Recently I spent quite a bit of time preparing for Microsoft Exam 70-100 - Analyzing

Requirements and Defining Solution Architectures. As part of that process I read

the Microsoft book - should you?

The book is really two parts, consisting of a case

study that you read a portion of in each chapter followed by more technical

information that supports the case study. The case study itself covers a

corporation that has decided to use the Microsoft

Solution Framework (MSF) to build a new software solution.

The MSF is part of the material you're required to know

for the exam. Being a DBA and not a developer, this was my first exposure to the

MSF. From what I can see it's not a bad methodology. It breaks development up

into different roles, separating project management from development from

deployment and training. The case study did an excellent job of describing the

framework, why it exists, how it enhances development efforts, even how to

overcome common objections to using it. I can't say it strongly enough - the

case study is definitely worth reading!

As for the rest of the book? It's ok is about the best

I can say. The book focuses more on MSF than it does on the exam itself. I

learned a lot about MSF from reading it and it's maybe the best source of info

on that, but I think for other portions of the exam you'll want to explore other

books. At a suggested retail of $69.99 it's not a cheap book!

You can take a look at the table of contents, index,

and even a sample chapter at this link.