SQLSaturday #305 - Dallas - BA Edition 2014
Event Date: 05/03/2014 00:00:00
Event Location:
- Microsoft Campus - Las Colinas
- 7000 State Hwy 161
- Irving, Texas
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Sessions
This is a list of sessions from the event, based on the schedule in the XML files.
Title: Configuring Security in SharePoint for SQL BI
Abstract: Microsoft SharePoint Server is a fantastic option to surface SQL Server Business Intelligence tools to end users (SSRS, PowerVIew and PowerPivot, SQL Tabular, SQL BISM).
Yet, this tends to be a little tricky because the SQL Server Professionals do not understand all SharePoint aspects and vise versa.
To make matters worse, SharePoint architecture underwent a huge change from kerberos to claims and this meant a lot of pervious concepts don’t appy and lot of new tools are not claims aware.
The objective of this session is to clarify
- Clarify how to configure SQL BI in a Claims based SharePoint 2013 environment.
- What works and what does not work with claims.
- All necessary terms and concepts provided to SQL Professionals who will them be able to work with the SharePoint teams fearlessly.
- Advanced consultants, will be able to configure the integration between SharePoint and SQL BI completely.
Speaker(s):
- Abhishek Srivastava
Track and Room: Information Delivery - N/A
Title: Enterprise Business Intelligence: Past, Present and Future
Abstract: The way companies are thinking about data and business intelligence is changing fast. Traditional models for building and delivering BI are under siege from new technologies and new methodologies. As we work through the hype cycles of end-user BI and big data approaches, we’ll discuss how these are affecting enterprise BI, as practiced both inside IT and outside of IT. We’ll discuss how new trends and tools conflict and coexist with traditional IT BI practice. And we’ll discuss what the future of Enterprise BI might actually look like when the dust settles. What role will IT play in Business intelligence? What role with the data warehouse play? Are they going away, or just changing? And what skills might be most important for the next 10 years?
Speaker(s):
- David Browne
Track and Room: Visualization Analytics - N/A
Title: Modern Data Warehousing
Abstract: The traditional data warehouse has served us well for many years, but new trends are causing it to break in four different ways: data growth, fast query expectations from users, non-relational/unstructured data, and cloud-born data. How can you prevent this from happening? Enter the modern data warehouse, which is able to handle and excel with these new trends. It handles all types of data (Hadoop), provides a way to easily interface with all these types of data (PolyBase), and can handle big data and provide fast queries. Is there one appliance that can support this modern data warehouse? Yes! It is the Parallel Data Warehouse (PDW). In this session I will dig into the details of the modern data warehouse and PDW. I will give an overview of the PDW hardware and software architecture, identify what makes PDW different, and demonstrate the increased performance.
Speaker(s):
- James Serra
Track and Room: Big Data - N/A
Title: Don’t Miss Out on Excel Cube Functions
Abstract: Cube functions have existed since Excel 2007, but they’re not as well known nor as well publicized as other methods to obtain data from Analysis Services/PowerPivot sources. Business Analysts may feel confined to tabular (symmetrical) reports with pivot tables. BI Developers may avoid Excel because they want the ability to write advanced calculations in MDX and the extensive formatting capabilities of Reporting Services. And Power View limits you to the sets, calculations, and captions available in the data source and doesn’t provide drillthrough detail. We’ll start with the basics of how to write and use cube functions, then employ them to build a nicely formatted, asymmetrical, parameter-driven report that overcomes the previously noted limitations.
Speaker(s):
- Meagan Longoria
Track and Room: Visualization Analytics - N/A
Title: Choose Your Geospatial/Mapping Adventure
Abstract: You have geospatial data and you know that plotting it on a map will deliver insights. Or maybe you keep hearing “geospatial” as a current BI buzzword and you want to be informed about your options when you get to it. The Microsoft BI stack provides several options for visualizing location data. But how do you know which tool will best serve your purpose, or what factors are important in making this decision? We’ll identify factors to consider when choosing a tool to visualize your data in maps such as system requirements, availability and type of location data, required level of technical understanding, and more. You’ll leave the session confident in your ability to choose the best tool within Excel and SQL Server.
Speaker(s):
- Meagan Longoria
Track and Room: Visualization Analytics - N/A
Title: SSIS project deployments with multiple developers
Abstract: Before SQL Server 2012, it was easy to develop several SSIS packages in a project and deploy each package as you complete it. However SQL Server 2012 introduces the project deployment model. With its awesome features comes the limitation that you can no longer deploy a single package. You must deploy the whole project every time! How do you deploy a project that contains a mix of deployed packages, ready to deploy packages and packages in development?
In this session I demonstrate common problems that arise in the package development lifecycle that affect project deployment. I will then demonstrate how to use Team Foundation Server to address these problems. I will develop the story for handling packages at various stages of development using TFS.
Speaker(s):
- Russel Loski
Track and Room: Information Delivery - N/A
Title: Dimensional Modeling 101
Abstract: This session is going to help create a dimensional Data Mart from the AdventureWorks database that includes dimension tables and 2 example fact tables. The Kimball spreadsheet for documenting a Data Mart will be used to reenforce the need for Requirements and Functional specifications. A brief review of ETL for Slowly Changing Dimension and population of the Fact will be deomstrated as well as a simple cube for reporting.
Speaker(s):
- Thomas LeBlanc
Track and Room: Information Delivery - N/A
Title: Data Manipulation with Pig
Abstract: This talk will cover the basics of Apache Pig and how it relates to the Hadoop ecosystem. Wes will start with the basics of the Pig scripting language and move towards how it can be used to power your traditional ETL tasks in a Hadoop cluster. The agenda includes: • History and overview of Pig scripting language • Examples of how to use Pig • Demo of how to use Pig to complement your existing ETL jobs
Speaker(s):
- Wesley Floyd
Track and Room: Big Data - N/A
Title: Tell Better Stories with Microsoft BI and PowerMap
Abstract: Storytelling seems to be a lost art form; in this fast-paced world people are more interested in getting as many bits of information as they can. But without a story, something to pull all the data together, the target audience will probably gloss over your message. Throwing a few numbers and charts at the reader has become pretty acceptable nowadays. But to make something truly memorable, and hopefully shared with someone else, you need some kind of story. You need something to tie it all together, to give it some meaning. That’s where Microsoft steps in with its latest addition to the Business Intelligence Analytics space with an add-in to Excel called PowerMap.
Speaker(s):
- marek koenig
Track and Room: Power BI - N/A
Title: Natural Language Query in Power BI
Abstract: Natural language query (NLQ) allows users to quickly answer questions using simple English-language questions. In this session, we will learn how to enable NLQ in your data models and explore the mechanisms behind this functionality.
Speaker(s):
- Bryan Smith
Track and Room: Visualization Analytics - N/A
Title: Time Intelligence with Excel Power Pivot
Abstract: This session will demonstrate how to incorporate advanced Time Intelligence into your Power Pivot model. We’ll utilize Data Analysis eXpressions language (DAX) to build calculations such as Month to Date, Year to Date, Year over Year, etc. We’ll also be covering reporting best practices for trending and comparative data. You’ll soon be ready to quickly and accurately report up current and past performance metrics to help the decisions makers make more informed and up-to-date decisions.
Speaker(s):
- Josh George
Track and Room: Power BI - N/A
Title: An Introduction to Hadoop
Abstract: What is Hadoop you ask? Hadoop is an open-source software framework for storage and large-scale processing of data sets on clusters of commodity hardware. In this session, Eric will walk you through Apache Hadoop, what it is and what it isn’t, deployment options, how to use it, and finish with some interesting use cases.
Speaker(s):
- Eric Mizell
Track and Room: Big Data - N/A
Title: Self-Service Data Visualizations with Excel Power View
Abstract: In this session, we will continue your Power BI journey and discuss the compelling visualization capabilities of Excel Power View. You will learn just how easy it is to create presentation-ready visualizations and tell an interactive story with your data. If you are intrigued by what capabilities you can unlock with Power BI, then come learn how you can leverage Power View to enhance your analytics experience and maximize value for your organization.
Speaker(s):
- Jeff Johnston
Track and Room: Power BI - N/A
Title: Build Analytics Models with Excel Power Pivot
Abstract: This session will cover building models in PowerPivot, the semantic layer of Power BI. It will include examples from both dimensional and non-dimensional models, along with limitations, workarounds and best practices. You will also learn how to incorporate images and other types of content. The session will include a basic introduction of the Data Analysis Expressions Language (DAX) and cover some of the most common expressions that are used in data models.
Speaker(s):
- Brian Gogle
Track and Room: Power BI - N/A
Title: Finding and Cleansing Data with Excel Power Query
Abstract: The hardest part of the analyst’s job is finding data to support his or her work. And once that data is found, it is often in less than ideal shape for our needs. With Excel Power Query, the analyst now has capabilities to find and cleanse data, resulting in huge time savings. In this session, you will learn the basics of working with Power Query.
Speaker(s):
- Bryan Smith
Track and Room: Power BI - N/A
Title: Data Discovery and Insights using Excel 2013 Power BI
Abstract: In this session you will learn how to provide valuable data insights through data discovery and visualisation with Microsoft’s Power BI capabilities. You’ll learn how to connect and discover the world’s data to enhance data discovery over your own and externally available datasets and how to combine multiple datasets together. You’ll also learn how to use existing and new data visualisation capabilities together using Power View and Power Map in Excel 2013, and get a deep drilldown into the Power BI capabilities.
Speaker(s):
- Derek Dai
Track and Room: Visualization Analytics - N/A
Title: Overcoming Complex Data Cleansing Challenges with Excel Power Query
Abstract: Building off the earlier session, “Finding Cleansing Data with Excel Power Query”, we will explore more advanced techniques for cleansing data using Excel Power Query including the use of Power Query expressions. Armed with these techniques, analysts should feel confident tackling some of the gnarliest data cleansing challenges.
Speaker(s):
- Bryan Smith
Track and Room: Power BI - N/A
Title: Integrating Power BI Technologies with HDInsight
Abstract: This session will focus on the Microsoft technologies surrounding HDInsight, Microsoft’s cloud-based Hadoop solution. We will cover HDFS integration through Power Query, Hive integration through Power Pivot, and HDInsight data integration through the SSIS Connector. In addition, we will also look at joining structured Big Data with semi-structured Hadoop data using Parallel Data Warehouse and the Polybase query technology.
Speaker(s):
- Blake Price
Track and Room: Information Delivery - N/A
Title: Data Lake and Interactive Query In Hadoop
Abstract: 85% of the world’s data is unstructured and over 20 billion terabytes of data is fast coming to organizations. And business wants more data. Welcome to the world of Hadoop. Hadoop allows organizations to store massive amount of data in one single place regardless of structure and format and provides a way to interact with the data using SQL via Hive. Hive is the SQL de facto standard for querying Hadoop data. It is rich with SQL semantics and utilizes YARN Tez frameworks that powers interactive query for Hive.
Speaker(s):
- Rommel Garcia
Track and Room: Big Data - N/A
Title: Applied Predictive Analytics
Abstract: The session will take a common Business customer loyalty program problem from beginning to end results. We will cover a framework of analyzing the business problem identifying additional sources of data or business considerations. Then applying techniques to identify the potential customers and placing the business problem into an opportunity, which not only helps the customer but also benefits the company. The results of these efforts I was able to generate 40.1 million dollars of additional sales revenue, which translated into 18 million of Earnings before interest and taxes.
Speaker(s):
- Andy Eggers
Track and Room: Visualization Analytics - N/A
Title: How to Train your business users to create their own BI reports?
Abstract: In this session, I’ll walk you through strategies tactics that you could use to empower your business users to create their own BI reports.
Speaker(s):
- Paras Doshi
Track and Room: Visualization Analytics - N/A
Title: Using Mahout R to Turn Text into Measurable Value
Abstract: Regardless of what business we are in, we are generating large volumes of data. Most of this data is unstructured. Valuable information exists in unstructured data. The challenge is how do we find this information, and perhaps even more importantly; draw meaningful correlations with structured data. Mahout and R allow us to find patterns in unstructured data and correlate text and numbers.
Speaker(s):
- Don Hilborn
Track and Room: Big Data - N/A
Title: Breakthrough Performance for Big Data Analytics - An Introduction to PDW
Abstract: In this session, we will travel the course of how some organizations are embracing the concept of a Modern Data Warehouse by unifying different technologies for handling large volumes of data. Parallel Data Warehouse, or PDW, is a solution that offers high performance data warehousing using the MPP architecture and ability to reach over and combine data from the hadoop platform. We will learn how this technology works and offers extreme performance and yet a very easy platform to manage for the DBA, Infrastructure, and Developers alike.
Speaker(s):
- Sanjay Kaul
Track and Room: Information Delivery - N/A
Title: Pro Tips: Tuning the data flow in SSIS
Abstract: It’s not too hard to build a data flow in SSIS quickly. Building a FAST data flow can be a little tricky. In this session I’ll show you the things you should be thinking about when designing your data flow and some tricks that can help you move your data faster. In this demo heavy session we will work through examples of slow data flow scenarios and fix them with simple techniques you can put to work Monday morning!
Speaker(s):
- Tim Costello
Track and Room: Information Delivery - N/A
Speakers
This is a list of speakers from the XML Guidebook records. The details and URLs were valid at the time of the event.
Paras Doshi
Twitter: - @paras_doshi
Contact: http://www.parasdoshi.com
Paras works on Business Intelligence Projects at SolidQ USA. He is Microsoft community contributor award recipient (2011) and a blogger.
Derek Dai
Contact: http://derekdb.wordpress.com/
Over 10 years’ experience in database design, development, and administration using a wide variety of tools and technologies. Having focused on Business Intelligence using the SQL Server BI stack (SSAS, SSRS, SSIS, Power-pivot, Semantic Model and Data Mining) with solid knowledge on SQL Server DB Core engine. And extensive experience with Microsoft development tools. PASS VC Leader; MCT; MSCE BI and Data Platform
Sanjay Kaul
Sanjay is a Technology Specialist at Microsoft who specializes in helping customers envision, design, and deploy data life cycle, data warehouse, and business intelligence focused solutions using the Microsoft platform. In his 12th year at Microsoft, Sanjay has spent time in Microsoft’s consulting group, enterprise SQL Server sales, SQL Server BI Architect at the Microsoft Technology Center in Minneapolis, before moving to his current role of Data Warehouse Technology Specialist.
Eric Mizell
Eric is the Director of Solution Engineering at Hortonworks working in the field to integrate Hadoop into existing architectures. He has been in the Big Data space for 4+ years and has help hundreds of companies solve their data problems. Prior to Hortonworks, Eric was the Director of Field Engineering for Terracotta. He has over 20 years of experience in IT which includes Network Engineering, Software Engineering and Solution Engineering. Eric has presented at NFJS, DevNexus, AJUG, and SUG.
Abhishek Srivastava
I have a total of 16 years of experience in IT. I work as a SharePoint architect Goldman Sachs. As a sharepoint architect, I has configured PowerPivot, PowerView and SSRS on SharePoint 2013. I also own the SQL Server infrastrcture for our multi-TB SharePoint farm. I engineered the resiliency, DR, Disk and Backup infrastructure for our SharePoint farm.
I have extensive experience in SSAS, SSRS, SSIS, and Data Warehousing on SQL Server
Meagan Longoria
Twitter: - mmarie
LinkedIn: Meagan Longoria
Contact: http://datasavvy.me
Meagan Longoria is a business intelligence consultant with Denny Cherry Associates, and lives in Denver, Colorado. She is a Microsoft Data Platform MVP. Meagan spends a lot of time thinking about how to use data integration, DAX, and data visualization techniques to make data useful for people. She enjoys sharing her knowledge and experiences at conferences and user group meetings, as well as through her blog (DataSavvy.me).
Brian Gogle
Twitter: - @briangogle
LinkedIn: Brian Gogle
Contact: http://briangogle.com
I have had a very diverse career that has always been very focused on insights and how they improve performance. I am currently the Data and Analytics Lead for the Central Region for Neudesic.
Prior to consulting I was Vice President of Information Services with Mosaic, a retail services company. leading a forty person team in the U.S. and Canada and architecting a Microsoft BI solution that was accessed by over 1,000 clients from over 140 retailers and retail manufacturers. Before joining Neudesic I served as the Data Management Practice Area Lead for Slalom Consulting in Dallas.
Andy Eggers
Just Andy
Bryan Smith
LinkedIn: Bryan Smith
Bryan is a Data Solution Specialist with Microsoft Las Colinas, focused on data-driven solutions in the Azure cloud. He also teaches analytics technologies within the MBA amp; MSBA programs at SMU Cox School of Business.
David Browne
I’m a Technology Architect at the Microsoft Technology Center in Dallas. And my job is to help customers design and implement SQL Server solutions. As part of my job I get to talk to a lot of BI shops about what they’re doing, how they perceive the their role in Enterprise Business Intelligence, what they are being asked by their businesses, and how they are responding to new challenges.
Don Hilborn
Don has over two decades of experience implementing data driven analytic solutions that facilitate evidence-based decisions and influence strategic direction. Don has held lead Data Architect roles for Anadarko, Invesco, Boeing, Arthur Andersen and Compaq where he architected and implemented terabyte and petabyte data systems.
Rommel Garcia
Rommel Garcia has developed distributed systems for the past 10 years and extensively used SQL semantics for processing and querying data. He led Enterprise Architecture at various Fortune 500 companies. Rommel also provided leadership and execution of Data Architecture services across different verticals like Energy/Power, Retail, Manufacturing, Logistics, and Finance.
Thomas LeBlanc
Twitter: - TheSmilingDBA
LinkedIn: Thomas LeBlanc
Contact: http://Thomas-LeBlanc.com
Thomas LeBlanc (Microsoft Data Platform MVP) is a Data Warehouse Architect in Baton Rouge, and uses his 30+ years in IT to develop OLTP systems with normalized databases for high-performing T-SQL and dimensional data marts. Development is done in SSIS, SSAS, SSRS, Power BI, and Excel. As a PASS volunteer, he is past chair of Excel BI and Data Arch VCs and is active in the Baton Rouge Analytics and SQL Server User groups, as well as SQLSaturday in Baton Rouge. You can find his blog at TheSmilingDBA.BlogSpot.com and website at Thomas-LeBlanc.com
Bryan Smith
LinkedIn: Bryan Smith
Bryan is a Data Solution Specialist with Microsoft Las Colinas, focused on data-driven solutions in the Azure cloud. He also teaches analytics technologies within the MBA amp; MSBA programs at SMU Cox School of Business.
marek koenig
Twitter: - http://twitter.com/marekkoenig
LinkedIn: marek koenig
Contact: http://blog.slalom.com/author/marekkoenig/
Marek Koenig is a BI consultant with Slalom Consulting. He specializes in geospatial visualization. In his free time he enjoys cycling, tennis, or anything else outdoors.
Russel Loski
Twitter: - sqlmovers
LinkedIn: Russel Loski
Contact: http://www.sqlmovers.com
Russ Loski is a SQL Server BI Developer based in Dallas-Fort Worth. He current works as a Data Analytics Engineer for Navisite, a remote managed IT services company. Twenty years ago, he began working with SQL Server 6.5. He has since continued to develop applications connected to all of the versions of SQL Server. He has worked with clients in industries from insurance to healthcare, from movie theaters to American football. Russ is a regular speaker at SQLSaturday events, as well as the SQL Server Users Groups in the North Texas region. Russ likes working with data in various shapes.
Tim Costello
Twitter: - timcost
LinkedIn: Tim Costello
Contact: http://www.timcost.com
Tim Costello is an MCITP, MCTS specializing in etl and data analytics for Interworks Inc. Tim is an international speaker that is always looking for opportunities to share his passion for SQL Server, Tableau and data visualization. Tim is active in the SQL community and leads a data visualization focused user group in the Dallas area.
James Serra
Twitter: - www.twitter.com/JamesSerra
LinkedIn: James Serra
Contact: http://www.JamesSerra.com
James Serra is a big data and data warehousing solution architect at Microsoft. He is a thought leader in the use and application of Big Data and advanced analytics. Previously, James was an independent consultant working as a Data Warehouse/Business Intelligence architect and developer. He is a prior SQL Server MVP with over 35 years of IT experience. James is a popular blogger (JamesSerra.com) and speaker. He is the author of the book “Reporting with Microsoft SQL Server 2012”.
Bryan Smith
LinkedIn: Bryan Smith
Bryan is a Data Solution Specialist with Microsoft Las Colinas, focused on data-driven solutions in the Azure cloud. He also teaches analytics technologies within the MBA amp; MSBA programs at SMU Cox School of Business.
Josh George
Contact: http://www.slalom.com
Josh George is a Business Intelligence Solution Architect with over 10 years’ experience designing, building and managing enterprise-class custom technology solutions for small, medium and large organizations. He specializes in Business Intelligence and Enterprise Data Architecture solution development, Project and Team Management, Data Warehousing and Data Modeling, ETL, OLAP, Dashboards, and Business Analysis, and is part of Slalom’s Technology Solutions group.
Jeff Johnston
Jeff Johnston is the Business Intelligence Practice Leader for Artis Consulting. Based in Dallas, TX, Jeff provides guidance for client engagements, solution strategy, Microsoft partnership and sales execution. Jeff has spoken at various Microsoft events including MSBIC and SharePoint Techfest. Jeff holds an MBA in Strategy Entrepreneurship and has several Microsoft certifications including MCITP-BI, MCDBA, and MCSD.
Wesley Floyd
Wes Floyd is a Solution Engineer at Hortonworks based in Atlanta, GA. He works with customers in the Southeast to complement their EDW SQL based projects with Hadoop as a data lake addition to their architecture. Wes’s background is in Java development and SQL design across a variety of platforms.
Meagan Longoria
Twitter: - mmarie
LinkedIn: Meagan Longoria
Contact: http://datasavvy.me
Meagan Longoria is a business intelligence consultant with Denny Cherry Associates, and lives in Denver, Colorado. She is a Microsoft Data Platform MVP. Meagan spends a lot of time thinking about how to use data integration, DAX, and data visualization techniques to make data useful for people. She enjoys sharing her knowledge and experiences at conferences and user group meetings, as well as through her blog (DataSavvy.me).
Blake Price
Contact: http://www.artisconsulting.com
Blake has been a consultant in the Microsoft Business Intelligence space for 15 years and is one of the founders of Artis Consulting. He has deep experience with large-scale Data Warehousing solutions and has participated in the Microsoft Big Data Incubation program.
Sponsors
The following is a list of sponsors that helped fund the event: