Minnesota Microsoft BI User Group 2013 Q2 Meeting–Jun 4

The next MN Microsoft Business Intelligence User Group is coming up on Tuesday, June 4. This meeting we will have two presentations starting out with a case study by Smead on replacing IBM Cognos BI with Microsoft BI and then a presentation on Excel 2013 with Data Explorer, GeoFlow, and Power View. Please register so that we can have your name badge pre-printed.

Are you planning to attend the PASS 2013 Summit October 15 – 18 in Charlotte, NC? Use the MS BI User Group discount code and receive 10% off!

Your chapter: Minnesota Microsoft BI User Group

Unique Discount Code: SUM156CH

To register for PASS 2013, click here: http://www.sqlpass.org/summit/2013/

Here is the remaining schedule for the quarterly meetings this year:

2013 Meeting Schedule

• Tuesday, June 4
• Tuesday, September 10
• Tuesday, December 3

MN Microsoft BI User Group 2013 Q2 Meeting

Sponsored by:

Date: Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Check In: 2:30 PM Event Time: 3:00 PM – 6:00 PM

Location: Microsoft Technology Center – 3601 76th St W, Suite 600 Edina MN 55435 (in LOW 1, 2, and 3)

Please Register Now (Please register so that we can have your name badge pre-printed)

Agenda:

• 2:30-3:00 : Registration
• 3:00-3:15 : Microsoft BI User Group Updates & Announcements
• 3:15-4:15 : Smead Case Study: Introducing a New BI Toolset
• 4:15-4:30 : Break
• 4:30-5:30 : Take Your Data Global with Microsoft BI Data Explorer, GeoFlow, and Power View Maps
• 5:30-6:00 : Social and Networking

Presentations:

Session 1: Smead Case Study: Introducing a New BI Toolset
Smead Manufacturing Company recently completed a migration project that replaced their IBM Cognos BI Toolset with the Microsoft suite of BI Tools (SharePoint Integrated). In this presentation, they will share their approach, benefits, challenges and insights as they introduced new BI Technologies to 100 users across 12 departments. Many aspects of their journey will be covered, including use of the MS tools, data and architecture considerations, implementations, training, and project management. Whether your role focuses on development, analysis, and/or management, learn from their experiences as they replaced a legacy toolset that was relied upon by many as their source of timely, detailed Business Intelligence information.

Speakers:

Cindy Kummer, Lead EDW/BI Analyst at Smead Manufacturing Company – Cindy has held a number of positions in the IT industry for 14 years, spending the last 4 years in the Business Intelligence arena as the Team Lead for the EDW/BI team at Smead Manufacturing Company in Hastings, MN. She recently led their project to migrate their BI platform from IBM Cognos to the suite of Microsoft BI Tools. Cindy has been involved in projects in the Transportation, Insurance, and Manufacturing industries with a wide variety of roles, including developer, analyst, and project manager.

Will Weber, BI Consultant – Will is currently working as a business intelligence consultant in the Twin Cities. He started his career as a juggler. Almost got a degree in Theatre. Actually got a degree in Chinese. He’s a Board member for the MNPASS user group. He also thinks that the robots probably won’t rise up against their human creators – probably. But we’ll have to wait and see on that one.

Session 2: Take Your Data Global with Microsoft BI Data Explorer, GeoFlow, and Power View Maps
Business Intelligence has now been a global discipline for several years, and with new Microsoft tools you can now bring the globe to Business Intelligence. Microsoft Data Explorer for Excel 2013 enables you to access, harness, transform, and mash-up data like never before. Data that is separated by source type, format, location and more will be reviewed and mashed up in Data Explorer. GeoFlow is a new geospatial Business Intelligence tool which literally adds another dimension to data visualization. The power of GeoFlow to transform inanimate data into a story will be demonstrated. Power View for Excel 2013 has the capability to recognize geospatial data and create reports that integrate with Bing Maps, enabling global data BI report development from a desktop computer. The ease of use, intuitive design, and value of maps with Power View 2013 will be reviewed with some interesting examples leveraging publically available data. Take your data global.literally.

Speaker:

Greg Beaumont, BI Architect at GNet Group – Greg Beaumont is a Business Intelligence Consultant at GNet Group. He joined GNet Group in 2009, and has industry vertical experience including healthcare, manufacturing, logistics, retail, and public/government data. His professional focus is upon building industry standard reporting methodologies into BI solutions. He enjoys staying up-to-date with technology related to his career within the world of Microsoft BI.

PASSMN April 2013 Meeting

The next Minnesota SQL Server User Group meeting is tomorrow Tuesday, April 16. This month the two presentations will be on (1) HortonWorks sandbox demo and (2) NoSQL.  Be sure to register so that your name badge will be available for you at the Microsoft Technology Center when you arrive.

The sponsor for this month’s meeting is Robert Half Technology.

Location: 3601 West 76th Street, Suite 600 Edina, MN 55437

Live Meeting:

• URL: https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/usergroups/join?id=SRR9DN&role=attend&pw=zd%3F9c.2KJ
• Meeting ID: SRR9DN
• Entry Code: zd?9c.2KJ

Agenda:

• 4:00-4:15 : Announcements / Registration / hospitality / networking
• 4:15-4:30 : HortonWorks Sandbox Demo, by Bill Preachuk
• 4:30-5:45 : Rules of Engagement: NoSQL is SQL Server’s Ally, by Rick Krueger and Dave Valentine
• 5:45-6:00 : Prize giveaways

Please click here for meeting details and to RSVP for the event

Presentations

HortonWorks Sandbox Demo (by Bill Preachuk, Emergent Networks)

HortonWorks provides a free downloadable Virtual Machine image that promises you “Go from Zero to BIG DATA in 15 minutes!“ In this short presentation we’ll discuss What the Sandbox is, Where to get it, How to install it, and How to get it up & running. Then we’ll fire up our trusty rusty VMware environment, step through the web-based GUI and run a few of the included tutorials.

Bill Preachuk serves on the Board of the PASSMN User Group and is responsible for SQL Saturday Minnesota 2013. He is a SQL Server 2008 MCTS, and is employed as a DBA/Data Warehouse Designer at Emergent Networks. Bill has been in IT since 1991 and has presented at Analytics conferences, PASS User Group meetings and SQL Saturday events in the Twin Cities and Iowa.

Rules of Engagement: NoSQL is SQL Server’s Ally (by Rick Krueger and Dave Valentine)

When should you favor a NoSQL store over SQL Server, or consider polyglot persistence? In military and police operations, the rules of engagement determine when, where, and how force shall be used. As the “data police”, we are responsible for determining when, where, and how data is stored. As SQL Server professionals, it tends to be our first choice, even when there are other data storage options that are a ‘more natural’ fit. In this session, Rick and Dave will start with the NoSQL basics, and then dive into the different categories of NoSQL stores while explaining what each type is well suited for.

Rick Krueger is the President of Premier Applications, Inc., and a SQL Server indie based in the Twin Cities with 18 years of software and database development experience, working with SQL Server since 1998 (6.5). Don’t let his developer credentials (MCPD) and background fool you, he knows a thing or two about SQL, and is currently focusing on data architecture and database development.

Dave Valentine is a Development DBA with over 10 years of experience with SQL Server and Development technologies, specializing in Business Intelligence and ingenious solutions. Dave has also been an Adjunct Professor at Metropolitan State University for the past 10 years educating students in Database Management, Web Development, and Java Programming.

Minnesota Microsoft BI User Group 2013 Q1 Meeting Follow Up

Just wanted to do a quick post to let everyone know that the presentations and demos from the last MN Microsoft BI User Group meeting are available for download.  This includes the opening announcement materials for the meeting, Brian Larson’s Reporting Services demos, and Ross McNeely’s top down data modeling presentation.

You can access the material from the user group site in the past events and presentations location.

Effective Reporting through SSRS and Top Down Data Modeling for BI

Thanks to everyone that attended, it was a great turnout and special thanks to C2 for the post-event happy hour.

Next month we will be sending out the invite for our next meeting that will be on Tuesday, June 4th, so stay tuned.

Minnesota Microsoft BI User Group 2013 Q1 Meeting–Mar 28

UPDATE (3/22/2013): Because of the snow storm on March 5 the meeting was rescheduled and is on March 28.

The next MN Microsoft Business Intelligence User Group is coming up on Thursday, March 28. This meeting we will have two presentations starting out with a talk on Reporting Services (SSRS) and then a presentation about Data Modeling. Please register so that we can have your name badge pre-printed.

Here is the schedule for the quarterly meetings this year:

2013 Meeting Schedule

• Thursday, March 28
• Tuesday, June 4
• Tuesday, September 10
• Tuesday, December 3

MN Microsoft BI User Group 2013 Q1 Meeting

Sponsored by:

Date: Thursday, March 28, 2013

Check In: 2:30 PM Event Time: 3:00 PM – 6:00 PM

Location: Microsoft Technology Center – 3601 76th St W, Suite 600 Edina MN 55435 (in LOW 1, 2, and 3)

Please Register Now (Please register so that we can have your name badge pre-printed)

Agenda:

• 2:30-3:00 : Registration
• 3:00-3:15 : Microsoft BI User Group Updates & Announcements
• 3:15-4:15 : Effective Reporting through SSRS Advanced Authoring Features (Brian Larson)
• 4:15-4:30 : Break
• 4:30-5:30 : Top-Down Data Modeling for BI (Ross McNeely)
• 5:30-6:00 : Social and Networking
• 6:00: Happy Hour Sponsored by C2 at Macaroni Grill! 7651 France Ave S, Edina, MN 55435

Presentations:

Effective Reporting through SSRS Advanced Authoring Features – Effective reporting is not simply the output of data, but the meaningful presentation of that data in a manner that informs the user. SQL Server Reporting Services provides a myriad of features to create a clear, instructive, and interactive experience. This session will demonstrate techniques to utilize SSRS advanced authoring features to facilitate more informative communication. These features include: nesting data regions, leveraging scope, geographic/geometric reporting, complex charting, rich formatting, incorporating managed code assemblies, intuitive drilldown, data from multiple datasets in a single data region, datasets that update source data, and more.

Brian Larson, Vice President of Technology, Superior Consulting Services. As a consultant to Microsoft, Brian contributed to the original code base of Reporting Services. Brian is the Vice President of Technology for Superior Consulting Services and has presented at national conferences including SQL Server Connections, the PASS Summit, and the Microsoft BI Conference. Brian is a former columnist for SQL Server Magazine and is the author of “Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Reporting Service: 4th Edition” and “Delivering Business Intelligence with SQL Server 2012: 3rd Edition” as well as co-author of “Visualizing Data with Microsoft Power View,” all from McGraw-Hill Professional.

Top-Down Data Modeling for BI – Business Intelligence platforms are offering capabilities, such as, in-memory analytics, ad hoc reporting, and self-serve report development. These capabilities allow for rapid development and do not require a Data Warehouse. A Business Intelligence platform without a Data Warehouse works well during the pilot phase, but tends to fail when deployed to the enterprise. Join as I lay out how to implement a Top-Down Data Model that will allow Business Intelligence to be created before or in parallel with the Data Warehouse. This will allow for rapid BI development while reducing the DW development cycle.

Ross McNeely, BI Practice Manager,  C2 IT Solutions. Ross has presented at several SQL Saturday events in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa. Recently, Ross presented at ERWorld2012 on data modeling. Ross adds real-world examples from the Financial Services, Logistics, and Retail industries in his presentations. Regardless if you have a beginner, intermediate, or advanced skill set, Ross will provide a solid foundation for each topic he presents. Please join Ross McNeely for a fun and informative meeting.

This is our first meeting of the year and our first meeting as an official chapter of PASS, looking forward to a great meeting, hope to see you there!

PASSMN February 2013 Meeting

The next Minnesota SQL Server User Group meeting is next Tuesday on February 19.  This month the two presentations will be on (1) rules-based backup and index maintenance and (2) database corruption.  Be sure to register so that your name badge will be available for you at the Microsoft Technology Center when you arrive.

The sponsor for this month’s meeting is Emergent Networks.

Location: 3601 West 76th Street, Suite 600 Edina, MN 55437

Date/Time: Tuesday, February 19 from 4 to 6 p.m.

Live Meeting:
• URL: https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/usergroups/join?id=SRR9DN&role=attend&pw=zd%3F9c.2KJ
• Meeting ID: SRR9DN
• Entry Code: zd?9c.2KJ

Agenda

• 4:00 – 4:10 : Registration / hospitality / networking
• 4:15 – 5:15 : Presentation: Shoveling Frogs into a Wheelbarrow
• 5:15 – 5:45 : Presentation: An Overview of Database Corruption
• 5:45 – 6:00 : Announcements and prize giveaways

Please click here for meeting details and to RSVP for the event

Presentations

Shoveling Frogs into a Wheelbarrow (by Merrill Aldrich)

If you face managing over a hundred, or perhaps thousands of databases, automation, standards and a “policy-based” mindset are critical. In this session we’ll do a walk-through of a rules-based backup and index maintenance solution suitable for zillions of smaller databases, and talk at a high level about features and techniques for multi-server management including monitoring, performance data collection, jobs automation, PowerShell and PBM. (The core of it will be a walkthrough of the solution athttp://sqlblog.com/blogs/merrill_aldrich/archive/2012/08/01/rules-driven-maintenance.aspx and the update published athttp://sqlblog.com/blogs/merrill_aldrich/archive/2013/01/16/update-to-rules-driven-maintenance.aspx)

Merrill Aldrich is a SQL Server DBA with one of the largest credit unions in the US, located in the Seattle area. He’s currently responsible for corralling a sprawling and very diverse collection of ISV-provided SQL Server databases that together serve the organization’s 800,000 members. In a past life he was trained in Architecture, designed buildings, and taught three-dimensional modeling and building information modeling.

Blog: http://sqlblog.com/blogs/merrill_aldrich/default.aspx

Twitter: @onupdatecascade

An Overview of Database Corruption (by James Larson, United Health Group)

An Overview of Database Corruption that will include warning signs, causes and scenarios with repair options

James Larson is a Database Consultant\ Team Lead at United Health Group. Has over 15 years of experience with SQL Server. James also has 4 years of experience developing applications with Visual Basic 6.0. James has been working in the Health Care field for over 8 years and currently holds a Microsoft SQL Server 2008, Implementation and Maintenance Certification.

MN Microsoft BI User Group Official Chapter of PASS!

Just a quick announcement that I am happy to announce, yesterday the Minnesota Microsoft Business Intelligence (MSBIMN) user group completed the process and is now officially affiliated with the national PASS association.  The user group is part of the U.S. North Central region.  I am really excited about this and looking forward to another exciting year in 2013 when we resume our meetings.  You can check out the content from our 2011 and 2012 meetings here – past presentation content.

The Leadership Team

• Neelesh Raheja, GNet Group
• Dan English, Superior Consulting Services
• Terry McDonald, Pentair Technical Products
• Jin Cho, Microsoft

2013 Meeting Schedule

• Tuesday, March 5
• Tuesday, June 4
• Tuesday, September 10
• Tuesday, December 3

In 2013 we are also planning on organizing a couple of special session meetings, stay tuned for information about those as well and to stay in touch don’t forget we also have a group setup on LinkedIn that you can get associated with.

Thanks to everyone on the Leadership Team, the speakers, and the user group for another great year! 

Happy holidays to everyone and see you all next year!

PASSMN Special December 2012 Meeting

Next week the Minnesota SQL Server User Group is having a special meeting on Wednesday, December 5.  The presentation will be on Big Data.  Be sure to register so that your name badge will be available for you at the Microsoft Technology Center when you arrive.

The sponsor for this special meeting is Microsoft Technology Communities.

Location: 3601 West 76th Street, Suite 600 Edina, MN 55437

Date/Time: Wednesday, December 5 from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m.

Agenda

• 5:30 – 5:45 : Registration / hospitality / networking / food!
• 5:45 – 6:45 : Hadoop’s Role in a Big Data Architecture
• 6:45 – 7:00 : Announcements / Networking

Please click here for meeting details and to RSVP for the event

Presentations

Jim Walker talks Hadoop, Big Data and Microsoft Tools

Jim Walker, Hortonworks, is a recovering developer, professional marketer and amateur photographer with nearly twenty years experience building products and developing emerging technologies. During his career, he has brought multiple products to market in a variety of fields, including data loss prevention, master data management and now big data. At Hortonworks, Jim is focused on accelerating the development and adoption of Apache Hadoop.

And don’t forget, the SQL Lunch that was scheduled for October was rescheduled and will be next month for Friday, December 14 from 11:30 to 1:30 with me as the host – SQLFriends Lunch–Dec 14.

PASSMN November 2012 Meeting

The next Minnesota SQL Server User Group meeting is next Tuesday on November 20.  This month the presentation will be on SQL Server database locking and blocking.  Be sure to register so that your name badge will be available for you at the Microsoft Technology Center when you arrive.
 
The sponsor for this month’s meeting is Dell Compellent.

Location: 3601 West 76th Street, Suite 600 Edina, MN 55437

Date/Time: Tuesday, November 20 from 4 to 5:30 p.m.

Live Meeting:
• URL: https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/usergroups/join?id=8DFJJB&role=attend&pw=Z-%3B%7D*t4%2Cn
• Meeting ID: 8DFJJB
• Entry Code: Z-;}*t4,n

Agenda

• 4:00 – 4:10 : Registration / hospitality / networking
• 4:10 – 4:15 : From our Sponsor – Overview of Dell Compellent SAN
• 4:15 – 5:15 : Introduction to SQL Server Locking and Blocking
• 5:15 – 5:30 : Announcements and prize giveaways

Please click here for meeting details and to RSVP for the event 

Presentations

Introduction to SQL Server Locking and Blocking (Kirby Richter, Dell Compellent)

What is locking?  What is blocking?  Why should you care?  You want to update a million rows on production, you need to know what type of locks will happen so you can plan accordingly!

You are tuning a query and the normal duration is 1 second but recently it’s been taking over a minute.  Is your process being blocked?

Let’s face it blocking is very common and as a good DBA you need to recognize when blocking is an issue and how to deal with it.  This presentation will cover most of the gory details and includes several fun demos.  You will learn how to check and monitor locking and blocking and how to deal with common issues.

And don’t forget, the SQL Lunch that was scheduled for October was rescheduled and will be next month for Friday, December 14 from 11:30 to 1:30 with me as the host – SQLFriends Lunch–Dec 14.

PASSMN October 2012 Meeting

The next Minnesota SQL Server User Group meeting is next Tuesday on October 16.  This month there will be two presentations, one on a SQL database maintenance plans and the other on a new feature that was added in SQL Server 2012, Data Quality Services (DQS).  Be sure to register so that your name badge will be available for you at the Microsoft Technology Center when you arrive.

The sponsor for this month’s meeting is Magenic.

Location: 3601 West 76th Street, Suite 600 Edina, MN 55437

Date/Time: Tuesday, October 16 from 4 to 6 p.m.

Live Meeting:
•URL: https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/usergroups/join?id=H8JST2&role=attend&pw=rz%26R*ZSN9
•Meeting ID: H8JST2
•Entry Code: rz&R*ZSN9

Agenda

•4:00-4:15 : Registration / hospitality / networking
•4:15-4:45 : Ola Hallengren’s SQL Server Maintenance Solution
•4:45-5:45 : Data Quality Services
•5:45-6:00 : Announcements and prize giveaways

Please click here for meeting details and to RSVP for the event

Presentations

Ola Hallengren’s SQL Server Maintenance Solution (Rizwan Hassan, DBA at Kroll Ontrack)

DBAs are inconstantly using SQL Server standard maintenance and custom maintenance plans to maintain SQL environments. Ola Hallengren has been generous enough to contribute his maintenance plans which are not only effective, but also can be customized to meet small to large SQL environments. These plans have won SQL Server Magazine 2011 Gold Community Choice and Silver Editors’ Best awards. The Ola’s maintenance plans cover:

• SQL Server Backups
• SQL Server Integrity Checks
• SQL Server index and Statistics Maintenance

Data Quality Services (Jeff Prom, Senior Consultant at Magenic) – As the old adage goes, ‘Garbage in, garbage out.’ Stop spending hours manually cleansing your data, and start using Data Quality Services! DQS is the new data quality tool provided with SQL Server 2012. In this session we will cover topics such as creating a knowledge base, data cleansing, data matching, and using 3rd party knowledge bases (Reference Data). We will talk about installation, show how to use the DQS tool, the Excel Add-in, and how to integrate DQS into your SSIS packages.

SQLFriends Lunch–Dec 14

UPDATE (10/19/2012): The date for this event has changed from Oct 19 to Dec 14. The website should be updated soon to reflect this as well.

The next SQLFriends lunch event is coming up and it will be right here in Edina, MN.  This month I will be the guest as well:)  This will take place at the Edina Grill:

From Fish & Chips to our award winning Turkey Burger, Banana Waffle and Hash Browns, you’re bound to find something you’ll love at the Edina Grill!

At the Edina Grill we serve fresh, often organic, always made from scratch fare – offering breakfast, lunch and dinner seven days a week, morning, noon and night.

I have not had a chance to attend one of these lunch events yet, but I can only guess it will be a fun time hanging out with the SQL family.  I will be available during the lunch time to talk about topics such as consulting, Microsoft MVP program, blogging, tweeting, running a user group, organizing events, Microsoft business intelligence, SQL Server, the future of business intelligence, authoring a book, and any other off topics that you might want to discuss such as family life, coaching, water skiing, etc. 

Here are the details of the event:

Date: Friday, December 14, 2012

Time: 11:30 am – 1:30 pm

Location: Edina Grill, 5028 France Ave S, Edina MN, 55424

Guest: Dan English

If you are available to attend it would be great to see you and hangout, head on over and register now – SQLFriends Lunch 5 – Edina Grill with Dan English.

Special thanks to Mike Donnelly and Aaron Lowe for stepping up and organizing these great events.