MS-721 study plan
MS-721 · Give each week a clear focus.
8 weeks · About 7 hours per week
Plan and design collaboration communications systems
Inventory an organization's identity, network, and licensing baseline and identify gaps against Teams workload requirements.
Map each collaboration workload (meetings, PSTN calling, Teams Rooms) to the license SKUs and add-ons that enable it.
Draft a network readiness checklist covering bandwidth sizing, QoS tagging, and media path options.
Select an upgrade path from Skype for Business or hybrid coexistence to a Teams-only collaboration model.
Your checkpoint
A one-page current-state-to-target-state design brief containing a licensing matrix for three personas (information worker, PSTN user, room resource account).
Plan and design collaboration communications systems & Configure and manage Teams Phone
Define governance rules for team creation, naming conventions, guest access, and lifecycle expiration.
Compare Microsoft Calling Plan, Operator Connect, and Direct Routing against two organizational scenarios and justify a recommendation.
Design a dial-plan and emergency calling topology for a two-site organization with distinct area codes.
Provision a trial tenant with Teams Phone licensing and at least one assigned phone number.
Your checkpoint
A PSTN decision document that scores all three connectivity options on cost, risk, and operational effort, with one recommended design for a two-site organization.
Configure and manage Teams Phone
Configure an auto attendant with greetings, call routing, and after-hours handling.
Configure a call queue with routing method, overflow, timeout, and agent membership.
Configure user-level voice settings including dial plans, calling policies, and voicemail.
Validate call flows end to end between a user, an auto attendant, and a call queue.
Your checkpoint
A working lab configuration of one auto attendant plus one call queue, documented as a call-flow diagram with evidence of five successful test calls.
Configure and manage Teams Phone
Configure emergency calling by creating emergency addresses, location policies, and routing for a multi-site organization.
Manage phone numbers end to end: acquire, port, and assign numbers to users, queues, and auto attendants.
Diagnose a simulated poor call-quality scenario using Call Analytics and Call Quality Dashboard data.
Audit a completed phone configuration against voice policy and number-assignment best practices.
Your checkpoint
A phone troubleshooting runbook documenting three call-quality scenarios with the data source, root cause, and remediation for each.
Configure and manage Teams Rooms and devices
Differentiate Windows and Android Teams Rooms and select a device profile for small, medium, and large spaces.
Provision Teams Rooms resource accounts with the correct license, mailbox type, and sign-in method.
Configure device health monitoring using update rings, alerting, and inventory reporting.
Plan a staged Teams Rooms rollout including site survey, network prerequisites, and pilot-to-scale criteria.
Your checkpoint
A room-type-to-device-to-license matrix covering five rooms plus a provisioning checklist with every prerequisite item marked complete or blocked.
Configure and manage Teams Rooms and devices & Configure and manage Teams meetings, webinars, and town halls
Configure Teams device profiles, IP phones, and shared devices through the Teams admin center.
Set up a common area phone and a shared device with the correct licensing and sign-in restrictions.
Configure meeting policies that govern recording, transcription, lobby bypass, and anonymous join for room and user accounts.
Apply conditional access and remote sign-in considerations to a device deployment scenario.
Your checkpoint
A device configuration workbook listing five device types with their license, assigned policy set, and key setting values.
Configure and manage Teams meetings, webinars, and town halls
Configure meeting policies and meeting templates to enforce an organization-wide recording and transcription standard.
Design a webinar configuration covering registration, presenter roles, attendee capacity, and post-event reporting.
Configure a town hall including attendee experience, presenter options, live captions, and delivery network considerations.
Choose between meeting, webinar, and town hall for three event scenarios and justify each choice.
Your checkpoint
A one-page modality decision guide comparing meeting, webinar, and town hall with the exact policy settings and licensing required for each.
Plan and design collaboration communications systems & Configure and manage Teams meetings, webinars, and town halls & Configure and manage Teams Phone & Configure and manage Teams Rooms and devices
Build a cross-domain troubleshooting table mapping common symptoms to the responsible domain and the diagnostic tool.
Re-study every objective missed on prior self-quizzes and restate the correct answer in your own words.
Complete a timed full-length practice exam under exam conditions.
Review the interactions between licensing, policy assignment, and resource accounts across calling, rooms, and events.
Your checkpoint
A timed practice exam score of at least 85% plus a weak-area log in which every entry is marked resolved with a one-line explanation.
Milestones
Week 2: Explain to a colleague, without notes, why one PSTN connectivity option beats the others for a two-site organization, and produce the licensing matrix covering all three personas.
Week 4: Demonstrate a working auto attendant and call queue, then troubleshoot an injected call-quality issue from raw analytics data in under 15 minutes; score at least 80% on a 30-question self-quiz covering Domains 1 and 3.
Week 6: Justify a device selection for five different room types and a shared-device scenario, and show that each chosen profile has a matching license and policy set with no gaps.
Week 8: Score at least 85% on a timed full-length practice exam with no domain scoring below 75%, and close every entry in the weak-area log.