
- What is Intune app management?
- compare the capabilities of Windows 365 and Azure Virtual Desktop and when it makes sense to implement either
- describe the deployment and release models for Windows-as-a-Service (WaaS) including deployment rings
- identify deployment and servicing methods for Microsoft 365 apps
Describe analytics capabilities in Microsoft 365
- describe the capabilities of Viva Insights
- describe the capabilities of the Microsoft 365 Admin center and Microsoft 365 user portal
- describe the reports available in the Microsoft 365 Admin center and other admin centers
Describe security, compliance, privacy, and trust in Microsoft 365 (15–
20%)
Explain zero-trust security principles for Microsoft 365
- identify key components that need to be protected within an organization’s cloud and on-premises infrastructure
- describe the principle of least privileged access
- describe the principle of explicit verification
- describe the principle of assumed breaches
Describe identity and access management solutions in Microsoft 365
- describe the identity and access management capabilities in Microsoft 365 including Azure Active Directory and Azure Identity
- describe cloud identity, on-premises identity, and hybrid identity concepts
- describe the purpose and value of implementing multi-factor authentication (MFA)
- describe the purpose and value of conditional access
Describe threat protection solutions in Microsoft 365
- describe Microsoft 365 Defender, Defender for Endpoint, Defender for Office 365, Defender for Identity, and the Microsoft Defender Portal
- describe Microsoft Secure Score benefits and capabilities
- describe the most common types of threats against endpoints, applications, and identities
- describe how Microsoft addresses the most common threats
- describe how threat mitigation can be automated with artificial intelligence by using Microsoft 365 and Azure Sentinel
Describe trust, privacy, and compliance solutions in Microsoft 365
- describe compliance solutions in Microsoft 365
- identify differences between the Service Trust portal and Compliance Manager
- describe how Microsoft supports data residency to ensure regulatory compliance
- describe information protection and governance options including data loss prevention (DLP) classification labels
- describe Compliance Manager, Compliance Scores, and the benefits that they can provide to an organization
- describe insider risk management solutions to protect against internal threats
- describe auditing and eDiscovery solutions
- describe privacy management concepts
- describe Microsoft’s privacy principles
Describe Microsoft 365 Pricing and Support (10-15%)
Plan, predict, and compare pricing
- describe the pricing model for Microsoft cloud services including enterprise agreements, cloud solution providers, direct billing
- describe available billing and bill management options including billing frequency and methods of payment
Identify licensing options available in Microsoft 365
- describe the available base licensing and management options
- describe add-on licensing options
Describe the Microsoft 365 service lifecycle
- describe private, public preview, and general availability (GA) options
- describe the correlation between lifecycle options and pricing
- describe use cases and capabilities for the Microsoft 365 Roadmap portal
Describe support offerings for Microsoft 365 services
- describe how to create a support request for Microsoft 365 services
- describe service level agreements (SLAs) concepts including uptime principles, service credits for refunds, SLA tiers, roles, and responsibilities
- determine service health status by using the Microsoft 365 dashboard or the tenant dashboard
- describe how organizations can communicate with Microsoft about product and service improvement