Last Friday (02/23), we signed off on our new MOC (Microsoft Official Curriculum) content for SharePoint. These RTM versions of the MOC content for MOSS 2007 and WSS 3.0 are now available to CPLSs (Certified Partner for Learning Solution Centers) and MCTs (Microsoft Certified Trainers) worldwide. The MOC content is a significant addition to the eLearning lessons, MS Press books, and Microsoft Certified Professional exams for SharePoint, where were previous announced on this blog.

So, how did the MOC content get developed? Very, very carefully. J It was really exciting for me to be involved in building this content because there was a lot of input from the SharePoint Product Group and SharePoint MVPs. The original outlines and designs were reviewed by me, Arpan Shah, Mike Fitzmaurice, and Joel Oleson from the Product Group. They provided feedback for the modules that assisted us in getting this content as accurate as possible during the development phase. When developing courseware and exams, we are not always able to get Product Group SMEs to provide feedback, but these folks were very involved and committed, and that contributed toward what I feel will be an extremely successful content offering.

In December last year, we reached our Beta milestone and conducted a “beta teach” of 5060A (Implementing WSS 3.0) and 5061 (Implementing MOSS 2007). Our beta teaches usually consist of 1 MCT and about 9 students from outside of Microsoft. These are people, who meet the target audience and prerequisite requirements.  Based on the review of the beta teach and additional feedback from Joel Oleson, Gabe Bratton, and Ryan Rogers (Gabe and Ryan are Supportability Program Managers in the SharePoint Product Group), we were able to make substantial fixes. Overall, it was a very successful team effort.

What were the biggest challenges? Each course had a different outside vendor, whom we had hired to develop the core content, and that added some complexity, but nothing we couldn’t manage. The vendor who created 5060A was recently brought on and trained to create Instructor Led Training (ILT). Jim Cochran (from MS Learning) was involved daily in supporting the vendor and reviewing the content for 5060A. We had to change SMEs and Technical Reviewers on 5060A. We also had to remap the content midstream to verify that it supported our MCTS (Microsoft Certied Technical Specialist) exams. The vendor who worked on 5061 was a team we had used many times in the past, so there were fewer challenges with that one compared to 5060A.

How can you take these courses? You will need to sign up for a course with your local training provider to attend these courses. I’d say book a course as soon as you can to get in early. The CPLSs (Certified Partner for Learning Solution centers) nearest you can be found by visiting this site:

http://www.microsoft.com/learning/cpls/default.mspx

Here are the Microsoft Official Curriculum Instructor Led Training courses available at CPLSs. (Note: These courses are currently being localized in French and German.)

·         Implementing Windows SharePoint Services 3.0
Course 5060A: Two days.

·         Implementing Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007
Course 5061: Three days.

In additional, here are the upcoming online courses that will be available on our eLearning site very soon.

·         Collection 5403: Implementing Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services
(scheduled to be available on 3/2/2007 and includes the following courses)

o    Course 5244: Introduction to Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0

o    Course 5245: Planning the Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Environment

o    Course 5246: Deploying Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0

o    Course 5247: Administering Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0

o    Course 5248: Maintaining and Optimizing Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0

o    Course 5249: Customizing and Securing Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0

·         Collection 5404: Implementing Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007
(scheduled to be available on 3/9/2007 and includes the following courses)

o    Course 5250: Introduction to Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007

o    Course 5251: Deploying and Configuring Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007

o    Course 5252: Administering Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007

o    Course 5253: Implementing Content Management Solutions by Using Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007

o    Course 5254: Implementing Business Forms by Using Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007

o    Course 5255: Implementing Business Intelligence Solutions in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007

Patrick Hines