I am about to commence my revision for the MB-230 exam. This exam is for Microsoft Dynamics 365 and covers all aspects of customer service. As I revise I plan to publish blog posts that collectively will become a complete revision guide for anyone embarking on the same journey as me.

Who should study to MB-230

Anyone who wishes to gain the “Dynamics 365 Customer Service Functional Consultant Associate” badge will need to pass the MB 230 exam. (In addition to the Power Platform Functional Consultant exam, PL-200).

But why would you want to be a “Dynamics 365 Customer Service Functional Consultant Associate”? (Catchy name!!) Well, this badge demonstrates to employers that you have a deep understanding of the Power Platform and also specifically the functionality associated with all things customer service related.

Developers, business analysts, testers and more may find holding this badge beneficial. In fact pretty much anyone involved in the deployment of Dynamics 365 systems for customer service.

Renewals?

If you already have the MB 230 exam but your certificate is due to expire you may be eligible for a renewal! I recently had an email explaining that I needed to renew my “Dynamics 365 Customer Service Functional Consultant Associate” certificate. I’ve shown a copy of the email below, so you know what to look out for!

You will find that the renewal process includes a set of multiple choice questions that can be completed as a “simple” online survey. One major bonus being that I managed to complete this process for no cost.

If you are confident with the Dynamics 365 customer service you may feel able to dive straight in and take this online assessment. I would however suggest you pause and think before jumping in. (I passed my renewal but I honestly wish I hadn’t rushed!!)

You will almost certainly find that the questions will focus on the latest features or areas of the skills measuerd more recently added to the exam. With MB 230 in mind this might include more recently added topics like Omnichannel and more. So if you aren’t familiar with the latest features maybe some revision prior to taking the renewal test will help you??? (And anyway a bit of revision on your favourite subject won’t hurt you!)

What the exam covers

I will give you a break down of the specific skills measured later in this post but initially let’s consider at a high level what knowledge this exam will require you to possess.

Firstly you will need to understand quite a bit around cases. This isn’t a surprise as the case is the primary entity in customer service. You will need to understand everything connected with the management of cases including things like record creation rules, service level agreements, entitlements and much more.

Next you will need to be aware of how creating a knowledge base might help in customer service scenarios.

Queuing work is an important concept in many customer service processes. So you will need to understand how to define queues and how users might interact with queues.

Scheduling work is also a common challenge, so you will obviously need to understand how to define resources and schedule work for them.

Talking with the customer is important! This is where Omnichannel comes into play. Meaning you will need to understand how to define various digital communication channels and how you route the right conversations to the correct agents.

And finally you will need to understand what reporting / analytic capabilities are available to allow organisations to analyse their performance and identify areas which can be improved.

Exam preparation tips

Get a trial … you can sign up for a free 30 day trial at “trials.dynamics.com”. In my opinion having a trial instance to ensure you get plenty of hands on practice is essential. You can learn a lot by reading blogs and documentation about Dynamics 365 and the Power Platform. But when it comes down to it there is no substitute for getting your hands dirty. Use the product as much as possible as part of your revision.

Plan … you may have taken multiple Microsoft certifications before. Maybe you have even taken one of the previous Customer Service certifications. (For example, MB2-718.) This means you may feel you already know many of the skills measured in great detail. But you should still try to plan your revision carefully. Dynamics 365 is a massive product and you may find yourself being tempted into reviewing many topics outside the scope of the MB-230 exam. This is why I always start my revision process by printing off the skills measured statement. I then highlight all of the topics I know I need to review. This process allows me to be clear on what I need to learn. I can create a list of revision topics and tick them off as completed. Meaning I ensure I cover everything required and also I avoid “wasting time” reading irrelevant material.

Don’t rely on one source of information! … Hopefully this series of blog posts will prove useful. But I strongly encourage you to not rely on it! There are many blogs out there which are written by Dynamics 365 fans, Microsoft Certified Trainers and MVPs. Seek out these blogs and read as many as possible. Also, read and re-read as much information as you can from docs.microsoft.com … reading some of the content can occasionally be hard work! But there is no better source for information about Dynamics 365!

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/customer-service/

Skills Measured

So, as promised earlier, I have given a breakdown of the skills measured below.

Again I encourage you to look at the Microsoft content! As they do update the skills measured from time to time. And depending on when you are reading this blog post additional items may have been included! Or some old subjects removed.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/certifications/exams/mb-230

Hopefully this post has given you a good over of the MB 230 exam. In future posts I will complete a deep dive into each of the skills measured mentioned above with an aim of creating a pretty comprehensive revision guide.