Standardize your team across the Microsoft stack
From AZ-900 fundamentals through SC-100 expert-level architecture, every Microsoft certification path comes with structured training and team admin reporting, with hands-on labs in the Windows Server, endpoint, and SQL Server paths. Cover Azure, Microsoft 365, Windows Server, security, data, and Power Platform — and prove the capability coverage your auditors and leadership ask for.
Microsoft-credentialed team
Built for teams running production Azure, M365, and Windows Server stacks.
Spotlight
The Microsoft certifications IT directors most often standardize their teams on. Each one comes with team admin reporting included; the cards show which carry unlimited practice exams.
The Azure Network Engineer Associate certification validates the skills and knowledge of network engineers to design, implement, and maintaining Azure networking solutions.
Exam investment: $165
The Microsoft 365 Certified: Administrator Expert certification validates the skills and knowledge of IT professionals to evaluate, plan, deploy, and manage Microsoft 365 services, including Microsoft 365 security, compliance, and governance.
Exam investment: $165
The Microsoft 365 Certified: Endpoint Administrator Associate validates the skills to deploy, configure, and manage devices and applications in a Microsoft 365 environment.
Exam investment: $165
The Microsoft Certified: Security Operations Analyst Associate certification validates the skills and knowledge of security operations analysts to detect and respond to threats, and to configure and use threat detection tools, and who should pursue this certification are security operations analysts, security engineers, and security consultants.
Exam investment: $165
The Microsoft Certified: Cybersecurity Architect Expert validates your skills in designing and maintaining a secure computing environment.
Exam investment: $165
The Microsoft 365 Certified: Copilot and Agent Administration Fundamentals certification validates foundational skills in managing and deploying Microsoft 365 Copilot and agent services.
Exam investment: $99
The Microsoft Certified: Azure Data Fundamentals (DP-900) validates the candidate's understanding of core data concepts, including data types, data processing, and data security.
Exam investment: $99
The Microsoft Certified: Security, Compliance, and Identity Fundamentals certification validates a candidate's understanding of security, compliance, and identity concepts, as well as their ability to identify and mitigate security threats.
Exam investment: $99
AZ-900 validates a shared baseline in cloud concepts and Microsoft Azure: core cloud characteristics, the physical and logical layout of Azure, compute with virtual machines and PaaS options, networking, storage, identity and security, and the cost analysis and monitoring tools that keep a subscription accountable.
Exam investment: $99
PL-900 validates that a team understands how the pieces of Microsoft Power Platform work together: canvas apps, Power Automate flows, Power BI reports and dashboards, and the Microsoft Dataverse and connector layer that ties them to business data.
Exam investment: $99
The Azure AI Fundamentals exam validates the candidate's knowledge of machine learning, natural language processing, and computer vision, and is ideal for developers, data scientists, and AI engineers who want to build AI-infused solutions on the Azure platform.
AZ-104 validates that an IT team can run day-to-day Azure operations: governing identities and roles in Azure AD, securing and administering storage accounts, deploying and managing virtual machines, and planning virtual networks across regions and zones.
Exam investment: $165
The Microsoft Certified: Azure Database Administrator Associate validates the skills to implement and manage cloud-based relational databases, including data security, performance, and scalability.
Exam investment: $165
Microsoft Office Specialist: PowerPoint Associate (Microsoft 365 Apps), earned by passing exam MO-310, validates working command of the PowerPoint environment: creating and managing presentations, managing slides, inserting and formatting text, shapes, and images, adding tables, charts, SmartArt, 3D models, and media, and applying transitions and animations.
Exam investment: $100
The Microsoft 365 Certified: Teams Administrator Associate certification validates the skills and knowledge of IT professionals in configuring, deploying, and managing Microsoft Teams, as well as managing chat, meetings, and calling features.
Exam investment: $165
The Microsoft Certified: Fabric Analytics Engineer Associate validates the skills and knowledge of professionals who design and implement analytics solutions on Azure Fabric, ensuring efficient data processing and insights.
Exam investment: $165
The Microsoft Certified: Power BI Data Analyst Associate validates the skills to design and build scalable data models, clean and transform data, and create reports and dashboards using Power BI.
Exam investment: $165
The Microsoft Certified: Identity and Access Administrator Associate validates the skills to design, implement, and manage identity and access management systems, including identity protection, access management, and identity governance.
Exam investment: $165
The Microsoft 365 Certified: Collaboration Communications Systems Engineer Associate certification validates the skills and knowledge of IT professionals who design, implement, and manage Microsoft 365 collaboration and communication solutions.
Exam investment: $165
The Microsoft Certified: Power Platform Functional Consultant Associate validates the skills to implement and configure Power Apps, Power Automate, and Power BI, and to create solutions that meet business requirements.
The Azure Security Engineer Associate certification validates the skills and knowledge of security engineers to design, implement, and manage the security of Azure solutions.
The AB-730 AI Business Professional certification from Microsoft validates that business and IT staff can apply generative AI and Copilot to everyday Microsoft 365 work: managing prompts and conversations, drafting and refining business content, and analyzing and visualizing data.
Exam investment: $99
The AZ-140 exam validates that an IT team can plan, deploy and operate Azure Virtual Desktop as a production service, from host pools and VDI networking to FSLogix profile containers and golden images.
Exam investment: $165
AI Transformation Leader (AB-731) validates that a leader can guide an organization's AI program in business terms: explaining AI foundations, comparing Microsoft AI technologies such as Copilot and Microsoft Foundry, and weighing the considerations behind an AI solution.
Exam investment: $99
Exam MO-211 validates Microsoft Excel Expert skills in Microsoft 365 Apps: building advanced charts, PivotTables and PivotCharts, logical and lookup formulas, data validation and grouping, workbook management, and simple macros.
Exam investment: $100
Exam MO-110 validates that a person can produce and manage professional documents in Microsoft Word for Microsoft 365 Apps, from formatting text, paragraphs, lists and tables to configuring sections and page layout, handling long documents, inserting graphics and sharing files for collaboration.
Exam investment: $100
MO-111 validates advanced Microsoft Word skills in Microsoft 365 Apps: building and managing styles, structuring long documents, running mail merges, protecting and managing documents, and automating repetitive work with templates, fields, forms, and simple macros.
Exam investment: $100
AZ-400 validates that an engineer can design and implement DevOps practices on Microsoft platforms, from Git source control and branch strategy through Azure Pipelines, YAML CI/CD, release management and GitHub Actions integration.
Exam investment: $165
Exam MO-210 validates that a professional can build and maintain Excel workbooks in Microsoft 365 Apps.
Exam investment: $100
AI-103 validates that engineers can design, build, and secure generative AI apps and agents on Azure with Microsoft Foundry, from Foundry infrastructure and SDK-based development to retrieval, grounding, and multi-agent orchestration.
Exam investment: $165
Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert, earned by passing exam AZ-305, validates that an engineer can translate business requirements into Azure designs that follow the Azure Well-Architected Framework and the Cloud Adoption Framework for Azure.
Exam investment: $165
IT leaders measure Microsoft training value in operational terms — cleaner audit trails for compliance, faster onboarding into Azure and M365 admin roles, and a shared Microsoft vocabulary across cloud, security, and endpoint teams. Those are the outcomes leadership cares about, not seat-time or completion percentages.
Role-based paths
Match Microsoft certs to the actual roles your team holds. Each path bundles the right certs plus the operational depth engineers need day-to-day.
Cloud admins, network engineers, and security operators running production Azure workloads. AZ-700 covers network engineering (ExpressRoute, Virtual WAN); for security operators, SC-200 is the associate-level baseline (AZ-500 retired — last day to test 31 August 2026). AZ-900 establishes the team's shared cloud vocabulary.
The Azure Network Engineer Associate certification validates the skills and knowledge of network engineers to design, implement, and maintaining Azure networking solutions.
Exam investment: $165
The Microsoft Certified: Security Operations Analyst Associate certification validates the skills and knowledge of security operations analysts to detect and respond to threats, and to configure and use threat detection tools, and who should pursue this certification are security operations analysts, security engineers, and security consultants.
Exam investment: $165
AZ-900 validates a shared baseline in cloud concepts and Microsoft Azure: core cloud characteristics, the physical and logical layout of Azure, compute with virtual machines and PaaS options, networking, storage, identity and security, and the cost analysis and monitoring tools that keep a subscription accountable.
Exam investment: $99
For teams managing Microsoft 365 tenants, Intune-deployed endpoints, and the collaboration stack. MS-102 covers the tenant administrator role; MD-102 covers Intune endpoint admin; MS-700/MS-721 covers Teams platform and collaboration communications.
The Microsoft 365 Certified: Administrator Expert certification validates the skills and knowledge of IT professionals to evaluate, plan, deploy, and manage Microsoft 365 services, including Microsoft 365 security, compliance, and governance.
Exam investment: $165
The Microsoft 365 Certified: Endpoint Administrator Associate validates the skills to deploy, configure, and manage devices and applications in a Microsoft 365 environment.
Exam investment: $165
The Microsoft 365 Certified: Teams Administrator Associate certification validates the skills and knowledge of IT professionals in configuring, deploying, and managing Microsoft Teams, as well as managing chat, meetings, and calling features.
Exam investment: $165
The Microsoft 365 Certified: Collaboration Communications Systems Engineer Associate certification validates the skills and knowledge of IT professionals who design, implement, and manage Microsoft 365 collaboration and communication solutions.
Exam investment: $165
Defenders running Microsoft Sentinel, Defender XDR, Entra ID, and the broader security stack. SC-200 is the SOC analyst associate; SC-300 is the identity & access administrator. SC-100 is the expert-level architect credential for teams signing off on Microsoft security architecture.
The Microsoft Certified: Security Operations Analyst Associate certification validates the skills and knowledge of security operations analysts to detect and respond to threats, and to configure and use threat detection tools, and who should pursue this certification are security operations analysts, security engineers, and security consultants.
Exam investment: $165
The Microsoft Certified: Identity and Access Administrator Associate validates the skills to design, implement, and manage identity and access management systems, including identity protection, access management, and identity governance.
Exam investment: $165
The Microsoft Certified: Cybersecurity Architect Expert validates your skills in designing and maintaining a secure computing environment.
Exam investment: $165
The Microsoft Certified: Security, Compliance, and Identity Fundamentals certification validates a candidate's understanding of security, compliance, and identity concepts, as well as their ability to identify and mitigate security threats.
Exam investment: $99
For sysadmin teams running Windows Server in hybrid configurations. Microsoft retired the Windows Server Hybrid Administrator Associate exam pair — AZ-800 retired — last day to test 30 September 2026; AZ-801 retired — last day to test 30 September 2026 — and Microsoft has not announced a replacement exam. The hybrid-infrastructure training (core hybrid infrastructure, clustering, DR, security) stays in the library for team upskilling; AZ-104 is the role-based Azure administration exam these teams most often hold.
AZ-104 validates that an IT team can run day-to-day Azure operations: governing identities and roles in Azure AD, securing and administering storage accounts, deploying and managing virtual machines, and planning virtual networks across regions and zones.
Exam investment: $165
Data engineers, BI analysts, and AI/Copilot administrators. Covers the DP-300 Azure DBA track, DP-600 Fabric analytics, PL-300 Power BI, and the Copilot/Agent administration credential (AB-900) that's becoming an IT-led initiative in most IT organizations.
The Microsoft Certified: Azure Database Administrator Associate validates the skills to implement and manage cloud-based relational databases, including data security, performance, and scalability.
Exam investment: $165
The Microsoft Certified: Fabric Analytics Engineer Associate validates the skills and knowledge of professionals who design and implement analytics solutions on Azure Fabric, ensuring efficient data processing and insights.
Exam investment: $165
The Microsoft Certified: Azure Data Fundamentals (DP-900) validates the candidate's understanding of core data concepts, including data types, data processing, and data security.
Exam investment: $99
The Microsoft Certified: Power BI Data Analyst Associate validates the skills to design and build scalable data models, clean and transform data, and create reports and dashboards using Power BI.
Exam investment: $165
The Microsoft 365 Certified: Copilot and Agent Administration Fundamentals certification validates foundational skills in managing and deploying Microsoft 365 Copilot and agent services.
Exam investment: $99
Hands-on Microsoft practice
Human-led training is the point: engineers practice real skills with expert guidance, not just video playback.
Why CBT Nuggets
The platform features IT directors comparing training platforms ask about most often.
Team outcome
Curated playlists and team assignments make onboarding repeatable instead of relying on ad hoc shadowing and tribal knowledge.
What the team gets: Scale your team, backfill a role, or standardize skills across distributed engineers.
Common questions IT directors ask when evaluating Microsoft training for their team.
It depends on your team's primary Microsoft footprint. For Azure-first teams, AZ-900 → AZ-104 is the baseline every cloud engineer should hold; AZ-305 sits above for the architect bench. For teams running M365 + Intune, MD-102 → MS-102 covers endpoint and tenant admin. For sysadmin teams operating hybrid Windows Server, the hybrid administrator exam pair has retired (AZ-800 retired — last day to test 30 September 2026; AZ-801 retired — last day to test 30 September 2026) and Microsoft has not announced a replacement exam, so AZ-104 is the role-based exam those teams most often hold. Most IT leaders run all three programs in parallel against different role groups.
Role-based fundamentals (the 900-series — AZ-900, SC-900, MS-900, DP-900, PL-900) validate vocabulary and conceptual fluency. Associate certs (AZ-104, MS-102, MD-102, SC-200, AZ-700) prove role-level operational competency. Expert certs (AZ-305, AZ-400, SC-100) prove architectural and strategic depth — the credentials leadership expects on principal-level engineers signing off on production Azure or security architecture. Note that Microsoft also ships Applied Skills credentials (the AB-prefix family, e.g. AB-900 for Copilot administration) — these are scenario-based and narrow-scope, positioned by Microsoft as complementary to but distinct from the role-based ladder above.
The metrics that matter aren't seat-time or completion percentages. For Microsoft teams, start with onboarding velocity for new hires, certification coverage by role, time-to-productivity on Azure or M365 admin tasks, and incident volume on Microsoft-managed services. CBT Nuggets gives managers the reporting surface to track completion and cert coverage while the training itself keeps engineers moving through the right Microsoft path.
Yes. Team reporting helps managers document assigned training, completion, and cert coverage for internal governance or audit conversations. Teams in regulated industries pair Microsoft cert paths (SC-200, SC-300, SC-100) with the broader CBT Nuggets platform features designed for team visibility, access control, and reporting.
Microsoft restructures the cert catalog regularly: AZ-303/304 collapsed into AZ-305, MS-100/101 collapsed into MS-102, the SC-200 was refreshed for Defender XDR, AB-900/AB-730/AB-731 are the new Copilot/AI tracks. CBT Nuggets updates Microsoft course titles and paths as the catalog changes so managers can keep team training plans aligned with the language Microsoft and your auditors actually use.
Microsoft role-based certs require an annual free renewal assessment to stay current. CBT Nuggets helps managers keep refresh work organized through assigned training paths, progress visibility, and updated catalog content as Microsoft refreshes exam objectives. When Microsoft renames or restructures a track, updated courses stay aligned with the same team training plan.
Yes, and many teams use the 900-series role-based fundamentals (AZ-900, MS-900, SC-900, DP-900) as on-ramps for engineers transitioning into cloud and M365 work. From fundamentals, the natural progression is the associate-level cert that matches the engineer's role (SC-200 for security operations, MD-102 for endpoint admins, etc.). Most teams budget 4–6 weeks for fundamentals and 2–3 months for associate-level prep from a cold start.
