Exam MB-400 Revision Notes: Series Roundup

Welcome to the final post in my series focused on providing a set of revision notes for the MB-400: Microsoft Power Apps + Dynamics 365 Developer exam. In today’s post, I wanted to consolidate all of the content from the series into a single, concise post for ease of access. I’ll also provide some general advice and tips that I hope will come in useful for when you sit the exam.

This series has aimed to provide a broad outline of the core areas to keep in mind when tackling the exam, linked to appropriate resources for more focused study. Your revision should, ideally, involve a high degree of hands-on testing and familiarity in working with the platform if you want to do well in this exam.

The MB-400 exam is split into several different areas, based on the specification found here. For each applicable subject, I have linked below to the relevant blog/video content from the series.

Create a Technical Design (10-15%)

Validate requirements and design technical architecture

Skills Measured

design and validate technical architecture
design authentication and authorization strategy
determine whether requirements can be met with out-of-the-box functionality
determine when to use Logic Apps versus Power Automate flows
determine when to use serverless computing vs. plug-ins
determine when to build a virtual entity data source provider vs. when to use connectors

Create a data model

Skills Measured

design a data model

Blog Posts

Exam MB-400 Revision Notes: Creating a Technical Design with the Power Platform

Useful Resources

Configure Common Data Service (15-20%)

Configure security to support development

Skills Measured

troubleshoot operational security issues
create or update security roles and field-level security profiles

Implement entities and fields

Skills Measured

configure entities
configure fields
configure relationships

Create and maintain solutions

Skills Measured

configure solutions
import and export solutions
manage solution dependencies

Blog Posts

Exam MB-400 Revision Notes: Configuring the Common Data Service

Videos

MB-400 Exam Prep: Creating Entities, Fields and Relationships

MB-400 Exam Prep: Working with Solutions

MB-400 Exam Prep: Security Roles & Field Security Profiles

Useful Resources

Create and Configure Power Apps (10-15%)

Create model-driven apps

Skills Measured

configure a model-driven app
configure forms
configure views
configure visualizations

Create Canvas Apps

Skills Measured

configure a Canvas App
develop complex expressions

Blog Posts

Exam MB-400 Revision Notes: Working with Model-Driven Apps

Exam MB-400 Revision Notes: Working with Canvas Apps

Videos

MB-400 Exam Prep: Building a Model-Driven App

https://youtu.be/EEBTENhcQ-0

MB-400 Exam Prep: Creating a Canvas App

Useful Resources

Configure business process automation (10-15%)

Configure Power Automate

Skills Measured

configure a Flow
configure actions to use Common Data Service connectors
develop complex expressions

Implement processes

Skills Measured

create and configure business process flows
create and configure business rule

Blog Posts

Exam MB-400 Revision Notes: Using Power Automate Flows

Exam MB-400 Revision Notes: Mapping a Business Process with Business Process Flows

Exam MB-400 Revision Notes: Implementing Business Rules

Videos

MB-400 Exam Prep: Introduction to Power Automate Flows

MB-400 Exam Prep: Creating a Business Process Flow

MB-400 Exam Prep: Working with Business Rules

Useful Resources

Extend the user experience (15-20%)

Apply business logic using client scripting

Skills Measured

configure supporting components
create JavaScript or Typescript code
register an event handler
use the Web API from client scripting

Create a Power Apps Component Framework (PCF) component

Skills Measured

initialize a new PCF component
configure a PCF component manifest
implement the component interfaces
package, deploy, and consume the component
use Web API device capabilities and other component framework services

Create a command button function

Skills Measured

create the command function
design command button triggers, rules, and actions
edit the command bar using the Ribbon Workbench
modify the form JavaScript library dependencies

Blog Posts

Exam MB-400 Revision Notes: Implementing Client-Side Scripting on Model Driven Power Apps

Exam MB-400 Revision Notes: Introduction to Power Apps Component Framework (PCF) Controls

Exam MB-400 Revision Notes: Working with Command Buttons

Videos

MB-400 Exam Prep: Deploying a Basic JavaScript Form Function

MB-400 Exam Prep: Setting up your environment for Power Apps Component Framework Control Development

MB-400 Exam Prep: Developing, Testing and Deploying a Power Apps Component Framework (PCF) Control

MB-400 Exam Prep: Creating Command Buttons Using the Ribbon Workbench

Useful Resources

Extend the platform (15-20%)

Create a plug-in

Skills Measured

debug and troubleshoot a plug-in
develop a plug-in
use the global Discovery Service endpoint
optimize plug-ins for performance
register custom assemblies by using the Plug-in Registration Tool
create custom actions

Configure custom connectors for Power Apps and Flow

Skills Measured

create a definition for the API
configure API security
use policy templates

Use platform APIs

Skills Measured

interact with data and processes using the Web API
optimize for performance, concurrency, transactions, and batching
perform discovery using the Web API
perform entity metadata operations with the Web API
use OAuth with the platform APIs

Blog Posts

Exam MB-400 Revision Notes: Building, Deploying & Debugging Plug-ins using C#

Exam MB-400 Revision Notes: Building a Custom Connector for Power Apps & Power Automate

Exam MB-400 Revision Notes: Working with the Dynamics 365 Web API

Videos

MB-400 Exam Prep: Building a C# Plug-in Using Visual Studio 2019

MB-400 Exam Prep: Deploying a C# Plug-in Using the Plug-in Registration Tool

MB-400 Exam Prep: Debugging a C# Plug-in Using Trace Logging

MB-400 Exam Prep: Debugging a C# Plug-in Using the Plug-in Registration Tool

MB-400 Exam Prep: Building a Custom Connector Using Azure Cognitive Services

MB-400 Exam Prep: Authenticating to the Dynamics 365 Web API

MB-400 Exam Prep: Working with the Dynamics 365 Discovery URL

MB-400 Exam Prep: Retrieving Entity Metadata using the Web API

MB-400 Exam Prep: Performing Batch Operations using the Web API

Useful Resources

Develop Integrations (10-15%)

Publish and consume events

Skills Measured

publish an event by using the API
publish an event by using the Plug-in Registration Tool
register a webhook
create an Azure event listener application

Implement data synchronization

Skills Measured

configure and use entity change tracking
configure the data export service to integrate with Azure SQL Database
create and use alternate keys

Blog Posts

Exam MB-400 Revision Notes: Publishing and Consuming Events

Exam MB-400 Revision Notes: Implementing Data Synchronisation with the Data Export Service

Videos

MB-400 Exam Prep: Posting Dynamics 365 Events to Azure Service Bus

MB-400 Exam Prep: Registering & Consuming a Dynamics 365 Webhook

MB-400 Exam Prep: Deploying the Dynamics 365 Data Export Service

Useful Content

General Exam Preparation Tips

Hands-on preparation is essential if you wish to do well in the exam. You should ideally set up a trial environment that you can use to experiment with the core functionality within Dynamics 365 / the Power Platform. You can watch this great video from Microsoft’s Chris Huntingford, where he will show you how to deploy an extended trial of Dynamics 365 Online and Microsoft 365 E5. These subscriptions will give you everything you need.
Keep abreast of the latest Microsoft Docs and Learning Path materials that are related to this exam, as the platform is continually changing all of the time.
Due to the ongoing COVID-19 situation, you will more than likely have to sit your exam using the online proctored experience. Take some time to familiarise yourself with the process involved here, and perform a system test well in advance of your exam date - the last thing you need on the day of the exam is to stress out due to a system or access issue.
At the time of writing this post, Microsoft has announced the deprecation of the MB-400 exam in January 2021. I’ve discussed these changes in-depth previously on the blog and what it means if you’ve got an exam booked over the next few months. I would still advise that you sit this exam while it is available, as it will count towards any certification pathway that you are working towards. Additionally, there will be more content (and I don’t necessarily mean my own here 🙂 ) available covering this exam, which will provide better aid as part of your revision.

I hope that you’ve found this series useful. Good luck when sitting the exam and let me know how you got on!