There’s growing evidence that Microsoft may retire both the PL-600 (Power Platform Solutions Architect) and MB-700 (Dynamics 365 Finance & Ops Architect) exams by the end of 2025—and potentially replace them with a single new certification: the AI Business Solutions Architect.
⚠️ This video is based on public clues, not confirmed announcements. But the signs are interesting:
📌 Both exams are marked for retirement in Microsoft’s internal courseware docs
📌 A new AI architect cert is under consideration
📌 SMEs with both PL-600 and MB-700 are being recruited
📌 The new cert may focus on Copilot Studio and AI-powered business apps
In this video, I connect the dots, share the evidence, and give my honest take on what this could mean for the future of Microsoft credentials in the Power Platform and Dynamics world.
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Video Summary
- PL-600 and MB-700 might retire by the end of 2025
According to the May 2025 Microsoft Courseware Title Plan, both certifications are marked with a potential retirement date of December 31, 2025. While not confirmed, it’s a strong signal worth keeping an eye on. - Microsoft is exploring a new AI Business Solutions Architect certification
Liberty Munson shared a survey on the Tech Community, asking for feedback on a potential new certification focused on AI in business solutions, a step Microsoft typically takes before launching new credentials. - A LinkedIn post hints at a merge of PL-600 and MB-700
Grandmasters, a vendor Microsoft works with, is recruiting experts who hold both certs for a Business Apps Technical Collaboration session. That’s a strong clue that a unified AI-focused architect cert could be in the works. - We might hear more at Power Platform Conf or Ignite 2025
If this new certification is real, announcements could come during the Power Platform Community Conference in October or Microsoft Ignite in November, allowing time for a beta release before the current certifications retire. - Don’t cancel your PL-600 or MB-700 plans
These certs are still valid and valuable. Even if they retire, they’ll stay on your transcript and may still be required for partner status or bonuses. Keep studying and earning them if they’re part of your goals.
For more information, read the transcript blog below, or watch the video above!
Transcript
Hello everyone from the Microsoft credentials world! Today, we have a really interesting video because there’s a rumor—or at least a possibility—going around that the PL-600, the Power Platform Solutions Architect, and the MB-700 for the Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations App Solutions Architect will be retired by the end of 2025.
I just want to reiterate again: this is just a predictive or educated guess video, and everything might change. But in this video, I’m going to cover what the signs are—or why I at least believe that this is the case—as well as the certification that might replace them. Because we’re going to find out in a second that we might have one certification to replace both those exams.
So again, final warning before we get started: we all know that Microsoft changes their mind a lot, so everything you hear in this video might change. As you know, I like to keep up to date with Microsoft credentials, see what’s coming up, what’s retiring, and keep you all up to date by subscribing to my channel about potential retirements and new credentials.
My first clue—one of the tools that we have, and this is not something that is under NDA, by the way, all of this is public. If anything here was under NDA, I couldn’t talk about it. But luckily, they haven’t told me anything, and all those documents—everything I’ll show you—is public information. One of the tools that Microsoft publishes publicly for all of their learning partners—or anybody interested, to be honest—is the Courseware Title Plan. This is where Microsoft talks about the latest Microsoft courses they have, and there’s a tab in there for certifications.
I realized in the May 2025 version that for both the PL-600 and the MB-700, they had an exam retire date of December 31, 2025. The stuff that happens in the Courseware Title Plan doesn’t always happen. Sometimes there are formatting mistakes, things that are happening. I didn’t think too much about it—I mean, I’m publishing this video in July, right? So at first, I was like, yeah, I think it’s just a mistake. Probably not going to happen. It’s such a big change that I didn’t believe it. However, a few weeks later, a new clue came out.
A post on the Tech Community by the amazing Liberty Munson—if those of you don’t know her, she is the one managing all the Microsoft certification and credentials programs, making sure that all the ways the exams are built, they’re built the right way. The topics that are built, the certifications that are made, are made on the right subjects. She posted a message saying Microsoft is considering developing a certification for AI Business Solutions Architect, and they need your input through their exam blueprinting survey. This is something Microsoft does all the time when they’re about to launch a new certification or are considering developing one.
What they do is they ask subject matter experts to say, “Hey, these are the things we’ve been thinking about. Can you tell us if this is important or not? Does this certification make sense or not?” My reaction to this when I saw it was, “Cool, a new potential certification.” But I’ve seen it many times in the past where Microsoft said they’re considering building something, but it’s like an isolated case. It doesn’t go further than that. So I didn’t associate them together. I didn’t want to go further into it until we saw a little more meat on the bones, as we say—a little more news or stuff connected to it.
However, then I saw one thing that put all of this together—that finally made it make sense—and it was a post on LinkedIn from Alyssa Chrysler. She’s the founder of Grandmasters, which is a vendor company that Microsoft has been using a lot to recruit subject matter experts for testing new training, testing new certifications, things like that. The post said: “We’re excited to share a new opportunity coming up in June. Microsoft has asked us to recruit subject matter experts to participate in a Business Apps Technical Collaboration session. We’re looking for four subject matter experts to help us with this effort.” The requirements? Preferably an MCT, a senior-level architect, and it’s preferred that they have both the MB-700 and PL-600 certifications.
Now this is where it gets interesting, because that’s when my mind was like, “Wait—is it all connected?” So, if we recap everything, the PL-600 and MB-700 were marked as retiring, and both of them are architect-level certifications marked for retirement at the end of 2025. Microsoft is considering an AI Business Solutions Architect certification. Where is a lot of AI being built right now? In Copilot Studio, of course—that is part of the Business Apps category. So we know that those two architect-level certifications are getting retired. Microsoft is considering a new architect-level certification. And finally, a vendor is looking for architects who have both the PL-600 and MB-700 for a Business Apps Technical Collaboration session.
Now, my prediction—and I underline prediction because again, I don’t know anything, and everything can change—but I believe that Microsoft might merge the PL-600, the Power Platform Architect, and the MB-700, the Dynamics 365 Architect, into one certification: the AI Business Solutions Architect.
And again, this is just based on all the information I talked to you about before. The announcement or beta would have to arrive around the Power Platform Community Conference in October or Microsoft Ignite in November. This way, it would give enough time for the new exam to be out and out of beta before the PL-600 and MB-700 retire. So we might not actually have any news until October or November 2025.
Again, this is a prediction. If I knew for sure, I probably wouldn’t be allowed to tell you. And a quick reminder—not every Microsoft potential certification becomes a reality. Take a look at the Power Platform Analyst that I did a video on, based on a similar post by Liberty on the Tech Community, and that one never happened. At least not yet. Who knows? Maybe it’s something we’re going to see next year, and I’ll be able to predict stuff two years in advance. But right now, that one didn’t happen.
The meetings they have with the SMEs—the architects that passed both the MB-700 and the PL-600—those SMEs might tell Microsoft, “We understand what you want to do, but it’s a really bad idea. You should not do it.” That is something that can happen. So none of this might happen.
Just in case it does, I do want to tell you something: if you have the PL-600 or MB-700 already planned, do not cancel them. Remember that those certifications retiring is only my prediction. It’s not something that is confirmed by Microsoft. So you shouldn’t cancel stuff that exists today just in case it might get retired tomorrow. We all know that technology changes. Whatever certification you get today might be retired in the future. That should never stop you from getting that certification this year—even if it gets retired at the end of 2025. They will be on your transcript forever. And some of you might even have them as a partner requirement, so your company gets the Gold Partner designation or certification. Or you might have it as part of your bonus. So please, if you have them planned, keep doing it. Keep studying toward them.
Usually, I don’t do videos about things that are not confirmed, but this one I did because I’m curious: what is your opinion on the potential retirement of the PL-600 and MB-700 for a new AI Architect certification? Do you think it’s a good idea? Do you think it’s an awful idea and we should keep Power Platform and Dynamics 365 separate? Should we just have three architect-level exams?
Please let me know in the comments. And if you enjoyed this video, please like the video and subscribe to the channel. This way, you’ll always get the latest credential news as soon as possible. On your screen right now, you’re going to see some videos that the YouTube algorithm thinks you’re going to love, so make sure to check them out. Until the next one!
