Build Schedule

Are you new to Power BI Server? Do you want to learn what all the buzz is about and how to use it from a purely novice standpoint? Do you need to ramp up quickly to be able to build some great visualizations?  This session is the session that you need! We will walk you through the basic architecture and nuances of Power BI all the while taking a fun adventure to building your first Power BI report. The attendee will leave the class ready to start using Power BI in the real world.

Ed Watson

Session Type:
Regular Session (60 minutes)

Track:
BI Analytics and Visualization

Level: Beginner

Session Code:

Date: January 13

Time: 2:50 PM - 3:50 PM

Room: S276

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The way you hear about artificial intelligence, it seems like you throw some big data in the cloud and wave a magical AI wand over it and you can predict the future…right?  Not exactly.  Azure does have some great options to bring data science to your data but you need to weigh the options.  In this session we'll discuss those options and some questions to answer if you're being tasked with making magical things happen with your data.

Hope Foley

Session Type:
Regular Session (60 minutes)

Track:
Cloud Database/Application Development & Deployment

Level: Beginner

Session Code:

Date: January 13

Time: 2:50 PM - 3:50 PM

Room: S274

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Learn how to create your own skill (app) for Amazon's Echo / Dot service known as Alexa.
In this session, we'll create a simple skill from scratch, and show how to get into some of the more advanced options.

Dave Mattingly

Session Type:
Regular Session (60 minutes)

Track:
Cloud Database/Application Development & Deployment

Level: Beginner

Session Code:

Date: January 13

Time: 12:20 PM - 1:20 PM

Room: S270

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Have you ever had difficulty working with large data sets, or integrating multiple disparate data sources? Would you like present this data in a dashboard and effectively use your data to make more informed decisions? By understanding an applying data warehousing concepts and principles you can take advantage of the value of your data, and lay a foundation for future integrations. During this session we will cover data warehousing concepts with examples and demos to showcase the techniques. After this session you will understand key data warehouse concepts and techniques, as well as how data can be presented in a dashboard and used in an analytical application.

Spencer Swindell

Session Type:
Regular Session (60 minutes)

Track:
BI Architecture & Management

Level: Intermedia

Session Code:

Date: January 13

Time: 2:50 PM - 3:50 PM

Room: S213

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The Azure Resource Model (ARM) enables Azure infrastructure automation for both IaaS and PaaS deployments.  Using Visual Studio as a management tool enables repeatable, automated, source controlled deployments for test and development environments, enabling true DevOps practices for all aspects of pre-production systems.  In this session, I will demonstrate, explain, and deploy a IaaS/PaaS hybrid environment (SQL and BI stack elements) using ARM templates, Visual Studio, source control integration, and PowerShell scripts.

Geoff Hiten

Session Type:
Regular Session (60 minutes)

Track:
Cloud Database/Application Development & Deployment

Level: Advanced

Session Code:

Date: January 13

Time: 8:30 AM - 9:30 AM

Room: S316

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Database administrators are being tasked with managing a large number of SQL Server instances.  These instances can be built on premise, virtualized, physical, or in the cloud.  With Powershell Desired State Configuration, DBAs can not only automate the installation of SQL Server, but also any specific configurations needing to be applied to each new instance.  Powershell DSC provides a repeatable process to ensure all builds are done in the exact same way.  We'll cover what is Powershell Desired State Configuration and how a DBA can take advantage of it.  Next, we'll dive straight into a demo of the installation and configuration of two SQL Server instances from scratch.  

Some powershell experience is recommended.

Luke Campbell

Session Type:
Regular Session (60 minutes)

Track:
PowerShell

Level: Intermedia

Session Code:

Date: January 13

Time: 8:30 AM - 9:30 AM

Room: S270

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You have probably heard the buzz about Azure Machine Learning, aka Azure ML,  over the past few years. It is a surprisingly easy to use predictive analytic tool that you can learn for free. Attend this session to learn how to get started with Azure ML.

Kathi Kellenberger

Session Type:
Regular Session (60 minutes)

Track:
BI Analytics and Visualization

Level: Beginner

Session Code:

Date: January 13

Time: 8:30 AM - 9:30 AM

Room: S274

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Azure SQL Data Warehouse and APS are based on the MPP architecture. Analyzing the workload can be very different than SQL Server and SQL DB. In this session, we will show you what an MPP execution plan is, what to look for, and how to compare them to DMV output to pinpoint performance problems. We will use real customer scenarios to show you the most common causes of slowness and how we improved the performance. Please note: This session is intended for individuals with a 200 level understanding of MPP architecture with some understanding of data movement. There will be a short review of core components, but the discussion will quickly move to more advanced topics.

Gareth Swanepoel

Session Type:
Regular Session (60 minutes)

Track:
Cloud Database/Application Development & Deployment

Level: Beginner

Session Code:

Date: January 13

Time: 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Room: S276

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Whether you are just starting a career, advancing into senior leadership, or trying to woo a potential client, soft skills can be your ticket to success.  Often times we focus on showing how smart we are instead of showing what a good team member we can be.  We will discuss the role and types of soft skills needed to showcase your X-factor. Need to hone your skills?  We will explore innovative and fun ways in which to do just that!

Angela Tidwell

Session Type:
Regular Session (60 minutes)

Track:
Professional Development

Level: Beginner

Session Code:

Date: January 13

Time: 1:30 PM - 2:30 PM

Room: S279

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Are you tired of creating and updating the same SSIS packages again and again? Is your wrist hurting from all that clicking, dragging, dropping, connecting and aligning? Do you want to take the next step and really speed up your SSIS development?

Say goodbye to repetitive work and hello to Biml, the markup language for Business Intelligence projects.

In this session we will look at the basics of Biml. First learn how to use Biml to generate SSIS packages from database metadata. Then see how you can reuse code to implement changes in multiple SSIS packages and projects with just a few clicks. Finally, we will create an example project that you can download and start with to speed up your SSIS development from day one.

Stop wasting your valuable time on doing the same things over and over and over again, and see how you can complete in a day what once took more than a week!

Cathrine Wilhelmsen

Session Type:
Regular Session (60 minutes)

Track:
BI Architecture & Management

Level: Beginner

Session Code:

Date: January 13

Time: 2:50 PM - 3:50 PM

Room: S316

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Panel of Consultants for Attendees to ask cloud questions

Josh Luedeman

Session Type:
Regular Session (60 minutes)

Track:
Cloud Database/Application Development & Deployment

Level: Beginner

Session Code:

Date: January 13

Time: 12:20 PM - 1:20 PM

Room: S274

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This course is intended as an Introductory look at the Cloud and Azure Data Services. We begin our session explaining what the cloud is and the differences between Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS). Then we turn our attention to Azure and the Microsoft Cloud Data Platform to see what solutions are available for Data Archtitects, Developers, and Administrators. Finally, we close the session with a tour of SQL Server in an Azure Virtual Machine as well as an Azure SQL Database.

John Deardurff

Session Type:
Regular Session (60 minutes)

Track:
Cloud Database/Application Development & Deployment

Level: Beginner

Session Code:

Date: January 13

Time: 8:30 AM - 9:30 AM

Room: S213

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Python is the one of the most popular programming languages used today and one of the most useful tools in the data scientist's tool belt especially for machine learning. Python is integrated into the Microsoft stack in tools like Azure ML and now SQL Server 2017.

The session will be an introduction to the Python language including: 

1.) Installing and Configuring Python
2.) Access and Manipulate Data
3.) Install and Manage Packages
4.) Create and Use Objects/Variables
5.) Control Flows and Functions
6.) Managing the Python installation in MSSQL

Attend this session to learn how to use Python to take your data analytics to the next level. We will use Python, SQL Server and the Anaconda distribution of Python to learn the basics of Python and how it is integrated in the Microsoft stack! We will walk through a simple deployment of a machine learning model to see how it all works together and learns some basic data science fundamentals.

No prior statistics knowledge needed.

Jamey Johnston

Session Type:
Regular Session (60 minutes)

Track:
BI Analytics and Visualization

Level: Beginner

Session Code:

Date: January 13

Time: 9:45 AM - 10:45 AM

Room: S276

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In this session you will be learn what Cosmos DB is and why it is the hottest thing in Azure.
What does massively scalable, mullti-model, globally distributed, well-defined consistency models look like?

Most important, who is going to be using it and why?

Mike Lawell

Session Type:
Regular Session (60 minutes)

Track:
Cloud Database/Application Development & Deployment

Level: Beginner

Session Code:

Date: January 13

Time: 9:45 AM - 10:45 AM

Room: S305

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On a given project, data scientists can spend upwards of 80% of their time preparing, cleaning, and correcting data. In this session, we will look at different data cleansing and preparation techniques using both SQL Server and R. We will investigate the concept of tidy data and see how we can use tools in both languages to simplify research and analysis of a small but realistic data set.

Kevin Feasel

Session Type:
Regular Session (60 minutes)

Track:
BI Analytics and Visualization

Level: Beginner

Session Code:

Date: January 13

Time: 1:30 PM - 2:30 PM

Room: S276

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We have more information available to us today than ever before. So much so that we run the risk of not being able to tell concise stories. There's a lot more to creating that story than just getting the correct information. Come learn not just the do's and don'ts, but the whys…

Jonathan Stewart

Session Type:
Regular Session (60 minutes)

Track:
BI Analytics and Visualization

Level: Beginner

Session Code:

Date: January 13

Time: 1:30 PM - 2:30 PM

Room: S275

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DevOps came out of the Agile movement and the idea that operations needed to be part of the solution for agile development to be successful.  The DBA was often the most resilient and robust member of the operations team and most resistant to change.  This mentality was essential to the protection of company’s critical production data.

This session discusses common database challenges and how they can be minimized or solved with newer DevOps practices without impacting the DBAs “safe zone”.  We’ll discuss how to use these vital skills and motivate everyone towards solutions for more success in agile development environments. Development, testing, provisioning, patching, upgrading and managing will become easier with agile tools, virtualization and collaboration.  
The take-aways from this session are to embrace DevOps basics with a “DBA twist” such as:
•	Develop, Rinse, Repeat
•	Test Until Your Five Year Old Can Do It
•	Human Intervention Creates Human Error- Automate EVERYTHING.

Kellyn Pot'Vin-Gorman

Session Type:
Regular Session (60 minutes)

Track:
Database Administration

Level: Intermedia

Session Code:

Date: January 13

Time: 9:45 AM - 10:45 AM

Room: S316

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Dimensional modeling is one of cornerstones of successful Business Intelligence initiatives. Even with new technologies like PowerPivot and Analysis Services Tabular models, you need to represent your organization’s data in a way that is accessible for end users and IT staff alike. An effective dimensional model will also ensure that your data warehouse or data mart will be responsive and capable of accommodating emerging requirements.

In this session, we will dive deeper into the art of dimensional modeling. We will look at how and when to create the different types of fact and dimension tables, Including patterns for enriching dimensional data, creating usable hierarchies for efficient navigation, and tracking historical changes. After attending this session you will be able to confidently assess the quality of your organization’s dimensional model and recommend and implement changes. Bring your toughest quandaries to help make this an interactive and engaging session.

Jason Horner

Session Type:
Regular Session (60 minutes)

Track:
BI Architecture & Management

Level: Intermedia

Session Code:

Date: January 13

Time: 9:45 AM - 10:45 AM

Room: S274

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Learning how to detect, diagnose and resolve performance problems in SQL Server is tough.  Often, years are spent learning how to use the tools and techniques that help you detect when a problem is occurring, diagnose the root-cause of the problem, and then resolve the problem.  

In this session, attendees will see demonstrations of the tools and techniques which make difficult troubleshooting scenarios much faster and easier, including:

• XEvents, Profiler/Traces, and PerfMon 
• Using Dynamic Management Views (DMVs)
• Advanced Diagnostics Using Wait Stats
• Reading SQL Server execution plan 

Every DBA needs to know how to keep their SQL Server in tip-top condition, and you’ll need skills the covered in this session to do it.

Kevin Kline

Session Type:
Regular Session (60 minutes)

Track:
Database Administration

Level: Beginner

Session Code:

Date: January 13

Time: 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Room: S334

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Ethics, Morals, and Laws each govern one aspect of our behavior as people and DBAs. They govern which actions we take and which actions we avoid.

Understanding the basics of these guides and how they coordinate (and sometimes conflict) with each other helps you to make choices you can live with from both a personal and professional perspective.

This session presents basic definitions, ideas, and discussion points. It is intended to be an interactive presentation where the audience contributes to the discussion, so no two presentations are exactly the same!

Pat Phelan

Session Type:
Regular Session (60 minutes)

Track:
Professional Development

Level: Beginner

Session Code:

Date: January 13

Time: 2:50 PM - 3:50 PM

Room: S272

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