Complete an MPR Test in less than 1 Hour

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One of the quickest and easiest routes to attaining a Silver Competency in the Microsoft Partner Network program is to gain the Data Platform Competency. When a Software Company earns any Microsoft competency, they become eligible to receive a set of core benefits  – this includes up to 25 licences of Microsoft Software for own use and 5 licences of Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Premium with MSDN subscriptions. When you earn the Data Platform competency, you also receive benefits specifically tailored to this competency that address key stages of your business cycle.

There are a number of requirements which need to be met in order to gain the Data Platform Silver Competency. The first requirement includes a number of Exam requirements , or that an organisation must have one product or application that has passed the qualifying application test, SQL Server 2008 R2 Platform Ready. Qualifying applications include developed and marketed, packaged software solutions based on Microsoft technologies. Custom-written applications not meant for resale do not qualify.

So, how easy is the test? Well, this what is being checked during the test – not particularly difficult:

TestCases

Here’s what you need to do to complete the test – easily achievable in less than one hour:

Test Environment

  • Install your application (manual or using an installer) – obviously include a database installation
  • Start the Microsoft Platform Ready test tool, and run through the wizard.
  • If you are testing a web application, make sure complete these two steps before running through the functionality of your application for the test:
    • Reset IIS to clear existing instances of w3wp.exe:

IIS Reset

    • When you select the Primary Executable of the application, choose w3wp.exe:

w3wp

  • Complete the test , by running through your Applications functionality and completing the Test Wizard.
  • Hopefully you’ve Passed, so create your encrypted Test Results Package and Upload your encrypted Test Results Package the Microsoft Platform Ready Test site for your profiled application (as per instructions in SQL Server MPR Test Document).

That’s all there is to it! So, go ahead and take the first step towards the Data Platform Silver Competency, As an added incentive, all MPR tests completed this month will win a set of Shox Speakers.