Preparing for exam 70-347 - Enabling Office 365 Services

Making notes in notepad

If you’re looking to develop or certify your skills with Office 365, now is an excellent time. Adoption of Office 365 continues at a rapid rate, as more and more businesses discover the potential of Microsoft’s subscription based cloud productivity suite. Figures in the latest quarterly earnings release show a surge in Office 365 subscribers to an impressive 20.6 million, up 13% on the previous quarter.

This growth is driving up employer demand for IT Professionals who can demonstrate the skills needed to help businesses make the most of Office 365. One of the best ways to demonstrate this is by achieving the MCSA: Office 365 certification.

So if you’re looking to take advantage of this opportunity, we’ve put together a guide to help you prepare for exam 70-347: Enabling Office 365 Services.

Enabling Office 365 Services Exam overview

In order to achieve the MCSA: Office 365 credential you are required to pass two exams. They are exams 70-346: Managing Office 365 Identities and Requirements and 70-347: Enabling Office 365 Services. Achieving both exams demonstrates your ability to install and administer cloud-hosted applications with Office 365 – including SharePoint, Exchange and Skype for Business.

Today, we will be focusing on exam 70-347 Enabling Office 365 Services which measures skills in the following areas:

  • Managing clients and end-user devices (20-25%)
    • This includes managing deployments of Office 365 alongside setting up telemetry and reporting
  • Provision SharePoint Online site collections (20-25%)
    • This covers configuring external user sharing, creating a SharePoint site collection and planning a collaboration solution
  • Configure Exchange Online and Skype for Business Online for end users (25-30%)
    • This includes configuring end user communication settings for Skype for Business Online, personal archive policies and managing external resources
  • Plan for Exchange Online and Skype for Business Online (25-30%)
    • This section includes a look at mailbox migration strategies, anti-malware & anti-spam policies as well as global external communication settings on Skype for Business

If you’re considering taking the exam it is recommended you have experience working with Office 365 Admin Center as well as knowledge of Microsoft Exchange Online, Skype for Business, SharePoint Online, Office 365 ProPlus and Microsoft Azure Active Directory.

How do I pass the Enabling Office 365 exam?

To pass exam 70-347 you will be required to answer a number of questions correctly. For each correct answer, you accrue points. To achieve a pass, you will need to amass a score of 700 or above, anything below this mark is considered a fail.

During the exam you will face a series of different question types. These can include drag and drop, multiple choice, best answer and hot area. For more information on what to expect during the exam, check out the certification exams page on the Microsoft Learning platform.

If you think you are ready to sit exam 70-347, you can register via the dedicated page. The exam is typically sat at exam centre of your choosing, though online proctored delivery is becoming more widely available. Chris Testa-O'Neill has written a great article on the online exam experience should you wish to learn more about online proctored exams.

Resources to prepare for the exam

If you’re not quite ready to sit the exam, we’ve compiled a series of resources to help you prepare.

Study guides

It’s always great to have a study guide when preparing for an exam. Microsoft Press offer an official guide aligned to the exam called Exam Ref 70-347 Enabling Office 365 Services. You can purchase the guide in both book and e-book formats.

Video guides

It just so happens that exam 70-347 has a number of video guides designed specifically for the exam. These all come straight from Microsoft and are delivered by experts.

Training

A great way to prepare for the exam is through training. Put yourself in an environment conducive to learning where you can truly focus on your outcome, passing exam 70-437. There are many training options available which can include self-study, e-learning and classroom based learning. Choose an option which best suits your needs.

Here at Firebrand, we offer a 4 day accelerated MCSA Office 365 course where you cover both MOCs and sit exams 70-346 and 70-347 on site as part of the course, covered by our certification guarantee.

If you already have 6 months or more worth of experience in enabling Office 365 services, there is a Microsoft ran 5-day online course . This structured, instructor led course will give you the full detail on what will be covered in the MCP exam and what you need to know to pass it. On day one, the instructor will take you through each of the modules in the exam and direct you to the online training you can then do at your own leisure over the next 3 days. Day 5 is a chalk and talk session to discuss findings and address any questions you may have. Included in the course is a free textbook to study with and an exam voucher once you've completed the full course.

Practice Exams

Practice exams are a great way to benchmark your knowledge and assess exam readiness. They are also a great way of simulating real world testing conditions, so you know what to expect. MeasureUp, official providers of Microsoft practice exams, offer a 131 question practice test covering all objectives.

Other resources

There are a number of other resource sites out there that can help you prepare for the exam. TechNet and the Office 365 site both have a vast repository of information to help prepare you for the exam. Below are a number handpicked sources aligned to exam topic areas:

Managing clients and end-user device

Provision SharePoint Online site collections

Configure Exchange Online and Skype for Business Online for end users

Editor's note:

Global Knowledge also offer a 5 day MCSA Office 365 Bootcamp where you'll take part in immersive hands on labs, lectures and discussions. From initial setup this course takes you through all the features from administration and deployment to integration, co-existence, migration and troubleshooting.

 

Ed JonesBy Ed Jones. Ed works for Firebrand Training , a Microsoft Gold Learning Partner. He has worked in the IT training and certification industry for the past 4 years. He is a tech enthusiast with experience working with SharePoint, Windows Server and Windows desktop.