How to Become a Dynamics 365 Field Service Consultant

Introduction

Are you a field service management professional interested in specializing in a career in Microsoft Dynamics 365 consulting? Are you a Dynamics 365 functional consultant looking to expand your Customer Engagement application knowledge? Are you someone who is excited about helping enterprise businesses digitally transform their organization to meet their customer’s needs?

If any of these scenarios apply to you, then consider how the role of Dynamics 365 Field Service functional consultant is a great way to leverage your existing experience in field service or Dynamics 365 consulting into a rich and rewarding Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement area of specialization. As a Dynamics 365 Field Service functional consultant you will be able to offer expertise to organizations seeking to digitally transform their customer service offerings through Dynamics 365 Field Service.

In this article we will outline the following to guide you through the process of becoming a Dynamics 365 Field Service functional consultant:

Define Dynamics 365 Field Service application within the Microsoft Dynamics Customer Engagement application suite
The role and responsibilities of a Dynamics 365 Field Service functional consultant

The required skills and relevant Microsoft Certifications useful to Dynamics 365 Field Service functional consultants

What is Dynamics 365 Field Service?

Dynamics 365 Field Service is a business application within the Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement software suite. This application ensures onsite workers can deliver personalized customer experience and optimized service operations to customer locations.

This business application assists organizations to delivery efficient and personalized services through several capabilities that leverage real-time data and reporting, with opportunities to customize and extended through Power Platform, and pair with other Dynamics 365 CE applications to comprehensively meet customer needs.

Dynamics 365 Field Service capabilities include, but are not limited to:

Work orders, scheduling, dispatching and communication tools, asset management and preventative maintenance, inventory, purchasing and returns, billing, time tracking and analytics for reporting. A core capability is also the mobile application version that gives field workers the ability to access, report and interact with the centralized data crucial to performing their organization’s key services.

At the core of this Field Service Management software application is the ability for organizations, and its users, to provide proactive and predictive service modules for customers through a cloud-based customer service software solution. In conjunction with the mobile application, Dynamics 365 Field Service ensures that enterprise businesses and its teams of managers, technicians and customer service support specialists can access, and leverage live-data and customer service information when onsite and out in the field. This enhanced and real-time connectivity allows an organization to personalize the customer experience and optimize service operations to better meet their customer’s needs and improve their business processes.

Whilst Microsoft Dynamics 365 Field Service can be utilized as a stand-alone application, it can be optimized for greater and more comprehensive solutioning in conjunction with the three other applications in the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement suite:

Dynamics 365 Marketing

Dynamics 365 Customer Service
Dynamics 365 Sales

All four of these applications that make up Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement are built upon the Microsoft Power Platform. With this centralized, cloud-based design, these applications can be integrated, and extended with other products in the Microsoft software ecosystem, as well as with third-party applications. Further custom applications can be built leveraging the Microsoft Power Platform foundations to provide greater insights, and improve business processes that can meet an organization’s needs.

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What is a Dynamics 365 Field Service Functional Consultant?

A Dynamics 365 Field Service functional consultant is field service professional who advises on, and guides organizations on how to use and customize Dynamics 365 Field Service to optimize their business operations to better meet customer needs. Dynamics 365 Field Service is an integral and complex customer service application that is utilized by numerous industries with onsite service teams such as healthcare, manufacturing, utilities, construction, and government.

As a Dynamics 365 Field Service functional consultant you will work with clients to establish and give guidance to improve their field service offerings and business processes that account for the full field service lifecycle.

What are the roles and responsibilities of a Dynamics 365 Field Service Functional Consultant

As a Dynamics 365 Field Service functional consultant you will be responsible for configuring and implementing software solutions that mange resources and provide the tools necessary to complete and optimize the field service lifecycle for clients. To be successful in this role you will be required to use your field and customer service experience to design, configure and implement field service software solutions to help organizations wholistically deliver onsite customer service offerings. You must be able to design, configure and implement field service solutions that customize the field service workflows, scheduling and resource management, communication, and mobility features of Dynamics 365 Field Service to enhance the customer experience for your client’s business.

The key responsibilities of a Dynamics 365 Field Service functional consultant include, but are not limited to:

Collaborate with internal and external teams to design and implement field service processes
Lead requirements gathering workshops to translate client requirements into solution design documents

Configure, implement, and test Dynamics 365 Field Service application solutions
Integrate or extend Dynamics 365 Field Service with other Microsoft products and applications
Manage, configure, and deploy the Field Service application, and the mobile app.

How to Become a Dynamics 365 Field Service Functional Consultant

Now that you understand how the Dynamics 365 Field Service application functions, and what the role and responsibilities of a functional consultant for this application are, this article will explain the requirements and knowledge that are critical to Dynamics 365 Field Service functional consultant associates.

No matter if you are just starting out on your path toward functional consulting specializations, or if you are a seasoned functional consultant looking to expand your knowledge, it is useful to understand the certification pathway defined by Microsoft.

The certification process is categorized into three tiers: Fundamentals, Associate, and Expert. By starting with the Dynamics 365 Fundamentals (CRM) certification you will gain the foundational Microsoft Dynamics 365 software knowledge necessary to understand the core features and functions of this application suite. Following from the fundamental certification, you can specialize per Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement application, including the Field Service application.

If you are a Microsoft Dynamics 365 functional consultant looking to expand and consolidate your expertise within Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement suite it may be worthwhile pursuing multiple certifications by application to demonstrate your expertise across the application suite.

What are the required certifications to become a Dynamics 365 Field Service Functional Consultant?

To be become a Microsoft Certified: Dynamics 365 Field Service Functional Consultant Associate you must pass the Microsoft Exam: MB-240. This certification will prove your proficiency as a Microsoft functional consultant that can design, configure, implement, and test Dynamics 365 Field Service applications and solutions, and demonstrate knowledge of this application’s core capabilities. This includes:

Configuring field service applications to integrate with Dynamics 365 field service tools such as Dynamics 365 Customer Voice, Dynamics 365 Remote assist, Dynamics 365 Guides and Dynamics 365 SCM
Creating and managing work orders, including scheduling and dispatching work orders
Managing the Dynamics 365 Field Service Mobile App

Manage the inventory and purchasing modules
Implement assets and connected devices including implementing Connect Field Service with Azure Internet of Things (IoT) Hub and customer asset management

If you want to enhance your knowledge as a Dynamics 365 Field Service functional consultant, consider taking the exam PL-200: Power Platform Functional Consultant exam. Prior to July 28th, 2022, this was a prerequisite exam to the MB-240 exam and has since been lifted by Microsoft to streamline the Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement certifications. However, taking this exam would demonstrate your knowledge of, and ability to integrate and configure applications in the Microsoft Power Platform. This knowledge can be used to enhance and extend Dynamics 365 Field Service and allow for further customization of the application.

What are the skills necessary to be a Dynamics 365 Field Service functional consultant?

To be a successful Dynamics 365 Field Service functional consultant, you will need a combination of technical, interpersonal, and field service management skills. As a functional consultant specializing in Dynamics 365 Field Service, you with need to be proficient in explaining and designing field service processes and solutions for clients in a variety of industries.

The technical skills you will require for this position is a deep understanding of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Field Service application including but not limited to being able to configure resources, incident types, integrate inventory, resource scheduling, work orders, service tasks, field service user roles and field service settings, configure and implement the Connect Field Service (IoT) solution, and the Dynamics 365 Field Service mobile app.

Interpersonal skills such as presentation, communication, and problem-solving skills can be paired with field service experience, and technical knowledge to ensure that you can collaborate with internal and external teams to translate the technical requirements of a client into software solutions.

Conclusion

Whether you are aspiring to enter this industry, or are already working as a functional consultant, the role of Dynamics 365 Field Service functional consultant is a great avenue for diversifying your skillset and career within the Microsoft Dynamics 365 ecosystem.