Microsoft Releases the Service Adoption Specialist Course
Published Jan 10 2019 11:01 AM 87.3K Views
Microsoft

 

We are excited to announce the release our Microsoft Service Adoption Specialist  online course.  Earn your certificate in this body of knowledge that is delivered through our partner, EdX.org. This course is designed to help you understand the six knowledge areas required to successfully drive the adoption of Microsoft services in your company.  While all great service adoption is technology agnostic, this course uses Microsoft Teams, our hub for teamwork in Office 365, as the example service throughout the material.  A Service Adoption Specialist brings together business acumen, technical knowledge with an understanding of how to drive change and passion for helping people under one umbrella. 

 

Our material is interactive - with videos, case studies and other visuals - to create an engaging experience.  Whether you have a formal organizational change management background, are an IT professional or are entirely new to this industry this baseline course is appropriate for you.  Do these three simple things:

 

  1. Find your Tribe - Participate in the conversations here in the Driving Adoption forum and also join our Office 365 Champion program to participate in our free monthly community calls chock full of information about all our teamwork solutions.
  2. Tell the Story - Our recently released Microsoft Teams Adoption Toolkit is delivered in a unique, mobile friendly way that helps you answer the questions of, "Why Teams?" and "How do I get started?"
  3. Earn Your Certificate! - Validate your skill set and expand your career by taking our online course at https://aka.ms/AdoptionCert and certifying your capability in this new and emerging area today. Share this certification in your organization and online.

The EdX platform is also where we deliver our course for IT Professionals entitled "Enabling Teamwork with Microsoft Teams" that focuses on the configuration, deployment and management of that service. Take this course to expand your technical knowledge of Microsoft Teams.

 

Our innovation in this area would not be possible without the contributions of many people across the industry. I've noted their names in the "Acknowledgement and Thanks" section of our course. Become familiar with these leaders who are experts and fantastic supporters of this community!

 

Give us feedback on your experience here or within the discussion forums on EdX. We are always listening!

83 Comments
Brass Contributor

I completed the Microsoft Service Adoption Specialist course and think it was time well spent.  I recommend the program to anyone involved with user adoption/organizational change management activities.

 

I have 20 years of OCM experience and a Prosci certification, yet I still learned valuable tips and tricks in this program.  I am impressed with the investment that Microsoft made in this training and in the Microsoft Teams Adoption Toolkit.   I think the course content and related materials can easily be customized to suit the needs of any company/change initiative.

 

I look forward to participating in 365 Champion calls and in collaborating with others in the community.

Microsoft

Thank you VERY much @Valerie_Smith - I will likely print this post and hang it on my wall!  It's been a lot of heavy lifting and I'm SO excited for it to finally be launched! 

Microsoft

You might want to spell-check your tags ;)

Deleted
Not applicable

I just got to this line (in Organizational Development): "There is no replacement for empathy in driving a superior employee experience." Sheer brilliance. Loving this course already!

Microsoft

The course (and certification) is meaningful to me in these ways:

 

  • Cloud services has significantly changed (and will continue to change) the role for those of us who identify with the "IT Professional” brand. As an IT Professional interested in people and technology, we now clearly have a path to pivot our careers – this course establishes and defines that path.

 

  • A few years ago, the classic/traditional Prosci Certified Change Practitioner course (and certification) ignited my curiosity for adoption & change management. Today, the modern service adoption content in this course is fueling my passion for people AND technology even more.

 

  • Finally, I recently read about the concept tied to this quote: “If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” It’s all about community!  Thank you for leading the service adoption community and encouraging community participation.

 

Thank you – good job.

 

PS: there’s a ton of feedback floating around in my head but I’ll save those for a different thread.

Deleted
Not applicable

Great course, thx for sharing all these resources

Deleted
Not applicable

I completed this course 10 days ago and I was really surprised how clearly Karuana described Microsoft vision on how to drive Adoption not only to Microsoft Teams, but to every service! I totally enjoyed learning the adoption framework and absolutely this course to everyone who wants Office365 projects to succeed

Brass Contributor

Just completed the "Microsoft service adoption specialist" course. I can recommend it to everyone who wants to learn more about how to drive change in an organisation on these topics.

I can also recommend to certify as a "CIE facilitator" and dive into this website of Microsoft regarding change management.

https://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-365/partners/changemanagementframework

Very usefull to become a user adoption / change management specialist.

 

Iron Contributor

Thanks @Karuana Gatimu! Finally, I was able to complete the Service Adoption Specialist course. 

 

One of the things I remember when taking an Org Behavior course is the ability to socialize the change so I've included a YouTube video to promote awareness for Microsoft Teams in my Twitter quick review. 

 

https://twitter.com/fredyano/status/1085756222664372224

 

Fred

 

Copper Contributor

Is the test for this certification obtaining the certificate from edX or can I audit the course and take the test elsewhere?

 

Doc

 

Microsoft

@DOC PRATT - The certification is only available on EdX.org currently.  But yes, you can audit the course if you do not want to pay for the EdX completion certificate.  

Iron Contributor

Great course, thoroughly recommended.  I completed on 24th Jan.  Brilliant reinforcement of what I knew plus useful learning tips and tricks and great content. https://courses.edx.org/certificates/d030eec1b47941e5a7774ef3d5eb445d

 

@Karuana Gatimu Any chance of SWAG for those outside MS / Partner organisations who complete in January?  :)  Got to ask - if you don't ask you don't get!  :)

 

Adrian

Copper Contributor

Just completed the Microsoft Service Adoption Specialist course at EdX.org (CLD277x) also did the Insight Selling as part of the V-TSP P-Seller Program; even there is no more VPN access to MSFT internal resources, it is remarkable the effort done by the company for the readiness of the partners.

Thank you @Karuana Gatimu and team for putting all this knowledge together and make it accessible for us.

Deleted
Not applicable

I fully agree! Great course: good structure, good pace, excellent materials and relevant examples. I highly recommend it to anyone involved in adoption!

Iron Contributor
Great one, and I just earned the certificate.
Copper Contributor
I completed the course a day before the free access expired. One of my take-aways is the disease 'versionitis' and the lifecycle of documents within Office365. If your org has a bad case of 'versionitis' then the Office 365 tools combined with a good document lifecycle practice make for a good sell! Thank you @Karuana Gatimu for this opportunity and the food for thought you provided!
Copper Contributor
Copper Contributor

Hello,

I have just checked the link to enrol the course. I was wondering if there is someone could help me in understanding if there is a deadline to complete the course  ( within 4 weeks) or not?

Thank you for your time

CL

Deleted
Not applicable

I unofficially say it depends on what the course itself states--for example, "Enabling Teamwork with Microsoft Teams" relaunched on April 1, and under "Important Course Dates" on the right side of its dashboard, it says the course end is June 30. The course will then get archived, so if you don't finish within this time frame, I think you have to redo it when it relaunches. Especially if you're pursuing a certificate and not just auditing. 

Copper Contributor

Nice course

Copper Contributor

Totally recommend this course. It gives avery broad perspective of the different kind of the challenges that can be found in an adoption project, complemented with real case scenarios.

Copper Contributor

Hello @Karuana Gatimu!  I'm really enjoying your course, but the link to the article Agile Service Management overview by Karuana Gatimu https://solutionstrategist.com/home/agile-service-management/ is unreachable (there's a 404 error).  Has this content been relocated?  Thank you for making this material available!

Copper Contributor

I completed the course some weeks ago and I am proud to call myself a Certified Microsoft Service Adoption Specialist.

My company have been working with implementing Citrix Podio and Social Collaboration for 9 years and basically we have worked as Service Adoption Specialists with Citrix Podio as the main service. I am happy to start to unlock and understand the world of Microsoft, which reveals a great potential for our business together with Microsoft and their technical focused partners.

I have a University background in Marketing and Business administration as well as a Masters degree in Sociology. I find this Service Adoption Specialist program supporting my theoretical and practical background. Solid work by @Karuana Gatimu and the Microsoft team building this course and thanks for getting this human centric adoption approach a high priority. Thank you guys. I really look forward working with you.

My question to all of you is: "What would be the best next step for me in building my competencies within the Microsoft and Service Adoption Specialist environment?"

Have a wonderful day.

Best regards Anders Bendix Kiel - Copenhagen, Denmark ;)

Deleted
Not applicable

Congratulations!

 

If you're looking to dig further into Teams itself, I took the "Enabling Teamwork with Microsoft Teams" course after the Service Adoption. https://courses.edx.org/courses/course-v1:Microsoft+CLD267x+1T2019a/course/

 

Deleted
Not applicable

Hello community. I'm writing because I want to say *thank you* to  @Karuana Gatimu and team for the excellent training. I've started to use some of the resources and fine-tuned adoption processes at our institution.

 

This is my first post, though I've been an observer here and a participant in Teams/higher-ed communities for while now. I continue to benefit from the professional development opportunities available; they are making me a better leader in adoption and a better of technology in higher education. Thank you!

Copper Contributor

Hello! Just started the course today and I am really looking forward to completing it seeing all the positive comments about it here in the community! Just one question to @Karuana Gatimu  - there are some questions in the discussion board regarding links not working: https://solutionstrategist.com/home/agile-service-management/ and the "Contoso company description".

Would be great if someone could have a look and update these resources.

 

Cheers!

Microsoft

Hi and thanx for this feedback. I'll check this out.  I know that the Agile Service Mgmt link does actually work but it is a http address not https so some browsers put up a warning.  You can click through and it works just fine.  I'll check the description content though.  

Copper Contributor

I'm considering taking this certification.  Have people found this to be helpful in job advancement or career progress?  

Copper Contributor

I've found it useful.  Having been in an adoption specialist role for many years I still heard some new ideas from the course.  It also lends credence to proposed initiatives when you can say, “Microsoft recommended this exact/similar approach in their user adoption certification course.”

Brass Contributor

Overdue, but this was a very interesting course - nicely delivered aggregation of material, both new and reinforcing...

@Deleted, that's a good tip to check out - thanks!

Copper Contributor

@Karuana Gatimu I just completed this course and found it really worthwhile- great job, looking forward to apply my learning in the year. 

Copper Contributor

I would love to register for the Office365 Champions program, but there is no "Germany" (or any other version like "Deutschland", "Federal Republic of Germany" or the like) in the country list. Are we excluded from this program, @Karuana Gatimu?

Copper Contributor

Hallo Nathanael Mignon
Ich freue mich, Sie kennenzulernen
Vielleicht eine Chance fur dich
Ubersetzen die Webs zu Deutsch
Perhaps, It is an opportunity for you to translate the webs to German Language
Bis bald @NatanaelMignon und @Karuana Gatimu 
Jorge Gallego

Copper Contributor

i just passed the exam. Really great without the typical "feature & tec talk" that is ususalle required for IT exams.

 

Had some language issues (german) and some of the strategies won't work on my customers ;).

 

But that's another discussion… my question is, if this certification can by synced to Acclaim to get a nice Badge (for LinkedIn).

 

Thanks!

Microsoft

Over a year ago (up above) I posted how meaningful the course (and certification) was to me.  I'm still learning from it and decided to write about it here:  (1 of 3) Meaningful Lessons: Service Adoption Specialist course for Government Community Clouds.  

Brass Contributor

It looks like on EDX that the Microsoft Service Adoption Specialist course is being retired in June. Is this correct and will it be replaced?

 

I've done it and found it so useful so when working with Champions now I always point them towards this course too.

 

jcwyatt_0-1589312230396.png

thanks.

Microsoft

@jcwyatt , I also still refer people to the content (it's also here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/paths/m365-service-adoption/).

 

PS: I don't have any insights on future plans.

Copper Contributor

I have two questions about this course:

 

1) How does the test work/ look like? Do you have, like for example, one hour to complete a test once, or as often as you want - or how does it work? I am somewhat afraid that I start the test and finally won't pass it for some reason. I can't find any details about the exact procedure.. 

 

2) Will the course/certification retire at some specific point in time? Somewhere I picked up the information that it will retire in June?

Copper Contributor

Hello @KathrinScholz ,

 

Nice to meet you

 

For Question 1)

You have two kinds of exams: Previous exams and Final exam

Kind A) 4 Previous exams. You need the 70% or more score in each exam

Kind B) 1 Final exam. You need the 70% or more score for this exam

 

At the end: Kind A is the 50% of total score, and, Kind B is the 50% of total score. If Kind A + Kind B is equal or more than 70% score you will pass the course

 

For Question 2)

About Dates I think it is better you ask to EdX.org directly

 

Regards,

Jorge Gallego

 

Copper Contributor

Hi, I have noticed that this course is no longer showing as available to enroll onto at edX. 

 

Can you please advise how I can get onto it?  I have led adoption for O365 programmes with many organisations and am keen to explore additional techniques from this course.

 

Thanks!

 

@Karuana Gatimu 

Brass Contributor

Hi,

 

The course is now only available through the Microsoft Learn platform : https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/paths/m365-service-adoption/

 

All the resources are there, the same as they were on the Edx course, so you will learn the same information and techniques. There is just no option to get a certificate at the end, just XP points. You can't put them on your office wall though :( 

 

Jason

 

Copper Contributor

The course is once again available on EdEx for a limited time, unless you pay for it..

 

https://courses.edx.org/courses/course-v1:Microsoft+CLD277x+1T2020a/course/

Audit Access Expires Oct 6, 2020
You lose all access to this course, including your progress, on Oct 6, 2020.
Upgrade by Sep 20, 2020 to get unlimited access to the course as long as it exists on the site.

 

Copper Contributor

This course has been a real game changer, I've started to roll our adoption plans in various areas and its really helping SMT see the value in changing to new ways of working and how various Office 365 applications can help them do it. The business scenarios and prioritisation helps them to break down what seems like a mammoth task to one that will add the most value to them.

Copper Contributor
I just started a new role at my enterprise which primarily be developing a training program. It started this course after joining the Champions program. I has really aligned my thinking and the plans on how I can work with other departments to empower our workforce. I just completed the course yesterday and received my certificate. This is a course I strongly recommend it.
Copper Contributor

i have a question..... this certificate is available ?????

Copper Contributor

Hi there,

 

since the course is Not available at edx anymore , How can I get the certificate?

many thanks in advance:)

Dennis

Copper Contributor

Hi there, I would like to run the course for MS Service Adoption Specialist run by edX but it looks like the course is clodes since 30.09. Is this correct? Are there any other sources to get certified or to run this co9urse now? Thanks! 

Brass Contributor

Hi  yes I wanted to start the course today and saw the same in edX Will microsoft expand the certification ? I'd like to certify too.

 

 

@Erik @a-erloui@microsoft.com can you maybe look into this 

Hans ten Berge

Copper Contributor

In addition to that I posted this to the certification support some mins ago ..... I have no idea ..... 

 

Hallo zusammen, 

ich versuche jetzt bereits seit Tagen zum einen den Kurs zu machen (er scheint auf edX nicht mehr zu laufen habe ich nun herausgefunden) und man solle es doch über die MS Learning Plattform machen. Soweit so gut. Jetzt habe ich den Kurs bzw. einige Module abgeschlossen und kann nun aber nur XP-Punkte sammeln. Wenn ich mich versuche auf der Partner University Seite einzuloggen, bekommen ich einen Fehler meine E-Mail Adresse sei nicht bekannt. Ich solle mich mit einer privaten Adresse registrieren. Warum auch immer. Es muss doch möglich sein, von der MS Umgebung ohne zig weitere Mails und Plattformen (mal auf Deutsch und mal auf Englisch) an irgendeine Stelle zu kommen, wo man ein Zertifikat ausdrucken bzw. beantragen kann! Danke für Eure Unterstützung! 

Copper Contributor

Hello,

I would like to take the course for MS Service Adoption Specialist but it looks like the course is closed now? This was the closing date: 30.09.20 Is this correct?

Are there any other sources to get certified or to take this course?

 

Thanks!

 

Chris

Chris@expertek.org

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