What exams qualify for the Small Business Specialist Community (SBSC)?

A question that came up today on the "Microsoft Partner Network for Small to Midsize Business (SMB) Partners webcast” is, “What exams qualify for the Microsoft Small Business Specialist (SBSC) designation in the Microsoft Partner Network (MPN)?” I thought I would share this question and answer with you here.

In October 2010, the qualifying exam set will be refreshed and Partners wishing to earn or sustain their SBSC designation must meet the updated exam requirements. To earn or maintain the Microsoft Small Business Specialist (SBSC) designation, a company must employ or contract with at least 1 person per location who has passed one the following qualifying exams:

• Exam 70-653: TS: Windows Small Business Server 2008, Configuring
• Exam 70-683: TS: Windows 7, Pre-installing for OEMs
• Exam 70-642: TS: Windows Server 2008, Network Infrastructure, Configuring
• Exam 70-515: TS: Web Applications Development with Microsoft .NET Framework 4  

If you click on the Exam numbers above, it will take you to the information page on Microsoft.com that provides information you need to know about what the exam is, when it was released, etc.

If you are an SBSC company today or looking to become a Microsoft Small Business Specialist, you should be making sure that you employ or contract with at least 1 person per location who has passed one of the qualifying exams listed above to ensure that you continue to meet the updated requirements from a technical side come October 2010. This means that if you earned the SBSC designation in the past using one of the older exams, you should be sure to pass one of the updated exams above prior to your SBSC re-enrollment date. Examples of these older exams are:

• Exam 70-282: Designing, Deploying, and Managing a Network Solution for Small and Medium-sized Business
• Exam 74-134: Pre-installing Microsoft Products and Technologies
• Exam 70-654: TS: Windows Essential Business Server 2008, Configuring
• Exam 70-236: TS: Exchange Server 2007, Configuring
• Exam 70-631: TS: Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, Configuring
• Exam 70-543: TS: Visual Studio 2005 Tools for Office

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Thank you and have a wonderful day,

Eric Ligman – Follow me on TWITTER, LinkedIn, and RSS and see “What I’m thinking”
Global Partner Experience Lead
Microsoft Worldwide Partner Group
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights

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