Recently, I cleared the Microsoft Certified: Architecting Agentic AI Business Solutions (AB-100) exam.

While preparing, I ended up creating this one-page Architect’s Compass for my last-minute revision. Instead of memorizing every Microsoft service, I grouped similar services so I could quickly decide which one fits a business scenario.

I’m sharing it here in case it helps someone preparing for AB-100.

Get it here !

How to Read the Architect’s Compass

Don’t read it from left to right like a textbook. Start by identifying what the question is asking you to do, then jump to the matching section.

1. Cost & Business Value

Estimate → Pricing Calculator. Ownership → TCO Calculator. Actual Spend → Cost Management.

2. Knowledge Retrieval

Dataverse = Single Source of Truth. Azure AI Search = Search across multiple sources.

3. Prompt & Model Quality

Prompt Flow builds. Evaluation grades.

4. Microsoft 365

Entra ID = Identity. Microsoft Graph = Microsoft 365 data.

5. Security & Governance

Purview = Data governance. Azure Policy = Infrastructure governance.

6. Copilot Studio

Fallback = Unknown intent. Escalate = Human handoff.

7. Azure AI Foundry

Hub shares. Project builds. Endpoint serves.

8. Monitoring

Analytics = Business. Application Insights = Technical. Log Analytics = Cross-agent. Azure Monitor = Infrastructure.

Don’t Memorize. Recognize.

The biggest takeaway from my preparation was recognizing decision patterns instead of memorizing isolated features.

My Last-Minute Checklist

• Dataverse = SSOT
• Managed Solution = Production
• Entra ID = Identity
• Graph = Microsoft 365 Data
• Purview = Data Governance
• Hub → Project → Endpoint
• Pricing vs TCO vs Cost Management
• Fallback ≠ Escalate

Hope it helps..