Architect solutions (20–25%)
Gather requirements
Identify operational and organizational challenges that may affect a business

Identify existing business processes and opportunities to optimize business processes

Gather information about expected transaction volume

Categorize business requirements and perform gap fit analyses

Review and validate business requirements throughout the solution lifecycle

Define the solution architecture
Map business requirements to functional components

Evaluate whether to build versus buy for selected business requirements

Identify opportunities to implement supplemental Microsoft technologies

Use the appropriate implementation tools including Lifecycle Services (LCS) and Azure DevOps

Describe the Success by Design framework

Create solution architecture diagrams

Describe and document the solution blueprint
Define an organization including company information, locations, and structure

Document the implementation timeline including roll-out strategies

Define the business process catalog and document solution gaps

Define instances, environments, and solution components

Identify required security roles

Define solution strategies (35–40%)
Select a deployment strategy
Develop a process to manage solution code and deployment

Select a deployment model and identify instances and environments required for the selected deployment model

Describe the One Version strategy for Dynamics 365 and the effects of One Version on solutions

Segment solution development and delivery into logical phases

Provide alternative methodologies and approaches for deploying modifications

Determine solution maintenance cadence and timelines

Identify upgrade scenarios and select appropriate tools

Define an application lifecycle management (ALM) strategy
Define a code management and data flow strategy

Define a Microsoft Power Platform solution management strategy

Determine which build automation capabilities to implement

Define a roll-back strategy for solution code and data

Determine a data management strategy
Differentiate between transactional and historical data

Define data quality and data validation process

Define data cleansing and transformation strategies

Define data dependencies

Develop a data migration strategy for master, transactional, reference, parameter, and document data entities

Develop data cut-over, verification and data retention plans

Define the security architecture
Differentiate between Azure, Dynamics 365, and infrastructure security

Describe Azure and infrastructure security-related elements

Describe use cases for and capabilities of record-level and role-based security in Dynamics 365

Define the integration architecture
Select an integration pattern including OData, Microsoft Power Platform integration, Batch Data API, customer service, external web services, and office integrations.

Identify required integration and interface details

Design integrations

Define an integration testing strategy

Define the business intelligence and reporting architecture
Gather business intelligence and reporting requirements

Define data sources required to meet business intelligence and reporting requirements

Select appropriate business intelligence and reporting tools including Power BI, organizational workspaces, financial reports, SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS), and the Electronic Reporting tool

Define printing requirements including, Document Routing Agent (DRA), modern report design layout templates, check printing, and label printing

Manage implementations (20–25%)
Describe Lifecycle Services (LCS) tools
Understand the use cases and capabilities of different LCS tools

Understand the use cases and capabilities of Business Process Modeler (BPM)

Understand the use cases and capabilities of LCS Methodologies

Create a usage profile to describe current or projected usage

Manage interactions with FastTrack
Identify the value proposition for FastTrack

Identify FastTrack engagement types and personnel roles

Describe typical types of FastTrack workshops and the inputs for each workshop

Describe go-live checklist elements

Determine support options
Develop a support plan and strategy

Define post-go-live support plans including response times and service-level agreements (SLAs)

Describe use cases and capabilities for the LCS Support tool

Determine licensing requirements
Determine the types of licenses required

Estimate the number of licenses required by using the License Sizing estimator

Describe the process for estimating ongoing software licensing costs

Manage testing (10–15%)
Define a testing strategy
Define a testing strategy that includes all required types of testing

Define a regression testing strategy

Identify opportunities for automated testing

Review use cases and test coverage for business scenarios

Determine when to use RSAT, SysTest, Postman, ATL, Azure DevOps Test Plans, and other tools

Define a performance testing strategy
Define performance goals and requirements

Identify performance monitoring and testing tools

Define performance benchmarks and success criteria

Design a performance and load testing strategy

Troubleshoot performance issues