Courseware updates

This month’s courseware update topics include more details about planned Windows Server 2019 courses, some new courses aligned to new certifications, and an update on our course retirement strategy.

Update: Windows Server 2019 courses

Last month, we shared with you the titles of three planned courses to cover Windows Server 2019 topics. The following course numbers have been assigned to these courses. Please be aware that these course titles are not only subject to change but also will likely change over the next month or two, as we complete the design and approach of these courses. We’re conveying this message to partners and Microsoft Certified Trainers (MCTs) so that you don’t incorporate these course titles into marketing materials that you can’t readily update, if needed. The courses are still scheduled for initial public release in June 2020 and final release in August 2020, after planned updates. We’ll notify you of any course title changes via both this newsletter and in the Courseware Title Plan in the next month or two.

  • WS-011T00: Upgrading Your Skills to Windows Server 2019 (two days) / title subject to change
  • WS-012T00: Deploying, Managing, and Maintaining Windows Server 2019 (five days) / title subject to change
  • WS-013T00: Windows Server 2019 Hybrid Cloud Implementation (two to three days) / title subject to change

New Data & AI courses

The following courses in the Data & AI space are net new and expected to be in market before the end of June, and they include two new fundamentals courses we’re building in response to market demand:

  • AI-900T00: Microsoft Azure AI Fundamentals (one day)
  • DA-100T00: Analyzing Data with Microsoft Power BI (five days)
  • DP-300T00: Administering Relational Databases on Microsoft Azure (five days)
  • DP-900T00: Microsoft Azure Data Fundamentals (one day)

For more details on these and other planned new courses and course updates, please see the February edition of the Courseware Title Plan.

Courseware retirement strategy update

In this newsletter, we make a point of sharing planned course retirements, and we provide Learning Partners and MCTs with as close to three months’ notice as possible, usually more, before courses retire. For the latest updates, you can always check our Course retirements listing.

By now, you’ve heard about our plans to retire Microsoft Certified Solutions Associate (MCSA), Microsoft Certified Solutions Developer (MCSD), and Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert (MCSE) certification exams. Many of you may wonder whether all the courses aligned to these exams will also retire. That’s not our strategy for courseware retirement. Although having an aligned exam that’s retired is one consideration in our evaluation of courses as candidates for retirement, there are weightier factors in that decision. A primary consideration is the continuing skilling need in the market, as evidenced by the volume of units sold of a particular course (for those courses which have been in market for at least 18 months).

We also look at whether Microsoft extended support of the technology covered by a course has ended or whether we have specific business obligations for different courses. In the coming months, we’ll be retiring more courses based on low volumes (in fact, we’ve already started to do so and are keeping you informed of those retirements). We also have some very old courses in our curriculum which we’ll evaluate for retirement. This effort is meant to help streamline our curriculum to both help you maintain access to those courses with market demand and to help us to better maintain the right mix of courses, while removing operational overhead and support requirements for little-used/low-value courses. Our next round of retirements will take place in the May/June 2020 time frame, so we should have an update for you in next month’s newsletter.