Articles

Dec 28 2014

Upcoming and Up and Coming Topics

Author: Ginger Grant • Discussion: No Comments

It’s funny the different meanings words have when you put them in different order, a point which anyone who has imitated the dialectic of Yoda can tell you. I find words fascinating as they are not static but have meanings which change over time. For example the Iron Maiden meant something totally different before there were electric guitars. Thinking of works and things changing, as one year closes and another year begins, I start to evaluate past and future topics. Earlier this year, I held an informal poll on twitter to find out how long people tend to talk on the same topic. The answers were quite varied. Some people keep on talking about the same topic as long as there seems to be interest in hearing about it. That way you can get to be a really good speaker on that topic. Another feels obligated to create a new topic each time out to provide him a challenge. The answer that personally I related to, was keep on talking about the topic until you are tired of hearing about it, which takes about a year.

SQL Saturday Albuquerque

sqlsat358_ABQMy first upcoming engagement for 2015 will be as SQL Server Albuquerque where I will be talking about SSIS. I generally talk about things I am interested in or presently working on, and having working on a lot of ETL recently, I thought that it would be an interesting topic which I think most people would find helpful. As a consultant, I see a lot of code and wonder why parts of it were written that way. One big reason is someone thought the design was a good one. Since that is an objective decision, I thought it might be helpful to clarify design decisions with facts so that that people would be able to employ good logic for their design decisions.

Technology changes and their Impact on Data Development

Another topic which really interests me is the changes that new technologies are having on the database world. With the increased implementation of Hadoop and cloud things are really changing in the way data is being both stored and used. Predictive Analytics, Machine Learning, Cloud implementations, Interactive Data visualizations are changing what people are expecting from the way their data is stored and used. Expectations for data professionals are increasing as the business is looking away from HIPPO and towards the knowledge that they have gathered or integrated data from public sources.

Modern Data Warehouse

I have the pleasure of assisting in a day-long session to talk about Architecting the Modern Data Warehouse . During this one day session we will be showing how to use new technology such as HD Insight and Machine Learning to implement a modern data warehouse. Instead of just talking about new technologies we will be putting them to use to show how they can be used today. I’m really looking forward to it.

If you are able to attend any of these or any upcoming sessions, please stop by and introduce yourself as I would love to meet readers of my blog in person.

Yours Always

Ginger Grant

Data aficionado et SQL Raconteur

 

Nov 24 2014

DQS – DIY Guide to Getting Started with Data Quality Services

Author: Ginger Grant • Discussion: No Comments

SQLServerDBListPower BI and SQL Server 2012 (and beyond) both have components Microsoft developed to shift the focus of Business Intelligence onto business users. Since there are more people who use Excel than have eaten at McDonald’s, you may know about Power BI and the data features in Excel, but have you heard of Data Quality Services [DQS]? If not, well now you have. To get started, if you don’t have Microsoft’s developer version of SQL Server 2012 or later, or access to an enterprise or BI server somewhere, you will need $59.95 to get a copy of the Developer Edition SQL Server 2014. Interestingly Microsoft won’t let you buy the Developer Edition SQL Server 2012, which I found out when tried earlier in the year. Unfortunately, although Visual Studio is now free, you still have to pay for the Developer Edition of SQL Server.

After you have installed SQL Server and selected that you wanted Data Quality Services, one would assume you had installed it. While that sounds like sterling logic, it is not correct. Here’s how to tell if you have DQS. Open up SSMS on your computer and look at the list of databases like I did here. Do you see any databases here which start with DQS? No. That is because it hasn’t been installed yet. It sure looks like it is if you look at the sql installer, which I have included below. I added the red boxes to highlight the fact that I really did select Data Quality Services when I installed.

If you don’t have the Data Quality Services and Data Quality Client installed in SQL Server like they are here, you will need to do that first, but this is only the first step. Once the install screen looks like the one pictured above, you need to go to the Data Quality Services folder in SQL Server and select the SQL Server Data Quality Server Installer. After this package is run, which takes a while, you will finally get a screen that lets you know the installation is finally completed.

DQSInstallSuccessfulScreenAfter DQS Server has installed, you will see that 3 databases have been added: DQS_Main, DQS_Projects and DQS_Staging_Data. Once these three databases are installed, you can then start using the DQS Client.

DQSDBList

The DQS client does not need to be installed on a server. Since I highly doubt most places will want their business users to be directly accessing their Server, most of the time it will not be installed on the server.

Once your environment is set up, it’s time to start using it. For more information on how to use DQS, please listen to my presentation on the PASS BI virtual chapter on November26. If you can’t make it, generally speaking it will be available on PASS BI’s You Tube Channel after about a week. I sincerely hope you can make it. Let me know what you think of my presentation by posting feeback to my blog.

Yours Always

Ginger Grant

Data aficionado et SQL Raconteur

 

 

Sep 12 2014

Where to go to be in the Know

Author: Ginger Grant • Discussion: No Comments

At the last SQL Server User’s group meeting, I got into a long conversation with someone about where to go to find good training materials online for people at various skill levels. Contrary to popular belief, I do spend time on the internet not on twitter or shoe shopping, and have come up with a list of sites where I think the training material is quite good, and also free. I included a lot of video content, as a lot people find that easy to use for learning new things.

This is not meant to be an exclusive list, just the places I’ve found helpful most recently or have found myself visiting a lot. If you have some suggestions of places you think I should add, please send them to me.

Big Data

MSBIAcademy – This is a really good way to get up to speed on Big Data and other topics.

Apache – If you are interested in Hadoop, you will make your way here to get the latest releases and see what wacky name the latest new tools has.

Hortonworks – I found the training information on Hortonwork’s site to be very good at explaining things.

Learning Map for HDInsight and Azure – SQL Server data is moving to the cloud too and this is a great place to get up to speed.

Mostly SQL Server

A lot of these sites have crossover information too.

SQL University – This site has information for those people just getting started with the Microsoft stack to more advanced topics.

Pragmatic Works Training on the Ts – Every week on Tuesdays and Thursdays, Pragmatic Works provides free webinars on SQL Server and Big data topics with some of the people who wrote the book, ok lots of SQL books about all kinds of SQL and Big Data Stuff. Flip through the archives if you are working during the day and don’t have time to view them live.

Microsoft Virtual Academy – This is Microsoft’s site where they offer free training and you get points. I didn’t know that I wanted points before, but I do now.

Microsoft’s SSIS Tech Net Videos – The audio on these is often very lousy, but the content is pretty good. I am not sure how often these are updated, but you can find good best practice material here.

Ola Hallengren’s Site – At any time you have anyone calling you a DBA, you should know about this site.

CBT Nuggets on YouTube – If you can find anything on YouTube from CBT Nuggets, it probably won’t be a waste of time. This link is for information on SSIS. Be wary of some of the things posted on YouTube, as not everything there is correct or best practices and the quality can be marginal.

Channel Nine – Microsoft has some random-ish videos out here, some of which are really helpful

SQLServerCentral – This is a great resource. Go create an account here as it is free and there is a treasure trove of information.

SQLPass – Last but certainly not least, check out all of the information archived on SQL Pass. They have a lot of virtual groups on a wide variety of SQL related topics. If you can’t attend when they are being held, the videos are available for later viewing on the website. The previous PASS Summit information is awesome. They also have a YouTube channel as well, where you can find interesting things to watch.

SQL Saturday

All of the other stuff I mentioned is archived and available when you have a chance, but there is nothing like being able to ask resident experts about various stuff and network with other SQL Server people. Check out SQL Saturday to see when and where there is going to be an event near you. These events have gone worldwide, so it is very likely there will be an event near you sometime this year.

 

Yours Always

Ginger Grant

Data aficionado et SQL Raconteur