Study guide for PL-600: Microsoft Power Platform Solution Architect

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.

Useful links	Description
Review the skills measured as of September 23, 2024	This list represents the skills measured AFTER the date provided. Study this list if you plan to take the exam AFTER that date.
Review the skills measured prior to September 23, 2024	Study this list of skills if you take your exam PRIOR to the date provided.
Change log	You can go directly to the change log if you want to see the changes that will be made on the date provided.
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 free Practice Assessment	Test your skills with practice questions to help you prepare for the exam.

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 September 23, 2024

Audience profile

As a candidate for this exam, you should have solution architecture experience across functional and technical disciplines of Microsoft Power Platform. You should be able to facilitate design decisions based on recommended practices across development, configuration, integration, infrastructure, security, licensing, storage, and change management.

In this role, you are required to architect and ensure the successful implementation of appropriate end-to-end solutions to address business and technical needs of organizations.

You should have knowledge of:

• Microsoft Power Platform
• Dynamics 365 customer engagement apps
• Related Microsoft cloud solutions
• Other third-party technologies

Candidates should be aware of Power Platform Well-Architected framework and ideally have used it for implementation.

Skills at a glance

• Perform solution envisioning and requirement analysis (45–50%)
• Architect a solution (35–40%)
• Implement the solution (15–20%)

Perform solution envisioning and requirement analysis (45–50%)

Initiate solution planning

• Evaluate business requirements
• Identify Microsoft Power Platform solution components
• Identify and select components from existing apps, Microsoft Dynamics 365 apps, AppSource apps, Azure, third-party components, and independent software vendors (ISVs)
• Identify and estimate migration and integration efforts and alternatives

Identify organization information and metrics

• Guide the process of collecting the current state business processes
• Assess an organization's risk factors
• Review key success criteria

Identify existing solutions and systems

• Evaluate an organization's enterprise architecture
• Identify data sources needed for a solution
• Define use cases and quality standards for existing data

Capture requirements

• Refine high-level requirements
• Identify functional requirements
• Identify non-functional requirements
• Guide the process of designing and improving the future state business processes

Perform fit/gap analyses

• Determine the feasibility of meeting specific requirements
• Evaluate Dynamics 365 apps and AppSource options to solve requirements
• Address functional gaps through alternate solutions
• Determine the scope for a solution

Architect a solution (35–40%)

Lead the design process

• Design the solution topology
• Identify customization approach for existing apps
• Design and validate user experience prototypes
• Identify opportunities for component reuse
• Communicate system design visually
• Design a data migration strategy
• Design apps by grouping required features based on role or task
• Design a data visualization strategy
• Design an automation strategy
• Design environment strategy

Design the data model

• Design relationships and relationship behaviors
• Determine when to connect to external data versus import data
• Design data models to address complex sets of requirements

Design integrations

• Design collaboration suite integration including Microsoft Teams and SharePoint
• Design integrations between Microsoft Power Platform solutions and Dynamics 365 apps
• Design integrations with an organization's existing systems
• Design third-party integrations
• Design an authentication strategy
• Design a business continuity strategy
• Design robotic process automation (RPA)
• Assess possibilities of networking to support integrations

Design the security model

• Design the business unit and team structure
• Design security roles
• Design column and row level security
• Design security models to address complex sets of requirements
• Determine security model management policies and processes
• Identify Microsoft Entra ID groups and app registrations required to support a solution
• Identify data loss prevention (DLP) policies for a solution
• Determine how external users will access a solution

Implement the solution (15–20%)

Validate the solution design

• Evaluate detailed designs and implementation
• Review the security across the solution including business rules, user roles, Entra ID requirements and security boundaries
• Ensure that the solution conforms to API limits
• Assess the solution performance and impact on resources
• Resolve automation conflicts
• Resolve integration conflicts

Support go-live

• Identify and resolve potential and actual performance issues
• Escalate and provide options to resolve data migration issues
• Resolve any identified issues with deployment plans
• Identify factors that impact go-live readiness and remediate issues

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.

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	Microsoft Power Platform documentationCenter of Excellence (CoE) Starter kitVideos: Power Apps and Power Automate Architecture SeriesReal-world architecture examplesAzure ExpressRoute with Power Platform
Ask a question	[Microsoft Q&A
Get community support	Power Apps - Power Platform CommunityMicrosoft Power Automate - Power Platform Community
Follow Microsoft Learn	Microsoft Learn - Microsoft Tech Community
Find a video	[#LessCodeMorePower

Change log

Key to understanding the table: The topic groups (also known as functional groups) are in bold typeface followed by the objectives within each group. The table is a comparison between the two versions of the exam skills measured and the third column describes the extent of the changes.

Skill area prior to September 23, 2024	Skill area as of September 23, 2024	Change
Audience profile		Minor
Perform solution envisioning and requirement analysis	Perform solution envisioning and requirement analysis	% of exam increased
Initiate solution planning	Initiate solution planning	Minor
Identify organization information and metrics	Identify organization information and metrics	Minor
Identify existing solutions and systems	Identify existing solutions and systems	Minor
Capture requirements	Capture requirements	Minor
Perform fit/gap analyses	Perform fit/gap analyses	No change
Architect a solution	Architect a solution	% of exam decreased
Lead the design process	Lead the design process	Minor
Design the data model	Design the data model	Major
Design integrations	Design integrations	Minor
Design the security model	Design the security model	No change
Implement the solution	Implement the solution	No % change
Validate the solution design	Validate the solution design	Minor
Support go-live	Support go-live	Minor

Skills measured prior to September 23, 2024

Audience profile

As a candidate for this exam, you're a solution architect who:

• Leads successful implementations.
• Focuses on how solutions address the broader business and technical needs of organizations.

This role requires you to have the ability to identify opportunities to solve business problems.

You should have functional and technical knowledge of:

• Microsoft Power Platform
• Dynamics 365 customer engagement apps
• Related Microsoft cloud solutions
• Other third-party technologies

You apply knowledge and experience throughout an engagement. You perform proactive and preventative work to:

• Increase the value of the customer's investment.
• Promote organizational health.

As a candidate for this exam, you should have experience across functional and technical disciplines of Microsoft Power Platform. You should be able to facilitate design decisions across development, configuration, integration, infrastructure, security, licensing, availability, storage, and change management. In this role, you balance project's business needs while meeting functional and non-functional requirements.

Skills at a glance

• Perform solution envisioning and requirement analysis (35–40%)
• Architect a solution (40–45%)
• Implement the solution (15–20%)

Perform solution envisioning and requirement analysis (35–40%)

Initiate solution planning

• Evaluate business requirements
• Identify Microsoft Power Platform solution components
• Identify other components including existing apps, Microsoft Dynamics 365 apps, AppSource apps, third-party components, and components from independent software vendors (ISVs)
• Identify and estimate migration and integration efforts

Identify organization information and metrics

• Identify desired high-level organizational business processes
• Identify business process improvement opportunities
• Assess an organization's risk factors
• Review key success criteria

Identify existing solutions and systems

• Evaluate an organization's enterprise architecture
• Identify data sources needed for a solution
• Define use cases and quality standards for existing data
• Identify and document an organization's existing business processes

Capture requirements

• Refine high-level requirements
• Identify functional requirements
• Identify non-functional requirements
• Confirm that requirements meet an organization's goals
• Identify and document an organization's desired business processes

Perform fit/gap analyses

• Determine the feasibility of meeting specific requirements
• Evaluate Dynamics 365 apps and AppSource options to solve requirements
• Address functional gaps through alternate solutions
• Determine the scope for a solution

Architect a solution (40–45%)

Lead the design process

• Design the solution topology
• Design customizations for existing apps
• Design and validate user experience prototypes
• Identify opportunities for component reuse
• Communicate system design visually
• Design application lifecycle management (ALM) processes
• Design a data migration strategy
• Design apps by grouping required features based on role or task
• Design a data visualization strategy
• Design an automation strategy that uses Power Automate
• Design environment strategy

Design the data model

• Design tables and columns
• Design reference and configuration data
• Design relationships and relationship behaviors
• Determine when to connect to external data versus import data
• Design data models to address complex sets of requirements

Design integrations

• Design collaboration integrations
• Design integrations between Microsoft Power Platform solutions and Dynamics 365 apps
• Design integrations with an organization's existing systems
• Design third-party integrations
• Design an authentication strategy
• Design a business continuity strategy
• Identify opportunities to integrate and extend Microsoft Power Platform solutions by using Microsoft Azure
• Design robotic process automation (RPA)
• Design networking

Design the security model

• Design the business unit and team structure
• Design security roles
• Design column and row level security
• Design security models to address complex sets of requirements
• Determine security model management policies and processes
• Identify Microsoft Entra ID groups and app registrations required to support a solution
• Identify data loss prevention (DLP) policies for a solution
• Determine how external users will access a solution

Implement the solution (15–20%)

Validate the solution design

• Evaluate detail designs and implementation
• Validate security
• Ensure that the solution conforms to API limits
• Assess the solution performance and impact on resources
• Resolve automation conflicts
• Resolve integration conflicts

Support go-live

• Identify and resolve potential and actual performance issues
• Troubleshoot data migration
• Resolve any identified issues with deployment plans
• Identify factors that impact go-live readiness and remediate issues