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LAST UPDATED: 20/01/2020 (v.2.0)
In 2019 I predicted that many IT pros would opt to do MS-300 purely because of Teams. I also predicted that Teams would eventually go on to have an exam all of its own. And whilst, admittedly, it wasn’t MS-400 we now have MS-700 – Managing Microsoft Teams. Announced at Microsoft Ignite in November the delegate achieves the new role of Teams Administrator Associate should they pass the singular MS-700.
At this point, I think it’s fair to say that MS-700 will be one of the more sought after associate exams – standalone or as the workload for the Microsoft 365 Enterprise Admin Expert. Why? Because Teams is relevant. It’s an exciting application. It’s central to what Microsoft is doing. It resonates. It has a massive die-hard following. If you follow my blog you know that I am not one for empty platitudes and superlatives so let’s take it back to what the numbers tell us – at Enterprise Connect (last March) we saw that there there are over 500,000 organisations using Teams. 91% of the Fortune 500. 44 languages in 181 markets. At Inspire (last July) we saw that it had topped 13 Million DAU and surpassed Slack with Microsoft expecting MAU to rise a whopping 275% by July 2020. Later that month, Microsoft was identified as a Leader in Unified Communications (UC) on the Gartner Magic Quadrant. At Ignite (last November) the trigger was pulled on a ton of long-awaited features – Private Channels, multi-window, live captions in meetings, the new files experience, a new task experience and channel pinning. Numbers which are now floating around put DAU within the 18-20 Million range
In short, lots and lots of us are going to be well up for this one
To understand MS-700 – have a read through the skills outline. There is one word which crops up time and time again. It’s also in the title of the exam. This word is manage. MS-700 is an exam designed for the all-up administrator. It’s not one aimed at the developer, nor the voice or endpoint specialist. If it could be boiled down to an RBAC role then it would be the Teams Service Administrator who manages it in a typical mid-size business on a day-to-day basis. These administrators are fluent in the TAC, have performed a hands-on migration from Skype to Teams, have configured audio conferencing and calling, have read the weekly usage reports, have built policies, who understand the Teams lifecycle, the architecture, how to configure a Teams room system and how and when to use Powershell.
When taking it – and I actually waited until after Ignite when I was back in the solemn spartan meeting room I always use to take exams – the first thing I noticed is that, like MS-300, it’s fair and well designed. I always like to shout out when an exam is clearly done by those who have experience based in reality. It’s not broad to the point of being unwieldy nor is it ridiculously deep and granular. No cheap questions. No questions out of left field. It doesn’t contain excessive amounts of Powershell. If you have truly engaged with and managed Teams for a period of 12 to 24 months you should be familiar with – or have likely touched – 90% of what is here and in consequence you will be able to have a right good go at it. However, I would be remiss if I didn’t add that I would strongly recommend experience with voice. A significant proportion of MS-700 is devoted to it perhaps up to 40% when networking is factored in. If your management experience has been limited to a voice-less Teams instance then this could very well be a struggle. If you are a Microsoft partner then demos.microsoft.com is your friend – otherwise, time to trial out phone system, audio conferencing and those domestic and international call plans for a few months.
Fire up the network planner and go build those auto attendants and call queues
As always, best of luck!
Link to Exam: Here
Released: 4th November 2019
Practice Test: Available 2020
MOC Course: Available 2020
MS Learn: Modules available (does not currently cover the whole exam)
Important Note: this exam prep guide should be used to supplement your own resources and should not be used for the whole of your learning. Some of the resources may be not completely cover the requirements especially if the requirement is vague. If you find better articles than the ones below, please feel free to reach out and I’ll amend.
Status: Passed having taken the beta
Plan and Configure a Microsoft Teams Environment (45-50%)
Upgrade from Skype for Business to Microsoft Teams
- Choose an appropriate upgrade path and coexistence mode to meet specific
requirements
- Plan and troubleshoot meeting migration
- Configure Microsoft Teams upgrade notification and meeting app choices
- Configure coexistence mode for the organization and per-user
Plan and configure network settings for Microsoft Teams
- Plan for successful network deployment by using Network Planner
- Calculate network bandwidth capacity for Microsoft Teams voice, video, meetings and Live Events
- Assess network readiness by using the Network Testing Companion
- Configure network ports and protocols used by Microsoft Teams client application
- Configure media optimizations by using QoS
Implement Governance and Lifecycle Management for Microsoft Teams
- Create team templates
- Set up policies for Office 365 Groups creation
- Configure Office 365 Groups for Microsoft Teams classifications, expiration policy, and naming policy
- Archive, restore, and delete a team
Configure and manage guest access
- Configure guest users for Microsoft Teams
- Configure guest permissions for a team
- Configure meeting, messaging, and calling options for guests
- Remove guests
- Manage Azure AD access review for guests
- Configure guest access from Azure AD portal
Manage security and compliance
- Assign Microsoft Teams Admin roles
- Create and manage compliance features, including retention and sensitivity policies
- Create security and compliance alerts for Microsoft Teams
- Create an information barrier policy
- Interpret security reports for Microsoft Teams
Deploy and manage Microsoft Teams endpoints
- Deploy Microsoft Teams clients to devices, including Windows, VDI (Virtual Desktop), MacOS, and mobile devices
- Manage configuration profiles
- Manage device settings and firmware
- Configure Microsoft Teams Rooms
Monitor and analyze service usage
- Interpret Microsoft Teams usage reports
- Interpret Microsoft 365 usage reports
- Optimize call quality by using Call Analytics
- Analyze organization-wide call quality by using Call Quality Dashboard
Manage Chat, Calling, and Meetings (30-35%)
Manage chat and collaboration experiences
- Configure messaging policies
- Manage external access
- Manage channels for a team
- Manage private channel creation policies
- Manage email integration
- Configure external access for SharePoint and OneDrive for Business
- Manage cloud file storage options for collaboration
Manage meeting experiences
- Configure meeting settings
- Create and manage meeting policies
- Configure settings for live events
- Create and manage policies for live events
- Configure conference bridge settings
Manage phone numbers
- Recommend a PSTN connectivity solution based on specific business requirements
- Order phone numbers
- Manage service numbers
- Add, change, or remove an emergency address for your organization
- Assign, change, or remove a phone number for a user
- Manage voice settings for users
Manage Phone System
- Manage resource accounts
- Create and configure call queues
- Create and configure auto attendants
- Manage call park policies
- Manage calling policies
- Manage caller ID policies
- Interpret the Direct Routing health dashboard
Manage Teams and App Policies (20-25%)
Manage a team
- Upgrade an existing resource to a team
- Manage privacy levels for a team
- Manage org-wide teams
Manage membership in a team
- Manage users in a team
- Configure dynamic membership
- Manage access review for team members
Implement policies for Microsoft Teams apps
- Create and manage app permission policies
- Create and manage app setup policies
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