Is the MS-700 Worth It?

If the past year has taught us anything it's that remote work is not only possible, it’s essential. Products that facilitate remote work, such as Microsoft Teams, are precious to organizations that need to keep the wheels turning.

Microsoft has been developing the Teams platform over the years, and they have created a robust platform that seamlessly integrates with the rest of their Office 365 products and services. The MS-700 certifications aim to certify critical Microsoft Teams skills and knowledge for individuals responsible for maintaining the product on a daily basis.

What is the MS-700?  

The MS-700 forms part of the more extensive Microsoft 365 Certified Enterprise Administrator Expert certification. As a Microsoft Teams administrator, you will be responsible for configuring, deploying, and managing Office 365 operations for Microsoft Teams within an enterprise environment.

You must learn how to plan, deploy, and manage Teams chat, apps, channels, meetings, audio conferencing, live events, and calling. You can think of this certification as a way to test candidates on any core functions that Microsoft Teams is expected to perform daily. There is also an element of Powershell that is tested in this exam as it is a critical component in configuring and managing many of the Teams settings and features of the application.

Once certified, you will be expected to understand how to integrate apps and services such as Sharepoint, OneDrive, Exchange, Azure AD, and Office 365 Groups. You will also learn how to integrate external apps and services into Teams, which makes this a valuable skill set for anybody responsible for the administration and upkeep of the application.

Another aspect of this certification is that you are expected to be able to collaborate with your organization's telephony engineers for the integration of services such as voice and phone calls into Microsoft Teams. However, you will not be responsible for direct routing or any configurations that relate to it.

The end result is that you will most likely work with any other team that integrates with Teams or is interested in how Teams is used in the organization. This includes security, compliance, messaging, networking, identity, and device integration.

What Does the MS-700 Test?

The exam objectives of this certification cover quite a few different domains, all relating to key concepts as they relate to IT fundamentals:

• Plan and configure a Microsoft Teams environment: 45-50%

• Manage Chat, Calling, and Meetings: 30-35%

• Manage Teams and App Policies: 20-25%

Plan and Configure a Microsoft Teams Environment 

This section has the most weight within the exam. It has a few large sections that you need to cover in detail.  

• Upgrade from Skype for Business to Microsoft Teams. This course covers choosing an appropriate upgrade path and allowing Skype for Business and Teams to coexist during and after the process. You must also plan the migration and learn how to troubleshoot issues as they arise.  

• Plan and Configure network settings for Microsoft Teams.  You will need to plan the network deployment using the Network Planner tool and calculate the network's bandwidth capacity. This will all have an impact on the way that Teams deliver voice, data, video, meetings, and Live Events.  

• Implement Governance and Lifecycle Management for Teams. You must validate your knowledge of how to create and manage team templates, set up policies for Microsoft 365 group creation, configure Microsoft 365 groups, and manage expiration and naming policies. You must also know how to archive, unarchive, restore, and delete a team.  

• Configure and Manage Guest Access. You must know how to configure guest users, guest permissions, meetings, and live events for guests, messaging and calling options for guests, and how to remove guests. You must be able to manage Azure AD access for guests and configure guest access from the Azure AD portal.

• Manage Security and Compliance.  You must be able to assign Teams Admin roles, create and manage compliance features such as retention policies and sensitivity labels, create security and compliance alerts, create information barrier policies, and how to interpret security reports from Teams.

• Deploy and Manage Microsoft Teams Endpoints. In this section, you need to know how to deploy Teams elements, such as clients, to devices such as Windows and VDIs and manage configuration profiles. You will also need to know about device tags, device settings and firmware, and Microsoft Teams Rooms.

• Monitor and Analyze Service Usage.  This section requires that you can interpret Teams-specific usage reports, 365 reports, call quality metrics via Call Analytics, Organization-wide call quality via the Call Quality Dashboard, and how to use Power BI to identify call quality issues.  

Manage Chat, Calling, and Meetings  

This section of the exam outlines the common issues you will encounter with the communications side of Teams.  

• Manage Chat and Collaboration Experiences. You must understand how to configure and manage messaging policies, external access, channels for a team, and private channel creation policies. This section also handles email integration, external access for Sharepoint and OneDrive for business, and cloud file storage options available for collaboration.

• Manage meeting experiences. Here, you need to know how to configure meeting settings, policies, and settings for Live Events. You must also know how to create and manage policies and configure conference bridge settings.

• Manage Phone Numbers. Teams has a strong telephony component, so you will need to know how to recommend a PSTN solution based on business requirements and how to order phone numbers. You will also need to know how to add, change, and remove emergency addresses for the organization. Other items include conference calling and dynamic emergency dialing.  

• Manage Phone System. Here, you will need to manage the resource accounts and configure the call queue. Auto attendants, call parking, call policies, Caller ID, and direct routing are also dealt with here.

Manage Teams and App Policies 

This is the smallest of the exam objectives, but it is an integral part of the exam.

• Manage a Team. You must understand key components of Teams, such as team creation, existing resource upgrades, privacy levels, and how to manage organization-wide teams.

• Manage Membership to a Team. Manage users in a team, configure dynamic membership, and review access for all the team members in that segment.

• Implement Policies for Microsoft Teams Apps. You must be able to create and manage app permission policies as well as app setup policies.

How Much Does the MS-700 Exam Cost?

The MS-700 exam costs $165. It is a multiple-choice format with 40 – 60 questions, and you will be given 180 minutes to complete it. The passing score is 700.

What Experience Do You Need for the MS-700?

There are no prerequisites for the associate-level exam, although holding a Microsoft 365 Certified: Fundamentals certification (MS-900) may be advantageous.

You should have a good knowledge of Microsoft Office 365 administration, as this will make it far easier for you to understand how the Teams application fits into the broader context of the Microsoft 365 environment.

 Who Should Take the MS-700?

If you work in an organization that uses Microsoft Teams, then this is a great cert to have. You will understand how to install and configure the service for your organization and be better equipped to troubleshoot and diagnose common issues that crop up occasionally. This will allow your company to deal with Teams issues directly and not need to contact an MSP when problems arise.

MS-700 for Desktop Engineers

In this scenario, you might be a gamer or online creator working with PCs outside your day job. If you are already in a role where you are providing desktop support for users in your organization, then this is a great cert to hold.

Not only does it equip you with the skills and knowledge needed to configure Teams on the back end, but it also touches on user-level issues. Passing the exam gives you the Microsoft 365 Certified: Teams Administrator Associate title.

MS-700 for System Administrators

If you are already working in an admin role responsible for much of the Microsoft environment, then earning this certification can help. Reliance on remote communications applications such as Teams has become essential for big business.

If you are able to validate your skills and learn the best practices of Microsoft Teams, you will not only have helped to streamline your organization's adoption of the application but also show that you are the right person to manage this critical resource.  

Is the MS-700 Worth It?

If your organization runs Teams and you are either already looking after it or pursuing a role that does, then this is definitely worth it. Passing the MS-700 exam not only gives you an overall view of the product but also drills down into the minutia that you need to know to properly support the application in a live business environment.  

Using the MS-700 to learn skills

The MS-700 will help you learn about Microsoft Teams and how it is configured if you are a new-comer to the platform. It details essential information about telephony, security, and any other component that needs to interact with it. If you want to step up and show that you have what it takes to maintain and configure this system, then this is the one to get.

Using the MS-700 to validate skills

Suppose you are already maintaining a Teams installation in your current role because you are also maintaining other critical Microsoft-based infrastructure. In that case, this certification will help to validate the skills that you already have. There are many areas of complexity where Teams needs to be adequately understood, and by holding this certification, you show your employers that you not only have the skills and knowledge to make it work but also that your implementation is close to Microsoft's own best practice and advice.