Study guide for Exam MB-500: Microsoft Dynamics 365: Finance and Operations Apps Developer
- Article
- 11/19/2024
- 2 contributors
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In this article
- Purpose of this document
- Updates to the exam
- Skills measured as of December 18, 2024
- Study resources
- Change log
Purpose of this document
This study guide should help you understand what to expect on the exam and includes a summary of the topics the exam might cover and links to additional resources. The information and materials in this document should help you focus your studies as you prepare for the exam.Expand table
| Useful links | Description |
|---|---|
| How to earn the certification | Some certifications only require passing one exam, while others require passing multiple exams. |
| Certification renewal | Microsoft associate, expert, and specialty certifications expire annually. You can renew by passing a free online assessment on Microsoft Learn. |
| Your Microsoft Learn profile | Connecting your certification profile to Microsoft Learn allows you to schedule and renew exams and share and print certificates. |
| Exam scoring and score reports | A score of 700 or greater is required to pass. |
| Exam sandbox | You can explore the exam environment by visiting our exam sandbox. |
| Request accommodations | If you use assistive devices, require extra time, or need modification to any part of the exam experience, you can request an accommodation. |
| Take a practice test | Are you ready to take the exam or do you need to study a bit more? |
Updates to the exam
Our exams are updated periodically to reflect skills that are required to perform a role. We have included two versions of the Skills Measured objectives depending on when you are taking the exam.
We always update the English language version of the exam first. Some exams are localized into other languages, and those are updated approximately eight weeks after the English version is updated. While Microsoft makes every effort to update localized versions as noted, there may be times when the localized versions of an exam are not updated on this schedule. Other available languages are listed in the Schedule Exam section of the Exam Details webpage. If the exam isn’t available in your preferred language, you can request an additional 30 minutes to complete the exam.
Note
The bullets that follow each of the skills measured are intended to illustrate how we are assessing that skill. Related topics may be covered in the exam.
Note
Most questions cover features that are general availability (GA). The exam may contain questions on Preview features if those features are commonly used.
Skills measured as of December 18, 2024
Audience profile
As a candidate for this exam, you’re a developer who works with finance and operations apps in Microsoft Dynamics 365 to implement and extend applications that meet the requirements of a business. You provide fully realized solutions by using:
- Standardized application coding patterns
- Extensible features
- External integrations
As a candidate for this exam, you do the following:
- Develop business logic by using X++.
- Create and modify finance and operations app reports and workspaces.
- Customize the UI.
- Provide endpoints and APIs to support Microsoft Power Platform apps and external systems.
- Perform testing.
- Monitor performance.
- Analyze and manipulate data.
- Manage implementations by using application lifecycle management (ALM).
You also create technical designs and implementation details, and implement permission policies and security requirements.
You should have a deep knowledge and experience using the underlying framework, data structures, and objects associated with the finance and operations solutions.
You should have experience with products and services that include Microsoft Visual Studio, Azure, Dataverse, Power Platform Admin Center, Power Apps, Power Automate, Azure DevOps, Lifecycle Services tools, Postman, GitHub, Microsoft 365, reporting tools (for example, SQL Server Reporting Services [SSRS], Power BI), and SQL Server Management Studio.
Skills at a glance
- Plan the architecture and solution design (5–10%)
- Apply developer tools (10–15%)
- Design and develop AOT elements (15–20%)
- Develop and test code (15–20%)
- Implement reporting (10–15%)
- Integrate and manage data solutions (15–20%)
- Implement security and optimize performance (10–15%)
Plan the architecture and solution design (5–10%)
Plan for the major components of finance and operations apps
- Differentiate between the cloud and on-premises versions of finance and operations apps
- Reference the key models of the application stack
Implement application lifecycle management (ALM) and Lifecycle Services
- Manage environments by using Lifecycle Services tools and components
- Research and resolve issues by using Issue Search
- Perform activities that require asset libraries
- Prepare deployment packages and deploy packages between environments
- Manage the code upgrade process from previous versions
Apply developer tools (10–15%)
Customize finance and operations apps by using Visual Studio
- Create and manage extension models
- Design and build projects
- Manage metadata using Application Explorer
- Synchronize data dictionary changes with the application database
- Create elements by using element designers
- Perform debugging activities
Manage source code and artifacts by using Microsoft Azure DevOps version control
- Create, check out, and check in code and artifacts and review code
- Branch and merge code
- Compare code and resolve version conflicts
- Choose a version control system
- Implement continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD)
Design and develop AOT elements (15–20%)
Create and extend UI elements
- Add a new form to a project and apply a pattern
- Configure a data source for the form
- Add a grid and grid fields, groups, and other controls to a form
- Create and extend menus and menu items
- Add a form extension to a project for selected standard forms
- Create and use label files
Create and extend the data model
- Create and extend tables
- Add table fields and field properties to a table
- Add field groups, relations, delete actions, methods, and indices
- Create and extend views, queries, and maps
- Create and extend data entities
Create classes and extend AOT elements
- Create a new class or class extension and add new methods
- Add event handler methods to a class
- Add attributes or modifiers to a class
Develop and test code (15–20%)
Develop X++ code
- Implement common structured programming constructs of X++
- Create, read, update, and delete (CRUD) data
- Implement global functions in X++
- Resolve best practice warnings
Develop object-oriented code
- Implement X++ variable scoping
- Implement inheritance and abstraction concept
- Implement query objects and the QueryBuilder class
- Implement attribute classes
- Implement Chain of Command (CoC)
- Implement event handler classes and delegates
Implement finance and operations app framework functionality
- Implement the SysOperation framework
- Implement the workflow framework
- Implement the SysExtensionSerializer framework
Perform testing
- Create unit testing using the SysTest framework and Task recorder
- Run unit tests in Test Explorer
Implement reporting (10–15%)
Select reporting tools in finance and operations apps
- Create and modify report data sources and supporting classes
- Implement reporting security requirements
- Deploy or publish reports
- Differentiate between using Entity store and Bring your own database (BYOD) or Azure as reporting data stores
Design, create, and revise Dynamics 365 reports
- Determine when to use a specific reporting tool or platform
- Create and modify reports in finance and operations apps by using SSRS
- Create and modify finance and operations apps reports by using Power BI
- Create and modify finance and operations apps reports by using Microsoft Excel
- Create and modify finance and operations apps reports by using Electronic Reporting (ER)
Design, create, and revise Dynamics 365 workspaces
- Design and implement key performance indicators (KPIs)
- Create drill-through workspace elements
- Implement built-in charts, Power BI embedded visualizations, aggregate measurements, aggregate dimensions, and other reporting components
Integrate and manage data solutions (15–20%)
Evaluate data integration patterns and scenarios
- Contrast data integration patterns
- Select an appropriate data integration API
- Differentiate between synchronous and asynchronous patterns
Implement data integration concepts and solutions
- Consume external web services by using RESTful APIs and Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP)
- Implement electronic reporting integrations
- Implement custom services and Batch OData API
Implement data management
- Import and export data using entities between finance and operations apps and other systems
- Import and export data using composite and aggregate data entities
- Monitor the status and availability of entities
- Enable change tracking for entities
- Set up a data project and recurring data jobs
- Design entity sequencing
- Generate and modify field mapping between source, staging, and target
- Develop data transformations
Integrate with Microsoft Power Platform, Microsoft 365, and Azure
- Integrate Power Automate and Power Apps with finance and operations apps
- Integrate Microsoft Dataverse with finance and operations apps by using dual-write
- Integrate Microsoft Dataverse with finance and operations apps by using virtual entities
- Integrate finance and operations apps with Microsoft Excel by using OData
- Implement business events
- Implement Azure Key Vault
Implement security and optimize performance (10–15%)
Implement security policies and requirements
- Create or modify duties, privileges, permissions, and roles
- Enforce permissions policies
- Implement Extensible Data Security (XDS) policies
- Enforce Microsoft Entra ID authentication
Apply fundamental performance optimization techniques
- Apply caching mechanisms for forms and tables
- Implement the global cache and singleton
- Create or modify temporary tables for optimization purposes
- Assess when to use set-based queries and row-based queries
- Modify queries to optimize performance
- Modify variable scope to optimize performance
- Analyze and optimize concurrency
Optimize performance
- Capture traces by using TraceParser and analyze traces
- Optimize performance for data entities, data source queries, batch processes, and reports
- Implement the Async and Sandbox frameworks
- Create or modify indexes for tables and views
Study resources
We recommend that you train and get hands-on experience before you take the exam. We offer self-study options and classroom training as well as links to documentation, community sites, and videos.Expand table
| Study resources | Links to learning and documentation |
|---|---|
| Get trained | Choose from self-paced learning paths and modules or take an instructor-led course |
| Find documentation | Dynamics 365 documentation and learning modules Finance home page |
| Ask a question | Microsoft Q&A | Microsoft Docs |
| Get community support | Microsoft Dynamics Community |
| Follow Microsoft Learn | Microsoft Learn – Microsoft Tech Community |
| Find a video | Exam Readiness Zone |
Change log
The table below summarizes the changes between the current and previous version of the skills measured. The functional groups are in bold typeface followed by the objectives within each group. The table is a comparison between the previous and current version of the exam skills measured and the third column describes the extent of the changes.Expand table
| Skill area prior to December 18, 2024 | Skill area as of December 18, 2024 | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Implement reporting | Implement reporting | No change in % of exam |
| Select reporting tools in finance and operations apps | Select reporting tools in finance and operations apps | Minor |