Certification is an important part of every IT professional training which demonstrates his skills in a particular area. In the spirit of Microsoft’s new campaign for a free certification of students described in the blog post “Would you like to be certified? Free for students: Get Certified campaign, “I want to show you the entire certification process, from acquiring the necessary knowledge to taking the exam and receiving skills. Also I will devote special attention to the study materials because the official literature requires you to have MSDN access, or Customer / Partner source account. Let us start from the beggining first to understand what it takes to become a MCP for Microsoft Nav …

Competencies

Certification for Microsoft Dynamics NAV is based on acquiring competencies which demonstrates students abilities in some areas of the ERP platform. Skills are achieved by passing the exam group of three main areas: application knowledge, implementation and development platform. Consequently, the student can become a Microsoft Certified Professional in the following areas:

• Applications for Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009
• Developer for Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009
• Installation and Configuration for Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009.

To begin the certification process it is recommended to take the exam required for the first competency, ie. MCP applications and then the other two, depending on the job that you want to do.

Applications for Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009

This is the first of competencies that demonstrate your knowledge of applications and modules that are avaible in Nav. In order to get this competence, you will need to pass a mandatory exam and three of your choice:

Mandatory: MS Nav 2009 Core Setup and Finance Exam MB7-839

Optional: MS Nav 2009 Trade and Inventory Exam MB7-842

Optional: MS Nav 2009 Warehouse Management Exam MB7-843

Optional: MS Nav 2009 Relationship Management Exam MB7-846

Optional: MS Nav 2009 Service Management Exam MB7-848

Optional: MS Nav 2009 Manufacturing Exam MB7-849

 

Installation and Configuration for Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009

Implementing ERP software is very important and difficult task for any IT professional. Accordingly, Microsoft has made a special exam group to demonstrate competence in this area. Since it is about installing and configuring software, knowledge of finance or manufacturing is desirable but not essential. To acquire this competence it is necessary to pass two mandatory exams and two optional, and they are:

Mandatory: MS Nav 2009 Installation and Configuration Exam MB7-838

Mandatory: Microsoft SQL Server 2005 – Implementation and Maintenance or

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 – Implementation and Maintenance Exam 70-431 ili Exam 70-432

Optional: MS Nav 2009 Core Setup and Finance Exam MB7-839

Optional: MS Nav 2009 C/SIDE Introduction Exam MB7-840

Optional: MS Nav 2009 Trade and Inventory Exam MB7-842

Optional: MS Nav 2009 Warehouse Management Exam MB7-843

Optional: MS Nav 2009 Manufacturing Exam MB7-849

Optional: Managing and Maintaining a Windows Server 2003 Environment or

Windows Server 2008 Active Directory, Configuring Exam 70-290 ili Exam 70-640

Optional: Implementing, Managing, and Maintaining a  Windows Server 2003 Network  Infrastructure or

Windows Server 2008 Network Infrastructure, Configuring Exam 70-291 ili Exam 70-641

Optional: Designing a Windows Server 2003 Active Directory  and Network Infrastructure Exam 70-297

Optional: Designing Security for a Windows Server 2003 Network Exam 70-298

Optional: Windows Server 2003 Hosted Environments, Configuration  and Management Exam 70-501

Optional: Developing Business Process and Integration Solutions  by Using Microsoft BizTalk Server  2006 or

Developing  Business Process and Integration Solutions by Using  Microsoft BizTalk  Server 2006 R2 Exam 70-235 or Exam 70-241

 

Developer for Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009

Microsoft Nav comes with a specially designed platform for the development and programming. Technologies used for this purpose are C / AL, C / Side IDE and .Net . Prerequisites for the exam from this group is a good knowledge of the application and the architecture on which it is based. Also, for the acquisition of this competence it is necessary to pass two mandatory exams and two of your choice:

Mandatory: MS Nav 2009 C/SIDE Introduction Exam MB7-840

Mandatory: MS Nav 2009 C/SIDE Solution Development Exam MB7-841

Optional: MS Nav 2009 Installation and Configuration Exam MB7-838

Optional: MS Nav 2009 Core Setup and Finance Exam MB7-839

Optional: MS Nav 2009 Trade and Inventory Exam MB7-842

Optional: MS Nav 2009 Warehouse Management Exam MB7-843

Optional: MS Nav 2009 Manufacturing Exam MB7-849

 

Preparation materials

Preparing certification exam for Microsoft NAV can be very problematic if you do not have the status of a customer or partner. Most of the official materials are located on the Partner / Customer Source web portal and can not be accessed without a subscription and a valid account. Accordingly, I made a list of sources where you can find free materials needed to acquire the necessary knowledge for exams.

MSDN Library

MSDN is one of the better places where you can find free ebooks and documents about Nav. Beside official documents you can also find many tutorials, how to`s and code samples.

 

• Microsoft Dynamics Nav 2009 R2 – Home
• Instalation and upgrade MS Dynamics Nav
• Virtualization Microsoft Dynamics Nav 2009 r2
• Microsoft Dynamics Nav development and IT PRO documentation
• Technical articles
• Tutorials for administration, instalation and development
• Role Tailored Client over WAN-a
• Dynamics Nav Developer
• Official MSDN Nav blog

 

Free ebooks and other materials

There are many free ebooks avaible on the internet that you can use in preparation of Microsoft Nav exams. Here is the short list of materials that can help you learn Nav and pass exams:

• Application design, Microsoft
• Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 RoleTailored Client Terminology, PPT, Microsoft
• NAV 2009 User interface , Microsoft
• NAV 2009 SP1 Installation and Development Guide, Microsoft
• NAV CAL Programming Guide
• NAV 2009 pre-SP1 Installation and Development Guide
• Security Hardening Guide
• NAV 5.0 W1 – Collected User Documentation
• Online Help Guide for Microsoft Dynamics NAV
• Quick Guide: Upgrading from NAV 5.00 to NAV 2009
• Dynamics NAV / Navision Architecture
• Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 SP1 – New Features and Updates (PowerPoint)
• Megamap for all tutorials MS Nav 2009 r2 in xls format

Taking the exam

As previously discussed, all examinations are taken at designated test centers in Serbia, and are mainly composed of two parts, theoretical and simulation. You can register for exam by using Prometric.com or some other testing solution provider for MS. In addition, all examinations are in English so you should take that into notice.If you choose to go through certification for Microsoft Nav, I want to tell you that you will not regret it. Benefits of these certificates are really great!