SQLSaturday Baton Rouge #628 2017

Come join around 500+ attendees and speakers learning and networking at the LSU College of Business – Business Education Complex on Nicholson Drive Extension in Baton Rouge on Saturday July 29th 2017 8AM till 5PM. There will be plenty of MVPs and other experts in the areas of SQL Server, Business Intelligence, Microsoft Data Platform, .Net, SharePoint, System Administration and more. The schedule is located here.

My session is on What is new in Analysis Services? I will try to cover some of the neat things I see that are helpful as well as try to encourage you to watch blogs because SQL Server is starting to be released more frequently, like every year.

Steve Jones from SQLServerCentral.Com and RedGate will be there with sessions Branding Yourself for a Dream Job and Bringing DevOps to the Database.

Stay till the end and see if you can win a prize from all the wonderful Sponsors and please Thank them.

Remember this event is FREE!!!

PASS Board Elections

Well, it is almost that time of the year again. Elections for the PASS Board.

This is a great way to show your passion for this wonderful community of SQL Server or now, Microsoft Data Professionals. It looks like it is getting harder and harder for someone to come up with a general description of the members in this Global User Group. I see we are now going back to our roots with investing in the Developer side of the industry.

The upcoming dates and other election information you need to keep in mind are available from these links:

Upcoming Dates

Election Process

NomCom Changes from last year

I hope ya’ll all participate in this process that elects leaders with a desire to move PASS forward while maintaining over education and networking opportunities for SQL Server professionals.

SQLSaturday Pensacola and Houston

I have the honor of being selected to speak in Pensacola and Houston this month. Pensacola has been a great place for SQLSaturday and it is no different than Houston. Both have active PASS community volunteers that love to host a learning event for free.

Both events have conference level 60 minute sessions by MVPs, MCMs and other prefessionals. AND IT IS FREE!!! Well, sometimes they charge for lunch.

 

Here is the schedule for Pensacola this weekend Jun 3rd, 2017 - http://www.sqlsaturday.com/617/Sessions/Schedule.aspx

What is Power BI?

Do you want to know what all the fuss (or excitement) is about concerning PowerBI? Then, this session is for you. We will walk through the process and marketing of what now is Power BI. Reports will be developed and displayed as well as the history of development of Power BI and what to look out for in this ever changing application. You will also learn that this tool is not replacing the Data Warehouse and Architect positions. Actually, it will produce more work for us (DBAs, Architects, etc.) It is another reporting option Microsoft that is positioning itself in the changing world of Business Intelligence

And here is Houston’s on Jun 17th - http://www.sqlsaturday.com/651/Sessions/Schedule.aspx

Business Analytics in SQL Server 2016

Ever wonder what’s going on with Microsoft Business Intelligence features? Is everything going to the Cloud, or can I still rely on my own servers to design systems? Well, this session is for you. We are going to spend hours on looking at the new features of SQL Server 2016 that will help you create on premise solutions for you company or clients that complement the solutions you have already built. SQL Server 2016 not only gives you new tools like R integration and Mobile Reporting, but enhances Analysis Services and Reporting Services you have been using for years

You will leave with a comforting feeling that Microsoft is not leaving you behind if you do not or cannot go to the Cloud. Perhaps we shall see the thunder of BI love to what we know best and to succeed in the future

See ya soon!!!

Power BI Report Server–Trial

I just installed the Power BI report server following @SQLDusty YouTube 13 minute Step-by-Step video. You have to download both the Power BI Report Server and a new Power BI Desktop. Once installed, it is easy to get your Power BI Report onto the Server if it is developed on the same machine/server as the Power BI Desktop. But it took me a little while to get a Report published from my client machine to out development server.

In the upper right of managing the Power BI Report Server, there is a menu for Manage folder. Here, we needed to add my domain ActiveDirectory Account to the Content Manager role.

Once I did that, the Power BI Report created on my client could get Deployed/Published. Or, maybe I should say Saved As. Yes, to save the report from Power BI Desktop, you got to go to the File/Save As… menu to post to a Power BI Report Server. You do not Deploy or Publish. Kinda of wierd, but it works.

Then, you are prompted for the ReportServer name.

If you click OK and get an error, you do not have permissions. Go to the Manage Folder in the Power BI Report Server and add your AD account as a Content Manager,

When you have permissions…

PASS Summit Call for Speakers

Yesterday was the first day to submit sessions for the PASS Summit 2017 in Seattle on Oct 30th thru Nov 3rd. Oct 30th and 31st are for pre-conference sessions (all day workshops) and this year there is no open call for these sessions. Not sure the selection process because it seems to be behind the scenes, but apparently feedback from attendees is driving a change in quality and content.

Here is a link to the Call For Speakers. It has been a blessing to have spoken at the last 6 Summits and attending 9 out of the last 10. There is so much to take in at a PASS Summit, and it took me about 3-4 years to learn how to make the most out of this conference.

The Summit tracks have changes, so go here to get the list. The open call for speaker closes on May 24th, so get busy with your submissions. There is also a limit of 3 session submissions and only for the 75 minute and 10 minute Lighting Round.

The Speaker Resource page is a great area of information about speaking at the Summit. There is even a Submitted Sessions page, once you login in, to see what has already been submitted.

You can also go to the Blog page of the PASS.org site to see board members explain the new speaker selection process.

Excel BI VC presents Prathy Kamasani–Power BI Dashboards for Excel Users

 

Thu, Apr 27 2017 20:00 GMT Daylight Time

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Power BI Dashboard within an hour for Excel users

RSVP: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/8516045593703848705

Power BI Dashboard within an hour for Excel users

If you are an experienced Excel user or Someone in your organisation mentioned about Power BI and you want to understand what you can do with it, then this session is for you. In this demo-focused session, Prathy will show how one can extract, transform, analyse and visualise the data using Microsoft Power BI. She will give a quick introduction to different features of Power BI, some of them are similar to Excel, and some are pretty new relate to Excel. Prathy will also talk about resources More...

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Prathy Kamasani is a Microsoft Valuable Professional working as an independent MSBI contractor based in London. She specialises in Power BI, SSIS, SSAS and SSRS. Prathy organisers London Power BI user group and co-organises London PASS Chapter. She is a regular speaker at events like SQL Saturdays and local user groups.

SQLShack Arcticle and Upcoming PASS Events

The latest article on SQLShack continues on the path of Data Warehouse development with SQL Server Analysis Services. The first step after designing the Data warehouse is conneting to the Data Source. All good DW implementations have a central database to store the data. Analysis Services is a great tool to centralize the business logic (or intelligence) - Connecting to Data Source(s) with SQL Server Analysis Services

Upcoming PASS Events

24 Hours of PASS – 24 back to back session June 29th-30th 2017

BA Marathon Recordings – Business Analytics last virtual sessions

Virtual Groups

Streamline SQL Implementations - Prakash Heda

In-Memory OLTP - What can it do for me? - Martin Catherall

Effortless Backups with Minion Backup - Jennifer McCown

Initial impressions of SQL Server v.Next Public Preview - Haidong Ji

Indexes: Everything You Wanted to Know -- Help or Hinder - Mike Byrd

ColumnStore Index in SQL Server 2016 and Azure SQL Database - Sunil Agarwal

 

SQLSaturday

22 APRILSATURDAY

SQLSaturday #594 - Edmonton 2017

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22 APRILSATURDAY

SQLSaturday #621 - Silicon Valley 2017

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27 APRIL THURSDAY

SQLSaturday #623 - Israel 2017

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29 APRIL SATURDAY

SQLSaturday #598 - Costa Rica 2017

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29 APRIL SATURDAY

SQLSaturday #607 - Calgary 2017

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29 APRIL SATURDAY

SQLSaturday #619 - Rochester 2017

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SSIS Articles on SQLShack

Please check out SQLShack.com for three articles on SSIS. I wrote them based on using the SSIS Catalog and Project Parameters created in SQL Server 2012 and improved on in the next 2 releases. Project parameters are a big deal in SSIS for changing values when executing a package or packages. The parameters are at the project level so you only have to change them once to effect multiple packages.

I use a simple example like changing the database name and server (instance) name for the Project level Connection Manage WHICH is another big change for SSIS. Starting in 2012, you can share connections among packages in a project. Enjoy!!!

Parametering Database Connection in SQL Server Integration Services

Deploying Packages to SQL Server Integration Services Catalog (SSISDB)

How to execute a Deployed Package from the SSIS Catalog with various options

PASS Excel BI VC: Improvements to Excel Pivot Table

Please join the PASS Excel Business Intelligence Virtual Group onn March 22nd 11AM Eastern for Microsoft’s Program manager Alexander Lahuerta. The presentation will be shorted than typical meetings, lasting 20-30 minutes.

But, the session will provide great insights into changes in Excel Pivot tables. You can register for the session at http://excelbivc.sqlpass.org or https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/3161827486429234947

Featured Presentation:  Improvements to Excel Pivot Tables

Alexander Lahuerta, Program Manager Microsoft

The Excel team is working on several interesting new features to Excel. Join us to take a look at some really interesting improvements to Excel that are soon to be released.

About Alexander:
I’m a Program Manager on the Excel Team at Microsoft. I’ve been here for three and a half years. For the past two years, I’ve been diving deep into Business Intelligence and making it easier for people to dig into their data. I want you to love PivotTables as much as I do.

Wed, Mar 22 2017 15:00 (UTC+00:00) Dublin, Edinburgh, Lisbon, London

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Improvements to Excel Pivot Tables

RSVP: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/3161827486429234947

Upcoming PASS Events

There is a new website from PASS. Go to Pass.org instead of SQLPass.org. The change does not really concern me but marketing is something I am not into…yet!!!

The one thing I do like is the formatting when viewing on a mobile device. That is very nice. Here is what I found coming up in the PASS community.

 

BA Marathon – Business Analytics

There will be six back-to-back live webinars and the next BA Marathon will be spring 2017.

While you wait, why not access recordings from previous Marathons?

 

Here are some Virtual Chapter Recordings

SQL Server DBA Tips That Can Save Your A$$ -- Part 2 - Guy Glantser

Implementing New Security Features in SQL Server 2016, Part 2 – sponsored by Hewlett Packard Enterprise - Ronen Ariely

Why Your Data Type Choices Matter - Andy Yun

Implementing (and cracking) new Security Features in SQL Server 2016, Part 1 – sponsored by Hewlett Packard Enterprise - Ronen Ariely

Take Power BI Visualizations to the Next Level - Reza Rad

Azure SQL Database Elastic Pool – introduction and usage scenarios – sponsored by Hewlett Packard Enterprise - Kun Cheng

How SQL Server 2016 SP1 Changes the Game - Parikshit Savjani

Advanced Power BI: Solving the Hard Problems - Devin Knight

An (Advanced) Introduction to DAX - Eugene Meidinger

 

Here are some upcoming SQLSaturdays

25 FEBRUARY - SQLSaturday #585 - Boston 2017

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25 FEBRUARY - SQLSaturday #589 - Pordenone 2017

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25 FEBRUARY - SQLSaturday #596 - Denver - BI Edition 2017

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04 MARCH - SQLSaturday #603 - Dallas - BI Edition 2017

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11 MARCH -  SQLSaturday #583 - Lisbon 2017

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11 MARCH - SQLSaturday #592 - Raleigh 2017

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11 MARCH - SQLSaturday #600 - Chicago 2017

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Upcoming PASS Free Training

Here is a list of the upcoming PASS Virtual Groups and SQLSautrday Events.

January, 2017

Tuesday,January,31

Introduction to Oracle SQL and PL SQL

• Women in Technology - Virtual Chapters
• 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM (UTC-06:00)
• Speaker: Ashwina Dodhyani

More Details

February, 2017

Wednesday,February,01

Linux OS Fundamentals for the SQL Admin

• PowerShell - Virtual Chapters
• 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM (UTC-06:00)
• Speaker: Anthony Nocentino

More Details

Tuesday,February,07

"ANSWERING THE QUESTION, “WHAT HAPPENED?” WITH QUERY STORE"

• DBA Fundamentals - Virtual Chapters
• 5:00 AM - 6:00 AM (UTC-06:00)
• Speaker: Erin Stellato

More Details

Thursday,February,09

Why Physical Database Design Matters By Kimberly L. Tripp

• Data Architecture - Virtual Chapters
• 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM (UTC-06:00)
• Speaker: Kimberly Tripp

More Details

Tuesday,February,14

Partitioning Basics: Treating your tables like Lego

• DBA Fundamentals - Virtual Chapters
• 8:30 PM - 9:30 PM (UTC-06:00)
• Speaker: Brandon Leach

More Details

Tuesday,February,14

Detecting and Preparing for Corruption

• High Availability and Disaster Recovery - Virtual Chapters
• 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM (UTC-06:00)
• Speaker: Ryan Adams

More Details

Wednesday,February,15

Converting Unreliable Deployments Into Consistent Releases

• PowerShell - Virtual Chapters
• 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM (UTC-06:00)
• Speaker: Tom Norman

More Details

Saturday,February,18

Why Your Data Type Choices Matter

• Saturday Night SQL - Virtual Chapters
• 8:00 PM - 9:30 PM (UTC-06:00)
• Speaker: Andy Yun

More Details

 

Feb 04, 2017    SQLSaturday #595 - Cleveland 2017

Feb 11, 2017    SQLSaturday #582 - Melbourne 2017

Feb 18, 2017    SQLSaturday #587 - Sydney 2017

Feb 18, 2017    SQLSaturday #586 - Guatemala 2017

Feb 25, 2017    SQLSaturday #589 - Pordenone 2017

Feb 25, 2017    SQLSaturday #596 - Denver - BI Edition 2017

Feb 25, 2017    SQLSaturday #585 - Boston 2017

Mar 04, 2017    SQLSaturday #603 - Dallas - BI Edition 2017

 

Upcoming SQL Server Events from PASS

There are many ways to reap benefits from being a member of the PASS Global Community. Today, as I write this blog, I glance over at twitter for hash tag #SQLSatNash and see all the speakers, volunteers and attendees express their love of this free event. You really never see “bad” tweets about one of these events.

   

SQLSaturday is just one of the many ways to earn about Microsoft Data Technologies. Click this link to see if an event is coming close to your town or city.

24 Hours of PASS happens a couple of times a year when there 24 hours of consecutive sessions. This is a Free event online.

Another way is to watch a virtual user group online for free. Click this link for a list of Virtual User Groups. Below is a list of upcoming events. This list can be viewed on the main page of SQLPass.org for your profile after you login.

Upcoming Events of Interest

• Online Event on Wednesday, January 18, 2017

  Questions and Answers with David Klee

  12:00 PM - 1:00 PM (UTC-06:00)  English

• Online Event on Wednesday, January 18, 2017

  SQL Server 2016 R Intergration by Bryan Cafferky

  1:00 PM - 2:00 PM (UTC-06:00)  English

• Online Event on Tuesday, January 24, 2017

  FIRE! A FULLPROOF CHECKLIST FOR TUNING AND TROUBLESHOOTING

  5:00 AM - 6:00 AM (UTC-06:00)  English

There is a View All link to see a drill down of all the events.

Paid events include Pre-conference sessions at SQL Saturday, a week of sessions at the SQL PASS Summit and the Business Analytics area just had their first Day of Business Analytics in Chicago.

An individual can create many ways to take advantage of these resources to advance in his or her career. I have seen many people get involved with PASS and totally change the direction of there career. Some in consulting, some with a new company or some even get to work for some of the great software companies that are sponsors of PASS events. Start at SQLPass.org to find out what you can do to help in your current career or trying something new.

Query Data Store–SQL Server 2016

SQL Server’s new Query Data Store is a brilliant option for databases if you are a DBA or have to do performance tuning on T-SQL queries. This new feature of SQL Server 2016 is contained within a database with configuration options for storage of history and query plans. The option has many benefits you can take advantage of today, but also this is an option for future upgrades to new SQL Server versions because of the history contained in the database rather than the instance.

 

To enable the Query Data Store, you have to be db_owner of the database or SysAdmin to the instance. Once you right-click the database in SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS), go to the Query Store menu choice on the left and change Operation Mode (Requested) to Read Write. There are other options to handle the time retention of data as well as how often it is collected.

 

This will enable the database to start storing query execution plans as well as statistics like IO, Read/Write and execution times in the database itself. There are new Data Management Objects (DMVs/DMFs) to use to manual retrieve this data.

 

There are also reports available at the database level in SSMS to view information about query statistics. If you drill into the database in SSMS, you will see an option for Query Store.

 

Here, you will see the four default reports that come with this Option.

1. Regressed Queries – shows query history and changes in statistics
2. Overall Resource Consumption – history of resources used in the database
3. Top resource Consuming Queries – Top x of queries using the most resources
4. Tracked Queries – enables you to see multiple query plans for a T-SQL statement and compare the plans or force a plan

The above is just a summary of what you are able to do, but just start using this feature and you will be amazed at what it enables DBAs and others to drill into. This drilling is just the history of queries on one database rather than you having to sort through all plans for an instance.

SQL Server 2016–Live Query Statistics

WOW!!! The next great update to Execution Plans is a way to watch the processing of rows through iterators while the query runs. Never saw that coming. And even a bonus, you can use SQL Server 2016 Management Studio (SSMS) to watch queries run on versions 2014, 2012 and 2008 R2.

SSMS 2016 can be installed by itself without the server installation. Go here for the installation. Once you install SSMS, you can start to view this addition in SSMS.like Figure 1.

 

Figure 1 – Live Query Statistics

After opening a New Query, go to the Query menu choice and select “Include Live Query Statistics.” You will need a long running query in order to see the processing happening at a slow pace.

Figure 2 – Include Live Query Statistics

Once you start a query, a new tab will show the Live Query Statistics like Figure 3. The dotted lne means the iterator has not finished or has not started.

 

Figure 3 – New Tab

The labeling of the iterators have the usually properties as an Execution Plan plus a running time clock of seconds that this iterator is using. In addition, you can see the “Actual Number of Row” of “Esitmated number of Rows” with a calculated Percent Done (Actual/Estimated). Figure 4 shows 144% for some iterators that have not even finished yet.

 

Figure 4 – Percent Greater Than 100

This is useful to see if estimate number of rows is the same or close to actual number of rows. The percentage will rise above 100 if there are more actual than estimated rows. The query in this case probably could use some performance tuning to get the estimate closer to the actual.

WOW!!!

PASS Summit 2016 – Announcements

There have been different announcements for new and upcoming features in the Microsoft Data Technology ecosystem. The one today I am hearing about is Data Migration Assistant (DMA) tool v2.0 GA and Tech Preview of DEA – Data Experimentation Assistant. James Serra blogged about it here - http://www.jamesserra.com/archive/2016/10/pass-summit-announcements-dmadea/. The DEA helps you with understanding the performance improvements by upgrading.

The next one the Tech Preview of building PowerBI reports in SQL Service Reporting Services. For more info go to the PowerBI Community Blog - https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/sqlrsteamblog/2016/10/28/create-power-bi-reports-in-the-sql-server-reporting-services-technical-preview/

The most exciting one for me is the Azure Analysis Services. It is only Tabular Models, right now, but OLAP is said to be in the works. This is interesting because it once was in the Cloud and then that cloud disappeared. It will be nice to see creating a DW in the Azure DWU, then connect to that data in Analysis Services and reporting in PowerBI, all in Azure. Never though I would say that

 

 

Go read about Azure SSAS here - http://sqlmag.com/sql-server/microsoft-announces-azure-analysis-services-preview-pass-summit-2016 and https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/introducing-azure-analysis-services-preview/

Chris Webb has already wrote his first thoughts about Azure Analysis Services - https://blog.crossjoin.co.uk/2016/10/25/first-thoughts-on-azure-analysis-services/

PASS New Logo

Devin Knight presenting Advanced PowerBI

Community Zone

PASS Summit 2016-Thursday Part II

The second half of the day was spent talking with various speakers and attendees. I got into a great conversation about trying to mentor developers at work places about how to write good T-SQL. It was interesting to here how some developers (or DBAs) are not open to new ways to write T-SQL like using CTEs or proper join syntax.

I meet Lance from the program committee and discussed the difficultly of having 800+ submissions and only about 140 slots for those submissions. To make sure you get a wide range of topics and not covering too little or too many of the same topic is not always easy. They do a great job with the volunteers to make sure Summit is a great learning opportunity for all.

I also saw a new posting on SQLServerCentral.Com about learning SQL Server 2016. Try this Link - http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/SQL+Server+2016/127518/.

The only session I attended was on learning how to price and scale an Azure SQL Server Data Warehouse. So, now I understand DWUs and pricing is 3 fold: DWUs, Storage and GEO DR. It can be expensive, but you get Massive Parallel Processing in the cloud and easier scaling up or down the usage.

The last 2 session time slots was spent co-presenting with Bill Anton on Performance Tuning Analysis Services. It was well attended but in a large room. There was about 2/3 of the people returning after the break for the 3 hour session. Bill did a great job getting people started with Profiler, PerfMon and some free tools and scripts. Lots of questions and even a Microsoft developer helping us answer questions. Thanks Microsoft.

Last stop of the day was dinner with some great guys from Atlanta at Rock Bottom. They went to a BIML party, I went to bed.

PASS Summit 2016-Thursday Part 1

Today’s keynote was by David Dewitt. He did an excellent job explaining the architecture behind various Cloud Data Warehouse offerings. It was nice to get an explanation of the behind the scenes node and disk usage.

  

One announcement that caught me off guard was next year’s Summit is Oct 31 thru Nov 3. That is Halloween and my kids come first on that day. Not sure that was a good idea. Better information shared was an increase in revenue of 10%, plus 100%+ increase in Global membership in some areas. There is a new logo and the updated website will be released early next year. Denise provided some slides on what the website will look like including mobile friendly.

Next, I am going to meet up with Bill and attend a session on Azure DW.

PASS Summit 2016-Wednesday

As all Summits, the first Regular Session day in Seattle started with the Keynote. Well, really it starts with a great breakfast at the Seattle Convention Center, but I digressed. Microsoft released information about new features for its Microsoft Data Platforms. The Keynote provided Customer specific examples of some of the newer features being used plus Program Managers demoing great examples of what is to come. For a summary, go to watch the PASStv Recap. A feature I am looking forward to seeing in action is Analysis Services in the cloud.

Congratulations to Malathi Mahadevan as PASS Outstanding Volunteer of the Year. She is a great representative of the PASS community and people love her service and passion.

The Summit is an amazing trip.Wednesday, I spent time with Bill Anton rehearsing a 3 hour Analysis Service Performance Tuning session for Thursday he has put together. His knowledge of this subject is top tier so I learned a lot. I spent time in the Speaker Ready talking and practicing for a session on Excel Tips & Tricks With SSAS Cubes. This session takes all the technical work we IT people put together in a Cube and start to have some fun with it. What amazed me was half the people in the session (there was at least 100 attendees) were Cube builders. They were in the session to find out how people use cubes in Excel to develop better cubes. That is a lot of people still building cubes.

Before the Vendor Reception, I spent time after the Excel session talking to an attendee. He was very unique to me because he was not an IT person, but hired as a Financial/Accounting analyst. He was using data feeds from their hosted applications in PowerBI. It was difficult to explain to him the difference between a Cube, the Tabular Model, PowerPivot AND the modeling in PowerBI. Dimensional Modeling might be to advanced for him, he just wanted basic table design hints.

He was also concerned that there were not enough beginner T-SQL and database design sessions available for him at the Summit, so I spent time with him going through all the remaining session that were a fit for him plus vendors he should visit. He has never heard of Pluralsite or other online training like from PragmaticWorks. We exchanged business cards and wished each other a pleasant week as we walked past the Community Zone and into the Vender Reception.

PASS Summit 2016–Tuesday

For the first day at the Summit this year, I spent half my time in a Pre-Conference session with Idera as an outgoing Idera Ace. The session include a 45 minute presentation for me on a Customer Use-Case. The second half of the day was spent in #SQLPASS Community sessions.

The Customer Use-Case included screen captures of real-world diagnosis using Idera products. Diagnosis Manager provided most of the screens. I was able to show the forecasting reports for data file and table usage/growth. We were able to show a large table that indexes were occupying lots of space and investigated the Index Usage through Glenn Berry scripts on a historical level. Removing some large include indexes help alleviate the table growth in storage size.

The other slides were about Alerts/EMails, User T-SQL History, BI Manager and Free Tools like SQL Check and SQL Fragmentation Analyzer.

The Community sessions were for #SQLSaturday and User Group/Virtual Chapters. The SQLSaturday session was a full house with many comments and questions. Money and Sponsorship was the hot topic. Growth is still being encouraged, but overall the session had a lot of good points with many thanks to such a great community event system. At the end, an emotional Karla talked about the end to her five reign as PASS Community leader for PASS. What a wonderful ending to the session!!! I won’t show any pictures of her crying (or Grant crying).

The User Group and Virtual Chapter session were a lot about speakers than money or sponsorship.

Truly amazed at the turn out and range of areas represented. I wonder how many User Groups use remote speakers and how often? Interesting discussion about getting a Microsoft TAM or related MS employee to help sponsor or host monthly meeting. You do not pay them but it helps them in their reviews/bonuses.

Ryan Adam announces new features in SQLPass hosted user group pages. There will be an option to send out event notifications for email, twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Matchup and other social media at one place, not manually doing many. Cheers from the crowd!!!

The evening end with a bite to eat at Welcome Reception and visiting with new and old friends, too many to list.

VOTE!!! PASS Board of Director Elections

It is voting season again, and there is a great group of individuals running for the Board of Directors of PASS. You can go to the Elections Page of the SQLPass.org site and review all the information about the elections. Logging into the site will enable you to vote.

As part of the Nomination Committee this year, I got to be apart of the process to help PASS Connect, Share and Learn. Hearing the candidates talk about PASS and the future is very encouraging. Also, watching Headquarters (HQ) put everything together and keep the process rolling was something I never thought about before being on the NomCom. HQ does more than I ever imagined.

To find out more about the candidates, you can go to this page - http://www.sqlpass.org/Elections/Candidates.aspx. There is also still time to go look at the twitter chats that happened in the last 24 hours. Just search in twitter for #SQLPass hash tag. You can also send them question and I am sure they will find time to answer you.

Also, remember the PASS Summit is in less than 3 weeks and I am execited to share with others about NomCom and what I have learned about the PASS organization.