Preparing for the MS-100 Microsoft 365 Identity and Services Exam (July 2020 Update)

This guide has been updated, check out the latest version here – https://intunedin.net/2021/02/02/preparing-for-the-ms-100-microsoft-365-identity-and-services-exam-february-2021-update/

It’s been over a year and a half since I published the initial version of this prep guide, so I thought it’s about time I update it and discuss where this fits in the Microsoft 365 exam world. Additional exams have been announced and released since this exam first went into beta, moving the conversation away from comparisons with the exams that were being replaced.

What are the two main exams that have changed this landscape? MS-900 Microsoft 365 Fundamentals and MS-500 Microsoft 365 Security Administration were both introduced as exams that would give you a certification as opposed to this exam which also requires you to to pass multiple exams to get a certification. What I’ve learned, and been somewhat surprised by over the last couple of years is that for many people the exam to certification ratio drives behaviors in ways I wouldn’t have believed, even when it leads to people following a path that will lead to better skills.

I still recommend MS-100 as the starting exam exam for someone who wants to get Microsoft 365 certifications, as the skills required really have moved into being expected skills in many organizations. Once you’ve done MS-100 and MS-101, there really isn’t a huge amount of effort for you to sit MS-900 and MS-500 if you are in certification acquisition mode.

For the latest updates to exam prep guides please check https://intunedin.net/exams

Design and implement Microsoft 365 services (25-30%)

Plan Architecture

plan integration of Microsoft 365 and on-premises environments
- Prepare your organization’s network for Teams
- Office 365 URLs and IP address ranges
identify deployment workloads team
- Deployment planning checklist for M i crosoft 365
plan an identity and authentication solution
plan enterprise application modernization
- Authentication methods

Deploy a Microsoft 365 tenant

manage domains
configure organizational settings
- Customize your organization theme
- Customize Sign-in page
complete the organizational profile
- Change your organization’s address, technical contact, and more
add a Microsoft partner or work with Microsoft FastTrack
- Add, change, or delete a subscription advisor partner
complete the subscription setup wizard
- Try or buy Microsoft 365
plan and create a tenant
- Plan your setup
edit an organizational profile
- Change your organization’s address, technical contact, and more
plan and create subscription(s)
- Subscriptions, licenses, and tenants
configure tenant-wide workload settings
- About the Microsoft 365 admin center

Manage Microsoft 365 subscription and tenant health

manage service health alerts
- Service Health and Continuity
create & manage service requests
- Contact support for business products
create internal service health response plan
- Service Health and Continuity
monitor service health
- Service health
monitor license allocations
- Manage user accounts and licenses
configure and review reports, including BI, Operations Management Suite (OMS), and Microsoft 365 reporting
schedule and review security and compliance reports
schedule and review usage metrics
- Usage analytics

Plan migration of users and data

identify data to be migrated and migration methods
- Migrate to Microsoft 365 – Migrate to SharePoint and OneDrive
identify users and mailboxes to be migrated and migration methods
- Migrate email to Microsoft 365
- Exchange Deployment Assistant
plan migration of on-premises users and groups
- Plan for directory synchronization
import PST Files
- Overview of importing your organization PST files to Office 365

Manage user identity and roles (25-30%)

Design identity strategy

evaluate requirements and solutions for synchronization
- Hybrid Identity Design Considerations Overview
- Install and run the IdFix tool
evaluate requirements and solutions for identity management
- Understanding Microsoft 365 identity and Azure Active Directory
evaluate requirements and solutions for authentication
- Determine identity requirements

Plan identity synchronization

design directory synchronization
- Hybrid Identity Design Considerations Overview
implement directory synchronization with directory services, federation services, and Azure endpoints by using Azure AD Connect
- Managing federation with Azure AD Connect

Manage identity synchronization with Azure Active Directory (Azure AD)