Introductory Training for Dynamics 365/Power Platform

This post really goes back to basics, but it’s one of basic fundamentals for any successful project. In order to lay a proper foundation base, and to ensure success for a project, users need to actually know how to use the system! When going into greenfield (new) implementations, or expanding brownfield (existing) implementations, users need to know how the system works. For new implementations, it’s highly likely that many users, if not all, will never have actually used Dynamics 365 before! Going into a completely new system, with no understanding of how it works, can be extremely daunting. If not handled in the right way, and the right skills imparted, it can be a major blocker to the project itself.

Incidentally Microsoft Learn has closed the gap slightly on this. The different learning paths & courses can be really helpful to gain understanding of the system, and the basic components. I’ve done quite a few of these (the gamification angle helps with that!), and am generally quite impressed!

So with all of that in mind, I thought I’d share something. Over the last few years, I’ve noted the D365 Academy Belt Program (https://www.d365ug.com/participate/academy/blackbelt). It’s something that I’ve toyed with doing, but never got round to it.

I’ve recently had the opportunity to look over the actual material that’s used for the different belt courses. Not only have I looked over it, I’ve actually gone through all of the different belt training as well, to see how it actually is. Even with my knowledge & experience of the system, I’ve still learned/improved my knowledge in several things. I think it’s a really good structured learning system, and furthermore, actually shows clients how to become system ‘power users’!

I’ve listed below the different belts, and what’s included in each one

White Belt

Creating a trial – how to sign up & set one up
Overview of users – what they are
Office 365 vs Dynamics 365. The differenced in how they work when it comes to users
User maintenance – setting up users & teams, and handling licenses
System settings – how to set organisation-wide defaults
The basics of workflow – what a workflow is, and what it does
Form configuration – what is a form, modifying fields properties to display accordingly
Creating new fields – different field types & options
View configuration – creating, adding columns & filter criteria to display the data

Blue Belt

Security concepts – overview of how security works in Dynamics 365
Business Units – what they actually are, and how they help with things
Security Role Concepts – how they’re used, and the power that they bring to the security model
Security Role Applications – how to set them up, and showing practical uses with examples
Hierarchy Security Concepts – what exactly is a security hierarchy, and why it can be helpful
Hierarchy Security Application – how to set this up, and use within the system
Ownership Teams – why this can be helpful when using records
Access Teams – how are these different from the other teams, and how they can be used
Auditing – how Dynamics 365 has an in-built audit trail for records, and the benefits of it

Purple Belt

Advanced Form Configuration -sub grids, charts, navigation links & iframes
Creating Custom Entities – building on the knowledge of the system so far to implement these
Calculated & Roll Up Fields – what these are, the differences, & where to use them best.
Field Level Security – ways to restrict specific data fields on entities to a specific team of users
Charts, Dashboards & Reports – how to set these up, and the different ways in which they help
Document Generation – how to automatically create Word & Excel documents from templates
Business Rules – ‘no code’ approach to making fields required, hiding them, setting values
Business Process Flows – guiding users to enter data in a specific way, with making it easier
Branding – making your site reflect your company colours & logo
Site Map Editor – placing just those entities that users access to create a clean interface

Brown Belt

Duplicate Detection Overview – what it is, and how it works
Duplicate Detection Configuration – how to set up rules to enable it to work in the right way
Data Imports – how to configure & set them up to then import data into the system
Data Mapping – the key item in data imports. Getting this right is imperative
Bulk Deletion – carrying it out, and what to be careful of
Cascading Relationships – how these can be so powerful, & where to use them best
Data Integration – best practise thinking in how to approach integration

Black Belt

Workflows – what are they, understanding how they work
Realtime & Background – the differences between these two, and how you should use each one
Power Automate – how it differs from traditional workflow, & how to start configuring one
Document Storage – the different options available, including cost considerations.
Extending with 3rd Party Tools – using tools available in the XrmToolBox, and how this can help
Power Apps Introduction – what these are, and scenarios for them
Model/Canvas Apps – the differences between the two, and considerations for each

I’ve been working with Dynamics 365 for a decade now, yet there were still things that I felt I learned from the course. I feel that it’s possible to learn from everything, even from what we’d consider to be a ‘simple’ source.

So what are the next steps for people looking to learn? Well, Microsoft Learn (https://docs.microsoft.com/en-gb/learn/) of course would be a great place. Carrying on from there, you could look to start taking some of the available exams. There are plenty of these available, ranging from basic fundamentals all the way up to solution architect.

I hope that this has been useful to you – if you’ve come across other great introductory training resources, please let me know!