James works at Microsoft as a big data and data warehousing solution architect where he has been for most of the last eleven years. Before that he was an independent consultant working as a Data Warehouse/Business Intelligence architect and developer. He is a prior SQL Server MVP with over 40 years of IT experience. Check out his book Deciphering Data Architectures: Choosing Between a Modern Data Warehouse, Data Fabric, Data Lakehouse, and Data Mesh.
Last month I blogged that SQL Server Data Tools for SQL Server 2014 CTP2 now available. You can download that here. This will run the SSDT install (not a SQL Server 2014 install). This installs the Visual Studio 2012 shell, and … Continue reading →
I have been using Power BI the past few weeks (see my video of all the features) after I was invited by Microsoft to test the Power BI for Office 365 Preview (register here). I have to say I am extremely impressed. … Continue reading →
While the tabular model in SSAS makes it much easier to build cubes than the multidimensional model, I am not seeing it used as much as I expected. One reason is if you are a BI developer and have been … Continue reading →
Microsoft has introduced an image into the Windows Azure Virtual Machine Gallery that is pre-optimized for a Fast Track Data Warehouse (FTDW) workload. FTDW is a reference configuration optimized for data warehousing. Not only is there an image for SQL Server 2012 SP1 … Continue reading →
Windows Azure SQL Reporting was the new name of the reporting services component (which was formerly known as SQL Azure Reporting Services) that went live June 12, 2012. However today, October 31, 2013, notification went out to current Windows Azure SQL … Continue reading →
From Microsoft, SSDT is now available for SQL Server 2014: We’d like to announce the availability of SSDT that supports SQL Server 2014 databases. SQL Server Data Tools for SQL Server 2014 CTP2 is pre-release software, does not support upgrade … Continue reading →
Not much news came out of the PASS Summit 2013 from last week, but boy did I have a blast! I met over 100 people who were presenters or bloggers (I counted). I made an effort to find them as I … Continue reading →
Microsoft has released SQL Server 2014 CTP2 (download): What’s new in SQL Server 2014 CTP2? New Mission Critical Capabilities and Enhancements Enhanced In-Memory OLTP, including new tools which will help you identify and migrate the tables and stored procedures will … Continue reading →
As a consultant I am often starting from the ground floor on a new data warehouse/business intelligence project, and usually one of the first tasks is to interview business users from various groups. During these interviews I am doing an … Continue reading →
Thanks to everyone who attended my session “Transitioning to a BI role” at the PASS SQL Saturday Charlotte. The abstract is below. Another packed room with a number of people standing! Here is the PowerPoint presentation: Transitioning to a BI role. Transitioning to a … Continue reading →
Thanks to everyone who attended my session “Building an Effective Data Warehouse Architecture” at the PASS Summit 2013. The abstract is below. It was a packed room with many people having to stand. Maybe next year I’ll get a bigger room 🙂 I … Continue reading →
The PASS Summit 2013 is almost here! Check out all the great sessions and speakers. I feel very fortunate to be able to speak alongside many of the experts in the industry. I will be arriving Sunday night in Charlotte and attending a pre-conference … Continue reading →
I have talked about the Business Intelligence Maturity Model (see Business Intelligence Maturity Assessment), but I wanted to dig further into one area and talk about the Data Warehouse Maturity Model. The graphic below, from Wayne Eckerson, is very accurate based on my … Continue reading →
I have seen many times at clients where the terms business intelligence and data warehousing are used interchangeably. In reality, these are two separate disciplines. This is especially true for enterprise data warehouses due to an EDW’s scope, complexity, and large volumes … Continue reading →
I have been honored to be chosen a Microsoft SQL Server Most Valuable Professional (MVP). Here is a video on my reaction: I’m a Microsoft MVP and I feel great! The Microsoft MVP Award is an annual award that recognizes exceptional … Continue reading →
SQL Server 2014 has enhancements to two common database maintenance operations:Partition Switching and Online Index Rebuild. This will greatly increase enterprise application availability by reducing maintenance downtime impact. The two new features are: Managed Lock Priority: This allows you to manage the … Continue reading →
Sometimes I see confusion on the difference between a data warehouse (DW) and master data management (MDM). Below is a good list of how they differ. Note the typical scenario is the data in a MDM database is fed into … Continue reading →
I first blogged about Power BI for Office 365 two months ago (see Power BI for Office 365) when it was announced. Microsoft has started inviting participants subscribed to the Power BI for Office 365 Preview to test the prerelease version … Continue reading →
SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT) has a new update: VS 2010: August 2013 version: 10.3.30822.0, June 2013 version: 10.3.30618.1, December 2012 version: 10.3.21208.0, November 2012 version: 10.3.21101.1, September 2012 version: 10.3.20905.0, initial version: 10.3.20225.0 VS 2012: August 2013 version: 11.1.30822.0, June 2013 version: 11.1.30618.1, December … Continue reading →
The Certified Master and Architect community was collectively notified Friday, August 30, at 10PM PST that the Certified Master (MCM/MCSM) and Certified Architect (MCA) programs are dead. The email transcript has been reported by Neil Johnson. For those of you who … Continue reading →