I just get my PL-900 Microsoft Power Platform Fundamentals certification and it is time now to share my preparation notes for those who are interested to pass the “Microsoft Power Platform Fundamentals” exam and get certified too.

This article is just one another preparation guide to Microsoft exam PL-900 but I hope you will find it useful 🙂

Even you don’t plan to take the exam, all this content is really interesting to read and understand if you want to discover and improve your knowledge on the Microsoft Power Platform. You will find below more than XXX slides, good articles, nice courses and excellent tutorials.

Audience Profile : Candidates for this exam are users who aspire to improve productivity by automating business processes, analyzing data to produce business insights, and acting more effectively by creating simple app experiences.

Before starting studying, you must know very well what this certification is about and what are the prerequisites.

The topics included in this exam are the following :

• Understand the business value of Power Platform (20-25%)
• Understand the Core Components of Power Platform (20-25%)
• Demonstrate the business value of Power BI (15-20%)
• Demonstrate the business value of Power Apps (20-25%)
• Demonstrate the business value of Power Automate (15-20%)

More details : https://query.prod.cms.rt.microsoft.com/cms/api/am/binary/RE43Nnn

The exam length is one hour. There are 36 questions and you need 700 points min over 1000 to pass the exam.

First place to go is the Microsoft Learn platform where a dedicated learning path is available for free !!

Microsoft Power Platform Fundamentals – Learning Path
https://docs.microsoft.com/learn/paths/power-plat-fundamentals/

It’s a very optimistic 3 hours learning path (in a real world you must add few additional hours to prepare seriously the exam). But definitively a good starter.

I use this content to structure this preparation guide, I synthesize what I think is mandatory to know and I have additional lectures, articles and training resources

Module 1 – Introduction to Power Platform

Microsoft Power Platform: Learning Resources
https://powerapps.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/microsoft-powerapps-learning-resources/

Try these Microsoft services :

Power Apps : https://web.powerapps.com/
Power Automate : https://flow.microsoft.com/
Power BI : https://powerbi.microsoft.com/
Power Virtual Agent : https://powervirtualagents.microsoft.com/
Power Apps Admin Center : https://admin.powerapps.com/
Power Platform Admin : https://admin.powerplatform.microsoft.com/
Power Apps Studio : https://make.powerapps.com/

Connector Reference
https://docs.microsoft.com/connectors/

Define a custom connector from blank
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/connectors/custom-connectors/define-blank

Microsoft 365 admin Center –> create user, assign license, manage billing, payment method
Power Apps admin Center –> to manage Environment (including apps & flows), to assign user to the Environment Admin Role
Dynamic 365 admin center –> To rename, reset and delete a Common Data Services (CDS) environment
Power BI admin portal –> to manage a Power BI tenant including usage metrics, audit logs and tenant settings

Module 2 – Introduction to Power Apps

Restore Power App: option to restore the app to the previous version and make it live (/!\ add one more version)

Power Apps portal Studio

• Breadcrumb component : used to display the page navigation hierarchy. Enable users to navigate through web site

Component: are re-usables controls built using the same skills as canvas app

free Power Apps Community Plan
https://powerapps.microsoft.com/communityplan/

Power Apps Studio : Build business apps, fast
https://make.powerapps.com/

AI Builder
https://powerapps.microsoft.com/en-us/ai-builder/

4 AI Models in AI Builder : Prediction, Form processing, Object detection, Text classification

Power Apps can use AI Builder
Power Automate can use AI Builder
Power Portal apps can not use AI Builder

Portals
https://powerapps.microsoft.com/en-us/portals/

To manage security for Power Apps you can access
https://admin.powerplatform.microsoft.com/

Use basic formulas to make better Power Apps canvas apps
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/paths/use-basic-formulas-powerapps-canvas-app/

Formula reference for Power Apps
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powerapps/maker/canvas-apps/formula-reference

Power Apps learning resources
https://powerapps.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/microsoft-powerapps-learning-resources/

Module 3 – How to build an app solution

You need to know which control you need to use depending on your needs :

• Combox box
• List box
• Drop down
• Gallery…

Module 4 – Introduction to Common Data Service

What is Common Data Service?
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powerapps/maker/common-data-service/data-platform-intro

Environments overview
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/admin/environments-overview

Module 5 – Introduction to Power Automate

Introduction to Power Automate
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/modules/introduction-power-automate/

Debugging Flow in Power Automate:
https://flow.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/test-data-management-connectors/
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-automate/mobile-monitor-activity
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-automate/error-checker

You can use the Export option to export a flow as a package. You can import this package and re-use the original version of the Flow

Export and import flows
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/modules/administer-flows/2-flow-export-import

Module 6 – How to build an automated solution

Module 7 – Introduction to Power BI

Power BI licences :

• Power BI Free
• Power BI Pro
• Power BI Premium

Administering Power BI in the admin portal
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/service-admin-portal

You must be able to tell if a feature / operation can be done on Power BI Desktop and/or Power BI Service

Power BI Security White Paper
https://docs.microsoft.com/power-bi/whitepaper-powerbi-security

Power BI Documentation
https://docs.microsoft.com/power-bi/

Get Power BI Desktop
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/desktop-get-the-desktop

Download the Financial Sample workbook for Power BI
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/sample-financial-download

Measure : are automatically created by Power BI if it detects as field as numeric. You can use measures with aggregate functions like sum, average and median to build your visualisation
Custom measure : can be used to aggregate data like measures. You need to create your custom measures
Calculated Column : you can use a calculated column to concatenate text values form differents colmuns and create a single field that could be used in your vizualisations as rows, axis and legends
Power Query
Slicer : used to display common filter on the report canvas for easier access
Date Table :

Tutorial: Create your own measures in Power BI Desktop
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/desktop-tutorial-create-measures

Tutorial: Create calculated columns in Power BI Desktop
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/desktop-tutorial-create-calculated-columns

Set and use date tables in Power BI Desktop
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/desktop-date-tables

.PBIX File : Power BI Report

On-premise Data Gateway :

workspace : just a container for report objects (datasets, reports, dashboard and workbooks)

You need to know which version of Power BI suits yours needs in a case :

Power BI Premium : you pay for compute not users
Power BI Report Server : on premise Power BI solution
Embedding in Sharepoint Online
Power BI Embedded : for ISV, to integrate PowerBI in SharePoint

PluralsightGood courses : Deploying and Publishing Power BI Reports By Eugene Meidinger
https://app.pluralsight.com/courses/a2dd23f3-c828-4eed-b855-9d727e917326/table-of-contents

Module 8 – How to build a simple dashboard

Introduction to dashboards for Power BI designers
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/service-dashboards

Get samples for Power BI
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/sample-datasets

Power BI Dashboard example
https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=power+bi+dashboard&FORM=HDRSC3

Create a Power BI dashboard from a report
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/service-dashboard-create

Pin a tile to a Power BI dashboard from a report
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/service-dashboard-pin-tile-from-report

Additional good resources :

PL-900 Study Guide – Microsoft Power Platform Fundamentals by Vlad
https://vladtalkstech.com/pl-900-study-guide-microsoft-power-platform-fundamentals

Hope this study guide will be useful for you. Don’t hesitate to share, or post a comment or send me a message on Twitter @squastana or on LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/stanislasquastana/

Last but not least, don’t forget to spend time on http://microsoft.com/learn where you can find additional materials to prepare your certification.

— Stanislas Quastana —