The Microsoft 365 Certified: Messaging Administrator Associate certificate validates the candidates’ skills in deploying, configuring, managing, and troubleshooting mail protection and flow, user permissions, and public folders while operating in the cloud and hybrid business environments.

Target Audience

The target audience for the Microsoft 365 Certified: Messaging Administrator Associate certificate is formed of those professionals who have an Administrator role in an organization. The applicants who will be the most suitable for this certificate are those aiming to become experts in managing client access and troubleshooting the messaging infrastructure. Also, this accreditation offers them the opportunity to discover how to migrate, transport, and configure hybrid business environments.

When following this certification path, the candidates will learn how to effectively cooperate with other departments within the organization and interact with the Microsoft 365 Enterprise Administrators as well as Security Administrators. Together, they can implement the proper topology specifics in a hybrid or cloud environment to meet the business requirements and objectives. In addition, the applicants are asked to improve their knowledge in the area of working with Microsoft 365 application’s licensing and integration along with managing and identifying different authentication types.

Microsoft 365 Certified: Messaging Administrator Associate Certificate Details

To obtain the Microsoft 365 Certified: Messaging Administrator Associate certification, the candidates have to take and pass one exam. Its code is MS-203. The test can be taken in the English language only and it doesn’t have any retirement date. The candidates will need to pay a registration fee of $165, however, the tax value can differ based on the country where the candidates sit for the final proctored exam. The registration specifics can be found on the vendor’s site. But, the process is simple, and individuals should just follow the instructions prompted by the Pearson VUE platform, confirm the payment of the registration fee, and schedule the test in one of the available testing centers.

Topics Covered by MS-203 Exam

The preparation process for MS-203 exam starts with visiting its official page on the Microsoft website. There, the candidates will find a detailed test syllabus, which will help to create a study plan and check the learning progress. Generally, it helps the applicants to understand what skills they need to develop to be successful in the certification exam. Below, these are the four main exam domains and topics to study:

• Managing organizational settings and resources

  Within this chapter, the examinees will have to learn how to effectively manage and plan organizational settings. For example, they should develop a solid knowledge about managing Global Address List, Offline Address Book, as well as organizational sharing elements. Besides, they will receive questions that will test their ability to manage and plan client access infrastructure. Some of the topics included in this domain focus on checking the test-taker's ability to use Web policies for global Outlook configuration as well as demonstrating advanced skills in configuring URLs and virtual directories. During the preparation process for this exam section, the candidates should also learn how to manage recipient resources together with managing and configuring mobile devices.

• Implementing and planning a hybrid migration and configuration

  For this section, the candidates should dig deeper into topics related to the implementation and planning of a hybrid environment as well as migration phases. Therefore, they need to learn how to evaluate different types of migration methods such as PST Imports, Google Workspace, as well as become experts in using the Exchange admin center. Besides, the professionals who take the exam for this certification will be asked about their capacity to manage public folders. Therefore, they should improve their ability to move the content they need from the public folder mailbox to another one. The next learning objective covered by this domain focuses on testing the candidates’ capacity to implement, plan, and configure public folders.

• Management as well as planning for mail architecture

  For this domain, the professionals who want to get certified should learn how to plan and set up transport architecture elements. For instance, they should gain skills in planning, creating, and configuring connectors along with establishing the right connections between tenants. This section also includes a subtopic dedicated to mail flow management. Here, the examinees should demonstrate that they know how to manage remote and accepted domains, transport rules, and hybrid mail flow. This section is completed by a subtopic dedicated to mail flow troubleshooting. For example, the test-takers should prove that they know how to use the New and Classic Exchange admin center for message tracing and analyze the message headers and trace.

• Securing the components that form the messaging environment

  Last but not least, the test-takers will need to become knowledgeable about role-based permissions management. For instance, some of the questions that appear in the Microsoft MS-203 exam will require candidates to use their knowledge of managing role groups and user roles. Besides, they should gain experience in using Microsoft Defender and Exchange Online as well as the Office 365 package to learn how to manage message hygiene. Another subtopic that also finds its place in this section focuses on compliance management. For instance, the applicants will need to consolidate their capacity to configure retention policies and Exchange retention features, and analyze and configure audit logs to successfully meet the business requirements.

Career Path

Any professional who manages to get the Microsoft 365 Certified: Messaging Administrator Associate certification is a valuable employee for any international organization. This certificate is solid proof that demonstrates the candidates’ ability to do a very good job in different positions, such as Messaging administrator, Systems administrator, and many others.

According to the benchmark developed by Payscale.com, a Messaging administrator can earn an annual salary of $83k. Also, if you decide to pursue a career as a Systems administrator, then you may expect to receive an annual payment of $63k.

Certification Path

Once you succeeded in obtaining the Microsoft 365 Certified: Messaging Administrator Associate certificate, you shouldn’t stop here. For example, you can continue your certification path by obtaining the Microsoft 365 Certified: Enterprise Administrator Expert accreditation. Another option is acquiring the Microsoft 365 Certified: Teamwork Administrator Associate certification.