In anticipation of the Spring Wave release of CRM (which I am really excited about), I have been doing some research into ADXstudio and CRM Portals. As you may already know, Microsoft bought ADXstudio last year and aims to tightly integrate the product under new branding, as an add-on for existing CRM Online customers and a volume license product for on-premise CRM deployments. CRM Portals are shortly going to become more and more relevant in the months ahead, to the point of which they will be crucial for any serious CRM developer/consultant; my principal aim of the above is to get a flavour relating to the products background and Microsoft’s long term direction resulting from the acquisition.

Whilst reading the Microsoft Acquisition FAQ on the Adxstudio website, I stumbled upon this rather interesting Q&A:

9. Are there plans for an Adxstudio certification program?

Adxstudio certification will be a module that CRM Partners will certify on as part as an all-inclusive Dynamics Service Certification (Target launch July 2016)

Although vague in nature, there is enough detail there for us to assume that there will be some changes to the existing exams currently covering the CRM product this year - either modifications to an existing exam, an exam overhaul/replacement or even a brand new exam altogether. Here’s why I think it is incredibly likely to expect at least 1 new CRM exam before the end of the summer, and why this is, arguably, a good thing:

• I don’t speak with much authority on this first point unfortunately, but taking a cursory glance over the ADXStudio product suggests that there is a lot to learn and cover in order to implement and maintain a portal for your CRM instance. I therefore think it would prove difficult to incorporate the entire lifecycle of CRM Portals as part of an existing exam; indeed, the trend seems to suggest a move towards more specialised exams, given that the MB2-704 exam was, effectively, split into 2 new exams as part of the CRM 2016 release. Having a singular exam that does not distract itself with the breadth of other features within CRM would seem to be the best approach to ensure that professionals fully understand how to use the product.
• Having a dedicated exam, plus an accompanying Microsoft Learning course, for CRM Portals makes sense as it not necessarily a foregone conclusion that everything will currently be using ADXstudio as part of their CRM deployment. Granted, it has been incredibly popular amongst CRM Partners across the globe. But it is still likely that most CRM professionals would have only at least heard of ADXstudio previously, having no direct experience using the product. By putting in place an exam and Microsoft Learning course for the product, Microsoft will enable those people to dive into the product quickly and effectively and, by association, drive sales of the product in the years ahead.
• Microsoft have recently announced a price hike for all Microsoft Certification exams, which is expected to take effect for any exam booked globally after June 30th. It might just be a coincidence, but I can see the sense of holding off on releasing any significant new exams until the price hike takes effect. It’s just good business after all 🙂
• To the chagrin of some within the CRM Community, there has been no new updated exam to replace the MB2-701 Extending Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013 (although, strangely, updated Microsoft curriculum was released to Microsoft training providers for CRM 2015). This is something which I have been hotly anticipating myself for the past 6 months, given the number of changes involved as part of 2015’s Update 1. One would hope that, in line with Spring Wave release, an Extending Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2016 exam hits in the near future, so that CRM developers can demonstrate their competencies in the latest release(s) of CRM.

Perhaps I am being overly hopeful in anticipating a new exam; it could just be that the existing MB2-714 exam is simply updated to incorporate new content relating to CRM Portal. I think this could be a damaging oversight though, and could have long-term implications in regards to driving adoption of the product. It is incredibly important (one would assume) that Microsoft is able to record as many CRM Portal subscription add-on/volume license purchases, as quickly as possible, for the new product; putting out an olive branch to those within the CRM community who have not yet taken the dive with ADXStudio is an important consideration that can only help achieve the assumed aims of Microsoft’s acquisition last year.