Azure Advent Calendar

 

This is my contribution to a wonderful initiative by @Pixel_Robots and @Gregor_suttie to get  the Azure community to help others learn about all the different capabilities that Azure provides.

I have created a video describing Azure IoT services and with the aim of dispelling some of the fears around the complexity of getting started with #IoT.

You can watch my video here and see all the other #AzureAdventCalendar videos on the YouTube channel.

The slides can be viewed and downloaded from here.

Learn more about Azure https://docs.microsoft.com/learn/azure

#azureadventcalendar #azurefamily #IoT

Power Platform Saturday Stockholm October 5 2019

I’m speaking at the Stockholm business applications community event on Saturday October 5th.

I will be speaking on Azure Functions and how we can use them in place of server side plugin code, in Canvas Apps and in Flow.

I will also cover creating Custom Connectors calling Azure Functions.

Register at https://365sat.in/swe

Dynamics Power Dublin September 28 2019

I’m speaking at the Dublin business applications community event on Saturday September 28th.

I will be speaking on Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement and Power Platform exams.

My session will start off with why you should take exams and gain certifications.

I then discuss the new role based certifications and what that means to you.

The focus of the session is on exam tips and tricks, what resources are available, and how you should plan your study to succeed in passing exams.

Voice of the Customer Deprecation

As expected, with the release of Forms Pro that Microsoft have announced that Voice of the Customer is being deprecated.

Voice of the Customer will be removed and end of June next year and no new surveys can be created, and no further responses will be captured.

More details at https://cloudblogs.microsoft.com/dynamics365/it/2019/07/01/voice-of-the-customer-deprecation/

Find out about Azure IoT at Notts IoT 7pm July 11th

I will be speaking on Azure IoT PaaS and SaaS systems at Notts IoT on Thursday July 11th at 7pm at Rebel’s offices in Nottingham.

I will be talking about and demoing Azure IoT Hubs, Accelerators and IoT Central. I will be bring various devices with me including Raspberry Pi, MXChip AZ3166 and Flic button

Sign Up for the Event here

Forms Pro General Availability and Future of Voice of the Customer

Forms Pro has been released as of July 1st and is in General Availability.

If you have a Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement Enterprise or Talent License, Forms Pro is included. Included are just 2,000 responses a month per tenant, if you need more responses you can purchase them via the Microsoft 365 portal.

If you have been on the Public Preview, the preview will end and be replaced by a 30-day trial which will revert back to Microsoft Forms unless you qualify for a license through Dynamics 365. Alternatively you can purchase Forms Pro via the Microsoft 365 portal.

The announcement is on the Microsoft 365 Message Centre https://admin.microsoft.com/AdminPortal/home?switchtomodern=true#/MessageCenter?id=MC182397

More details on Forms Pro at https://docs.microsoft.com/forms-pro/

There is no training material at the time of writing for Forms Pro.

With the release of Forms Pro, I am expecting Voice of the Customer (VoC) to be deprecated soon – keep an eye on https://docs.microsoft.com/dynamics365/get-started/whats-new/customer-engagement/important-changes-coming – as the exams for Marketing and Customer Service have recently had the below added.

“Notice of planned skills update: In October, Voice of the Customer skills and exam questions will be replaced with Forms Pro skills and questions. The exact date of that change and the associated changes to the Skills Measured will be communicated in August, 2019. Please prepare for your exam accordingly.”

Changes to Proctored Exam Check-In

I wrote a couple of years ago about my experience with taking exams at home aka Online Proctored Exams

I have taken over 10 exams at home and was comfortable and familiar with the process but when I took at exam last night I discovered a whole new experience.

First the PVProctor program no longer worked and I needed to download a new OnVue tool.

The check-on process is now self-service that you complete using your mobile phone on https://m.proctorcam.com/

You need to take a photo of your face, a photo of your id and then 4 photos of your desk area. No more showing the proctor around using your webcam.

The check-in process using AI to determine if there are any issues and although it felt like it took longer taking and uploading the photos, it was actually quicker, just a little stressful the first time.

If all goes well you don’t need to speak to the proctor before starting the exam.

More details of the new check-in process at https://home.pearsonvue.com/Test-Owner/Deliver/Online-Proctored.aspx

MB-210 Dynamics 365 for Sales Revision Guide

Jens Kofod has written an excellent revision guide for the MB-210 Dynamics 365 for Sales Exam https://iiu.dk/2019/04/27/exam-prep-guide-mb-210-microsoft-dynamics-365-for-sales/

MB-900 Microsoft Dynamics 365 Fundamentals–Dynamics 365 for Sales Professional

Dynamics 365 for Sales Professional is a version of Dynamics 365 for Sales aimed at Small and Medium Businesses at a reduced license price.

Sales Professional is aimed at organisations that have simpler sales needs and want to get up and running quickly.

With Dynamics 365 for Sales Professional you get:

• Simplified First Run Experience
• Simplified User Experience
• Simplified Administration
• Automated Generation of Quotes and Invoices
• Curated third party solutions e.g., CPQ

The following functionality from Sales Enterprise has been removed:

• AI/Insights
• Competitors
• Territories
• Goals
• Playbooks
• Portal
• Voice of the Customers

There is also a restriction in the number of custom entities (15) that can be created.

More information

https://docs.microsoft.com/learn/paths/working-with-dynamics-sales-professional/

This post is part of a series for preparing and revising for the Dynamics 365 Fundamentals exam, MB-900. You can find the whole series here.

Upgrade to latest version of Dynamics 365 for Field Service by 2020

Microsoft have announced that all customers on older versions (6.x and 7.x) of Field Service must be upgraded to 8.x with Unified Interface by February 2020.

If you have Field Service, this could be a significant change and will require re-configuration, testing and training.

For our current Field Service project, we chose to go with v8.x from the beginning

If you want to discuss your Field Service implementation, please get in touch.

See https://cloudblogs.microsoft.com/dynamics365/it/2019/05/17/announcing-end-of-life-for-field-service-online-legacy-versions-by-february-2020/