• Less Clicking, More Sanity! Infra as Code for your Azure Data Solution

    Using cloud services has made it smooth and flexible to create our data platform solutions and get started fast by clicking your way through the portal - or maybe using Powershell to script your infrastructure into being. But what if you run into issues when managing your environment or need to create an identical environment for development and testing. Well, this means we need more powerful ways to work with our infrastructure - bring in infrastructure as code!

    In this full day workshop we will go through the concepts that you need to grasp in order to get started with infrastructure as code in Azure. We will dive into the different tools that you can use for managing infrastructure as code, as well as the differences, benefits and drawbacks of each.

    We will get started with setting up the tools needed for working with Terraform and then jump straight into creating your first resources. Through this we will be able to get a strong base of the basic Terraform concepts of providers, variable, outputs and state files.

    In the second half of the day we will explore a complete workflow for deploying your Azure data platform architecture as code using Terraform, and how to seamlessly work on that code with your team. Finally we will learn some tips and tricks from the real world of working with Terraform from handling existing resources to using loops and dynamic blocks to make your configurations flexible and powerful.

    Bring your laptop, an excited mindset and make sure you have an Azure Subscription you can work with. You'll be able to create and manage your Azure data platform solution with ease at the end of the day!

    Tardis (Dijlezaal)
    Mon 09:00 - 17:00
    • Administration
    • DevOps
    • Hashicorp Terraform
    • 300 - Experienced

  • Techniques that a professional database developer should master

    Are you already an experienced programmer and know your way around the Microsoft SQL Server development language? Still, there are always problems with query runtimes that you cannot explain to yourself. Data is not written to database tables fast enough and you are looking for ways to optimize ETL processes?
    These are all things that pose new challenges for a database developer daily. This workshop for database developers closes many of these gaps and uses practical examples to explain, analyze and solve the problems.
    – Parameter sniffing
    – Non SARGable queries
    – Sort spills
    – Implicit conversion
    – NOLOCK / TABLOCK
    – Temporary tables vs. Table variables
    – Recursive CTEs
    – partitioning
    – scalar functions
    This workshop is suitable for database developers who are already beyond the basics and want to sharpen the nuances. Ideally, you already have experience with execution plans and are very familiar with the SQL Server Management Studio.

    DeLorean (Scala)
    Mon 09:00 - 17:00
    • Data Architecture
    • Data Engineering
    • Database Development
    • 200 - Intermediate

  • DAX in a Day

    Power BI, Analysis Services Tabular and Excel Power Pivot users can improve their data models with the Data Analysis eXpression (DAX) language. Although this language looks a bit like Excel, many people struggle in writing more advanced DAX expressions.
    In this one day workshop the different aspects of DAX are discussed. What are the types used in DAX? How to use DAX for creating calculated columns, tables and mainly measures? A lot of attention goes into the evaluation context: What is row context and filter context, and how do expanded tables relate to this?
    A lot of DAX code will be dissected to illustrate these concepts, such that you leave with a better idea of how to use DAX for solving your business needs.

    Time Stone (Alcazar)
    Mon 09:00 - 17:00
    • Azure Analysis Services
    • DAX
    • DAX Studio
    • Power BI
    • 200 - Intermediate

  • Azure Data Integration Pipelines – Fundamentals to Level 300

    In this full day of training, we’ll start with the very basics and learn how to orchestrate your Azure data platform from start to finish. You will learn how to build out Azure control flow and data flow components as processing pipelines using Azure Data Factory and Azure Synapse Analytics. We’ll start by covering the fundamentals within the resources and together build out pipelines that ingest data from local source systems, transform and serve it to consumers. We’ll then continue taking an end-to-end look at our Azure integration pipeline tools within highly scalable cloud native architectures, dealing with triggering, monitoring, dynamic pipeline content as well as CI/CD practices. Start the day knowing nothing about Azure Data Integration pipelines and leave with the knowledge, slides, demos, and code to apply these resources in your role as a data engineering professional.

    Psychedelic VW Beetle (Auditorium)
    Mon 09:00 - 17:00
    • Azure Data Factory
    • Azure Synapse Analytics
    • 300 - Experienced

  • Data Governance in a Nutshell – From Theory to Hands-On with Microsoft Purview

    Data is important for every organization. To know your data estate (systems), their dependencies, the responsible people and processes takes your company's data literacy to the next level.
    This topic is called Data Governance, which includes two main streams: a) the organizational processes and policies and the b) the technical tools to support the organizational processes.

    Many of us think, that Data Governance is a technical problem to solve, but I would start the Data Governance day with an explanation what DG is. We will talk about the people involved, the processes needed, policies that should be in place and the technology so support the processes.
    The overall Data Governance vision and strategy will also be discussed.

    After the DG theory part, we will dive into a Data Governance tool - Microsoft Purview. In the Hands-On lab we will focus on the data governance part of Microsoft Purview: connect to data sources, configure scans, see how Purview classifies data, assign and work with a business glossary, work with & analyze data lineage and see the Purview data catalog in action.
    In the last part of the day, we will see Purview integration in action - the Apache ATLAS API will be presented as well the integration into Azure Data Factory and Azure Synapse Analytics.

    At the end of the day, attendees should have a feeling about what Data Governance is, the organizational requirements as well as a first look into Microsoft Purview and how a technical answer to these questions can look like.

    Waverider (Herten Aas)
    Mon 09:00 - 17:00
    • Administration
    • Cloud
    • Data Analysis
    • Data Governance
    • Data Onthology
    • Data Strategy
    • Infrastructure
    • 100 - Introductory and Overview

  • Making Data Matter - Combining Data, Visual Storytelling and Presentation Skills for Maximum Impact

    FULLY BOOKED, NO MORE SPACES AVAILABLE.

    PRACTICAL INFORMATION:
    This session has a 12 person capacity limit as it is highly interactive, and will not work the way it’s intended with a larger audience. It is required to reserve in advance for this session only.

    Reservations will not be taken, and places will be served in a first come, first served basis. This means places are prioritized for those that have completed the payment process for their ticket(s).

    As of August 31st 2022, this session is fully booked and does not accept any additional registrations.
    Come October 10th, we'll only allow folks that have been confirmed into the session room.
    ________________________________________________

    A friend once explained her experience with a "data driven company" like this: "we collect millions of points of data every day, we clean it, we analyse it, we make it actionable - and then we implement whatever is the mood of the day".

    Power BI is one of the most powerful tools for data professionals and business users alike. It makes it possible to create amazing reports providing deep insight into just about any data. This insights this tool unlocks can drive decisions at every level - but do they?
    Why is it then, that in this age of "data-driven decisionmaking", that so many decisions are still based on "gut feeling"?
    One of the reasons is that we still like to think that data will drive decisions on its own.

    The challenge is using Power BI to efficiently communicating said insight.

    Efficiently communicating data means not only being able to clearly and concisely visualizing it, but also being able to explain why the data matters to your audience - in a way that is engaging, interesting and relevant.

    This, in turn, require knowledge of how to write a compelling story that is engaging and relatable for your audience, as well as presentation skills to help bridge the gap between data and people.

    By making the data and the story matter to the audience we can align feelings and hard data, essentially influencencing decisions and improving business outcomes.

    In this full-day workshop, you will learn the skills to take your ability to communicate using Power BI to a whole new level.
    We will start with an overview of the fundamentals of visual communication in order to make the foundation of our data storytelling as clear, concise and understandable as can be.

    We will then discuss how to craft a relevant and relatable story to build on top of our data. We will learn how, through a clear message with a clear structure, to apply classic storytelling techniques as suspense, surprise and conflict to a technical narrative.

    Finally we will explore how to improve your presentation skills to enable you to bridge the gap between the data and people to really drive your point home.

    Come join me to level up your Power BI communication skills!

    Quantum Tunnel (Begijnenzolder)
    Mon 09:00 - 17:00
    • Business Intelligence
    • Career Advice
    • Career Development
    • Data Analysis
    • Data Culture
    • Data Visualisation
    • Interpersonal Skills
    • Personal Growth
    • Power BI
    • Presentation Skills
    • Soft Skills
    • 300 - Experienced

  • The Rhythm of Data

    Join Adam Saxton and Patrick LeBlanc in this exiting keynote to kick off the conference and celebrate the synergy between Power BI and Azure Synapse. What to expect? Pure madness as they don't come out of their cubes that often! In reality, loads of demo's, a blistering fast pace, and some friends to help you shout 'Yooo' at the top of your lungs.

    Feel the rhythm, feel the rhyme. Come on CATs, it's keynote time!

    Psychedelic VW Beetle (Auditorium)
    Tue 09:00 - 09:30
    • Azure Synapse Analytics
    • Power BI
    • 200 - Intermediate

  • Networking unlocked for the Azure Data Services

    Are you trying to make sense of how to secure your Azure Data Service to your own virtual network, but can't just seem to make sense of service endpoints, private links and private endpoints, as well as when to use which approach? It also seems that there is a need to know about Azure DNS, network architecture and possibly even about connectivity methods from on-premises to make this work with more complex scenarios.

    Join this session to understand networking for the Azure Data services and the differences of these methods for integrating your Azure Data Services to a virtual network. You will learn what are the benefits of each approach and what challenges you are able to solve with them in your environment. We will finish with a walk through in practice the details of a common scenario of having secure access to your database in Azure from an on-premises site.

    Tardis (Dijlezaal)
    Tue 09:45 - 10:45
    • Administration
    • Azure Cosmos DB
    • Azure Data Factory
    • Azure Data Lake
    • Azure SQL Database
    • Azure Synapse Analytics
    • Best Practices
    • Networking Tips
    • 300 - Experienced

  • Simplify data management with partitioning

    The times of small database systems are now over. Even "small" systems already provide databases with several 100 GB data volume. It can be a real challenge for the DBA to complete the daily maintenance tasks, data backup, consistency checks, ... in a reasonable time frame.
    With the help of partitioning (also a feature of the Standard Edition since SQL 2016), considerable advantages in ETL processes, maintenance and backup / recovery can be achieved.
    The main area of application for partitioning is the optimization of the load paths for complex DWH solutions and the maintenance of large databases (statistics, indexes, backups, restores). The very strongly demo-based session shows partitioning scenarios that let the DBA do alternative things again and encourage ETL developers to dance the joys.

    DeLorean (Scala)
    Tue 09:45 - 10:45
    • Data Architecture
    • Database Development
    • Troubleshooting
    • 300 - Experienced

  • Power BI Report Design - Ultimate Tips

    Creating a reporting solution is about more than just throwing charts onto a screen.
    The goal of any report is not to simply present the data. The goal is to design an effective tool that helps users get better insights more quickly, without too many unnecessary clicks or too much time spent trying to figure out how to use the report.
    I'm guessing you're probably thinking "I'm not very creative so I will never be able to create an amazing and effective design, I just don't have it in me".
    What if I told you you don't have to be a Picasso to build more effective report designs?
    I want to break the stigma that only "creative people" can build reports with a great design! To help you on this journey, I will be sharing my report design process, from defining user journeys, to creating your report layouts and selecting the right elements that maximize quick insight generation.
    And, of course, as the session title says, I will also share loads of tips that will make the entire process a lot easier and accessible to any Power BI Developer.

    Time Stone (Alcazar)
    Tue 09:45 - 10:45
    • Data Visualisation
    • Power BI
    • 200 - Intermediate

  • Synapse Espresso Lungo

    Filip and Stefan brew a fresh pot of Synapse Espresso at dataMinds Connect. They'll make sure to serve you some piping hot insights on Synapse Serverless SQL Pools, to help you get the most out of it.

    Psychedelic VW Beetle (Auditorium)
    Tue 09:45 - 10:45
    • Azure Synapse Analytics
    • Serverless SQL Pools
    • 300 - Experienced

  • Azure Data Explorer

    Azure Data Explorer (ADX), also known as Kusto, becomes an interesting new player in the field of analyzing large volumes of data in Azure.
    In this session you will learn for which data analysis purposes ADX is best suited, and see the complete flow (from setup over data ingestion till querying with the Kusto query language) demonstrated.

    Waverider (Herten Aas)
    Tue 09:45 - 10:45
    • Advanced Analytics
    • Azure Data Explorer
    • Data Analysis
    • Data Engineering
    • Kusto
    • 200 - Intermediate

  • You can do this, dammit

    The last few years have been difficult for most - if not all - of us, for different reasons. There seem to be more people struggling with stress & burnout than ever before. What concrete steps can we take to protect & improve our mental health?

    In this session, I introduce a 5-step process to help us overcome challenges like procrastination, imposter syndrome, anxiety and stress based on methods supported by mental health professionals [1]. The objective of this session is not to talk about myself or to speak vaguely, rather to zoom in on concrete tools & techniques to help overcome negative thoughts or experiences... to resist these 'gremlins' that hold us back.

    You can do this, dammit; I believe in you.

    More info: https://data-goblins.com/power-bi/mental-health

    [1] This talk has been audited by a professional psychologist to ensure integrity and avoid misinformation.

    Quantum Tunnel (Begijnenzolder)
    Tue 09:45 - 10:45
    • Mental Health
    • Soft Skills
    • 100 - Introductory and Overview

  • Building a Lambda Architecture in Azure

    The Lambda architecture provides tremendous possibilities in which the Azure stack and data warehouse automation can play a crucial role.
    See how an end-to-end data platform built in Azure, from architecture, integration to visualization and more is formed with Azure Event Hubs, Azure Stream Analytics, Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2, Azure Synapse, Azure Data Factory, Power BI and last but not least Vaultspeed (Data Vault 2.0 automation) and Power BI. We will show some do’s and don’ts, best practices, pit falls and lessons learned on the implementation of such a multi layered data solution.
    All this will be explained based on use cases of customers and collaborations with vendors.

    Time Turner (Verloren Zoon)
    Tue 09:45 - 10:45
    • Advanced Analytics
    • Airflow
    • Automations
    • Azure Data Factory
    • Azure Data Lake
    • Azure Synapse Analytics
    • Best Practices
    • Business Intelligence
    • Cloud
    • Data Architecture
    • Data Engineering
    • Data Integration
    • Data Lake
    • Data Modelling
    • Data Science
    • Data Strategy
    • Data Visualisation
    • Data-Driven Decision Making
    • DataOps
    • Dedicated SQL Pools
    • ETL
    • Lambda Architecture
    • Migration
    • Performance Tuning
    • Power BI
    • Real-Time Data
    • SQL
    • Stream Analytics
    • Team Work
    • 300 - Experienced

  • Upcoming data protection investments for Azure SQL Database

    Join the Azure Database Platform Security team to learn about major feature enhancements coming in the Data Protection space, such as, Database-level CMK, authorize access using Policies in Purview, different managed identity options and the latest on Ledger and Network controls.

    Tardis (Dijlezaal)
    Tue 11:00 - 12:00
    • 300 - Experienced

  • Dimensions demystified

    Dimensions; something you probably use on a day-to-day basis when building a star model in Power BI. But, did you know there are many types of dimensions? A slowly changing dimension, junk dimension, role playing dimension and degenerate dimension, they might already be part of your model without you even knowing! Therefore, in this session I will explain these type of dimensions and more importantly, discuss which problems they can solve.

    DeLorean (Scala)
    Tue 11:00 - 12:00
    • Data Analysis
    • Data Modelling
    • Power BI
    • 200 - Intermediate

  • Azure Data Factory ♡ Bicep

    Azure Data Factory Bicep Azure Data Factory (ADF) is a mighty tool when it comes to creating data loading workflows and orchestrations. However, creating ADF loading logic takes a lot of clicking and even though it is thoroughly integrated with Git, the code representation of ADF resources is hardly ever used. Bicep is a mighty tool when it comes to creating Azure Resources from Code and its capabilities go beyond just creating infrastructure resources. What if both came together and we were able to create ADF Linked Services, Datasets and Pipelines from a Bicep template? It would be a match made in heaven. But why wait for dreams to come true? In this session we will introduce you to the basic concepts of ADF and Bicep and then show you how you can create ADF from Code by writing Bicep files and deploy them to your Azure subscription with one click.

    Time Stone (Alcazar)
    Tue 11:00 - 12:00
    • Azure Data Factory
    • Best Practices
    • Bicep
    • ETL
    • Infrastructure as Code
    • 300 - Experienced

  • The practicalities of building a lakehouse with Synapse

    In this session I will briefly provide an overview of the lakehouse approach with Synapse and then dive into the practicalities of building a lakehouse architecture with Synapse with an end-to-end walkthrough / demo of how it the lakehouse can look with Synapse - especially focusing on the low(ish) code approach.

    Through this session I will cover:
    * incrementally landing the data into Azure Data Lake
    * using Synapse Data Flows to enrich and refine the data through the data lake zones
    * how Synapse Data Flows can tranform, test and validate data.
    * how Synapse SQL Serverless pools can expose the lakehouse to all users
    * how Synapse pipelines and Power BI can be combined with the lakehouse approach.

    This is a follow-on to my sessions I presented to Dataminds in May 2022.

    Psychedelic VW Beetle (Auditorium)
    Tue 11:00 - 12:00
    • Automations
    • Azure Data Factory
    • Azure Synapse Analytics
    • Data Lake
    • Data Lakehouse
    • Data Warehouse Testing
    • Delta Lake
    • ETL
    • Integration Pipelines
    • 200 - Intermediate

  • Azure Arc for the data professional

    Azure Arc is one of the components of the Azure Platform which is focused around bringing Azure functionality into hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

    But did you know that Azure Arc has several data focused components as well? In this session we will discover the several possible solutions which include Azure Arc and have a look at what the Azure Arc platform can do for the data professional.

    Waverider (Herten Aas)
    Tue 11:00 - 12:00
    • Administration
    • Cloud
    • Infrastructure
    • 200 - Intermediate

  • Creating Requirements with Stakeholders in a Remote World: Overcoming Barriers and Finding Success

    Working with stakeholders and creating requirements for IT projects is one of the biggest challenges we have in a remote environment. What do we do, when we can’t rely on “hallway” networking and face-to-face interpersonal skills? A completely remote or hybrid environment can block the flow of communication with our stakeholders. There is a need for us to have a sense of personal agility, whether their workplace culture is agile or not. And although always important, requirements traceability is now more important than ever. Amid business disruption, we need to track requirements changes using the best practices and tools at our disposal. So, how can we, whether remote or not, continue to deliver the value expected in requirements creation and maintenance amid this constant change? Join us and learn the answers.
    Learning Objectives:
    • How to overcome remote communication blockers
    • How to manage stakeholders in a remote environment
    • How to incorporate personal agility into requirements elicitation and management

    Quantum Tunnel (Begijnenzolder)
    Tue 11:00 - 12:00
    • Interpersonal Skills
    • 300 - Experienced

  • Unlock your data with Azure Synapse Link

    Azure Synapse Link is Microsoft’s newest name for a bunch of connectors that allow you to easily export your data for analytics purposes. It is already in General Availabilty for Cosmos DB and Dataverse, where it replaces solutions like the now deprecated Export Service for Dynamics. With the feature now in preview for SQL Server 2022, it is more than time to see what this service can do and how it can be leveraged in your analytics solutions.
    In this session we’ll have an introduction of the capabilities and use cases for Synapse Link, we discuss the available sources and analytics solutions that can be used with it. Of course everything will be accompanied by live demos.

    Time Turner (Verloren Zoon)
    Tue 11:00 - 12:00
    • Common Data Model
    • Data Integration
    • ETL
    • Power Platform
    • SQL Server
    • 100 - Introductory and Overview

  • Database Scoped Configuration - Server Settings

    Since Microsoft SQL Server 2016, it has been possible to configure previous server settings at the database level.
    For the configuration options, the question often arises as to whether - and when - a configuration makes sense.
    In this 90-minute session, the most important configuration parameters (compared to server settings) are explained and supported by demos.
    The following configuration parameters are covered:
    • Clear the procedure cache
    • Max Degree of Parallelism
    • Cardinal Estimator
    • Parameter Sniffing
    • Identity cache
    • Optimize for ad hoc queries

    Tardis (Dijlezaal)
    Tue 13:00 - 14:00
    • 200 - Intermediate

  • What are SQL statistics and why should the developer care?

    Imagine you're a developer in a small shop, and you experience some degradation of performance in your business-critical ERP system, literally over the weekend.

    So you are tasked with bringing back that performance, because somehow you also inherited the "accidental DBA " role. Hardware is OK, the network is OK, and your application hasn't changed lately, either. Now what?

    Let me take you for a quick dive into how your queries get analyzed and optimized by the SQL Server engine. You'll learn about statistics (also about density and cardinality), why they are important, ways to explore them and the techniques to keep them up to date, in order to achieve optimal query plans.

    DeLorean (Scala)
    Tue 13:00 - 14:00
    • Azure SQL Database
    • Best Practices
    • Database Development
    • Execution Plans
    • Internals
    • Performance Tuning
    • SQL Server
    • Statistics
    • 200 - Intermediate

  • Building an Azure Data Analytics Platform End-to-End

    The resources on offer in Azure are constantly changing, which means as data professionals we need to constantly change too. Updating knowledge and learning new skills. No longer can we rely on products matured over a decade to deliver all our solution requirements. Today, data platform architectures designed in Azure with best intentions and known design patterns can go out of date within months. That said, is there now a set of core components we can utilise in the Microsoft cloud to ingest, curation and deliver insights from our data? When does ETL become ELT? When is IaaS better than PaaS? Do we need to consider scaling up or scaling out? And should we start making cost the primary factor for choosing certain technologies? In this session we'll explore the answers to all these questions and more from an architect’s viewpoint. Based on real world experience let’s think about just how far the breadth of our knowledge now needs to reach when starting from nothing and building a complete Microsoft Azure Data Analytics solution.

    Time Stone (Alcazar)
    Tue 13:00 - 14:00
    • Advanced Analytics
    • Data Architecture
    • Data Lakehouse
    • Delta Lake
    • Lambda Architecture
    • Stream Analytics
    • 300 - Experienced

  • BI with Excel - but *not* Power BI!

    If you have a long memory you'll recall that 8 years ago Microsoft BI was all about Power Pivot and Power BI in Excel. Power BI is the big thing nowadays but Excel's BI features have recently had a makeover - and in this session we'll see just how much BI you can do with the Excel you already own, without paying for Power BI or any other BI tool. As well as seeing what's new in Power Pivot and Power BI you'll see how Office Scripts can be used to automate tasks and Data Types can bring in external data.

    Psychedelic VW Beetle (Auditorium)
    Tue 13:00 - 14:00
    • DAX
    • Power Query
    • 200 - Intermediate

  • Automate your Power BI testing & validation

    In this session we look at one way to implement automated testing of your Power BI dataset's data quality back to source.

    In a meta-data driven solution you'll see how to leverage multiple technologies like Python, Azure Function Apps, SQL Database and of course Power BI to create a test history dashboard.

    With this process in place, you will feel much more comfortable that development across your Power BI data model or dataflows don't create unexpected differences, with validation done across all dimensions.

    This session is demo heavy, uses the AdventureWorks database and of the code is shared so you'll be able to pick it up, try it out & adapt to your own solutions.

    Waverider (Herten Aas)
    Tue 13:00 - 14:00
    • Power BI
    • Python
    • 400 - Advanced/Expert

  • Why You Should Be Standing Here: Learning to Present a Session

    You should know how to present a session. In fact, you should be standing up on the stage where I will be standing while presenting this session. It's not about becoming an industry expert, an MVP or an AWS Community Builder. No, it's about learning how to take an idea to your management team and convince them that you can help the business. It's about teaching new techniques to your peers. It's about expanding your own knowledge on a topic as you prepare a session, present it, and then answer questions. There are very good, career driven, reasons for you to learn to present.

    This session will go over how to put together a session. From choosing meaningful titles to putting together abstracts, you'll get the information you need to get started. We'll also cover how to put together a session, demonstrations, and more. We'll also cover how to rehearse to get ready for your session. Finally, we'll cover giving the session, handling questions, hecklers and more.

    You should be standing at the front of the room, giving your own session. Please, come here, learn why, and learn how. It will help you in your career.

    Quantum Tunnel (Begijnenzolder)
    Tue 13:00 - 14:00
    • Presentation Skills
    • 100 - Introductory and Overview

  • A journey towards a Growth Mindset

    In my session I would like to speak about how going from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset has changed my life and gave me different opportunities. I want to share my own experience and shine light on a few things that I experienced and that got me stuck in a fixed mindset. I want to inspire others with my journey as a dropout, mom-of-two, in my 30's, I have managed to re-train and accomplish something I wasn't able to in the past 10 years, just because of the wrong mindset.

    Time Turner (Verloren Zoon)
    Tue 13:00 - 14:00
    • Career Development
    • Mental Health
    • Personal Growth
    • 100 - Introductory and Overview

  • True SQL Server Detective (REMOTE)

    Presented remote by Denis Reznik.

    Yes, you’ve heard this correctly. This is precisely a detective story, even a few stories. Each of them has an intricate plot, several active (or inactive) persons, facts, clues, and evidence. During the session, we will solve all these cases and complete a path from obtaining information (accurate or inaccurate) to a complete understanding and solution of the problem, which will allow you to feel confident in a similar situation and work more efficiently with SQL Server. I cannot disclose many details so far (you understand), but I can tell that the topics of performance tuning, blocking, and server management will take part in this detective, and the stories themselves are true.

    Tardis (Dijlezaal)
    Tue 14:15 - 15:15
    • 400 - Advanced/Expert

  • Power BI Dataflows - why should you care?

    Power BI Service is providing new solutions and ways to solve challenges. One of those features is Power BI Dataflows. So what is that, and why should you care?

    In this session, we will take a look at the Power BI Service-specific feature dataflows, and dig into how dataflows can improve the performance of how you consume, create and share business insights. What is the difference between dataflows and Power Query, how can you use dataflows to enable non-technical report developers and are there any AI features you can take advantage of?

    DeLorean (Scala)
    Tue 14:15 - 15:15
    • Data Integration
    • Data Modelling
    • Power BI
    • Power Query
    • 200 - Intermediate

  • No more data quality surprises in your Databricks, Synapse or Power BI solutions!

    Do you know your data? And do you already actively monitor for deviations from those expectations? Being in control of your data quality is essential for any solution, whether it's running in Azure Databricks, Azure Synapse Analytics or Power BI. In this demo-rich session you will learn how you can implement a framework for data validation and monitoring, spanning your end-to-end data platform including Power BI! We'll leverage an open source library called great-expectations to quickly get up-and-running. With the demonstrations, practical tips and example scripts, you will be able to implement this framework in your own data platform and solutions. Become in control of the data quality of your solutions!

    Time Stone (Alcazar)
    Tue 14:15 - 15:15
    • Azure Monitor
    • Data Governance
    • Data Lake
    • Data Warehouse Testing
    • DataOps
    • Delta Lake
    • DevOps
    • ETL
    • Power BI
    • 300 - Experienced

  • T-SQL Best Practices and Tuning for the BI/DWH Developer

    When building a data warehouse (DWH) in the Microsoft Data Platform stack, you typically have to write a fair share of T-SQL. Loading data into the data warehouse, transforming it into the desired format, troubleshooting and debugging, writing source queries for reports; all of those task require some T-SQL and preferably it's fast as well.

    In this session, we'll go over some T-SQL best practices from the viewpoint of the BI developer. We'll also cover indexing for the data warehouse and how you can make that SSRS report a bit faster. At the end, you'll walk out with solid knowledge on how to improve your T-SQL skills and deliver results faster. Most of this will also be directly transferable to other databases vendors.

    Basic knowledge of T-SQL and SQL Server is assumed.

    Psychedelic VW Beetle (Auditorium)
    Tue 14:15 - 15:15
    • Azure Data Factory
    • Business Intelligence
    • Database Design
    • Database Development
    • Performance Tuning
    • SSIS
    • SSRS
    • T-SQL
    • 300 - Experienced

  • The Untruthful Art - Five Ways of Misrepresenting Data

    In this age of information it is imperative to be able to be able to clearly, simply and accurately explain and communicate sometimes complex data.
    Right at the intersection of journalism and statistics lies visual communication - the art of using data, charts and maps to convey information. This has been called "the truthful art" as it is an extremely powerful tool that must be wielded with the utmost care.
    Just like any other tools, however, it can be used for sinister purposes. This session is all about exploring ways that data can be misrepresented to further a goal - while still seem perfectly reasonable. It is intended as an eye opener for anyone interested in the how and why of data deception. We will walk through five stories and explore where the trickery is hidden, discuss a more honest way of communicate the information as well as look at ways to spot potential foul play with data.

    Waverider (Herten Aas)
    Tue 14:15 - 15:15
    • Best Practices
    • Data Culture
    • Data Visualisation
    • Power BI
    • Soft Skills
    • 200 - Intermediate

  • Data Governance with Microsoft Purview - Theory and Demos

    Many of us think that Data Governance is a technical problem to solve, but it takes more than just tools to make your Data Governance initiative effective. Only with well defined processes, a set of policies and people with defined roles the solving technology can lead to success.

    Join this session to
    * learn about the data governance definition, the processes involved, people and their roles as well as policies to define the interaction with your data.
    * see one of the possible technologies - Microsoft Purview - in action: Data Catalog, classification, business glossary, central policy definition as well as data lineage browsing.

    After this session, you should know more about the data governance theory, you've seen Microsoft Purview in action and heard about the steps we've already solved together with our customers.

    Quantum Tunnel (Begijnenzolder)
    Tue 14:15 - 15:15
    • Administration
    • Azure Data Lake
    • Azure SQL Database
    • Data Governance
    • SQL Server
    • 100 - Introductory and Overview

  • How to control your costs in MS Azure

    Digital transformation is now at cruising speed. Most sectors and organizations are moving their enterprise architecture to the MS Azure cloud. Using the MS Azure environment brings a new type of licensing and cost management that can spin out of control if not well managed. The pas-as-you-go pricing model brings a lot of advantages; however, it can also bring challenges while building your platform. Although, reducing costs in an existing environment is already a start, it is even better to incorporate a cost-cutting mindset during development.

    Luckily for you, as a data engineer or infrastructure expert there are multiple actions to manage your costs in the cloud at any moment in time. MS Azure will also actively support you in cutting expenses in your cloud environment through an abundance of built-in tools & technologies.

    This session will teach how to implement your MS Azure resources in a cost-effective way. We will start with explaining differences between active and passive cost cutting. Next, we will deep dive into tips & tricks on how to optimize and monitor your costs like a pro. To finish we will learn you how to implement a cost-cutting mindset during development.

    Time Turner (Verloren Zoon)
    Tue 14:15 - 15:15
    • Best Practices
    • Cloud
    • Cost Management
    • Data Architecture
    • Data Engineering
    • 200 - Intermediate

  • Choosing the Azure SQL DB tier, tales from the trenches

    Azure offers a large number of database tiers, from basic to Hyperscale and a lot in between. But which tier suits your load?
    The key is to choose the right database for your load, but how can you determine that?

    In this session, I'll walk you through the different options that are available and tell you about the experiences I've had when working with them. I've been involved in a number of projects and most tiers and SKU's have been tried and tested.

    Some were successful, some weren't but all depending on their loads and characteristics. To give each database a fair chance, I've been using a set of scripts to get a good comparison. A script that I will share with you, along with my way of using that.

    Azure SQL DB performance comes at a price, so I'll cover the costs as well to give a complete picture.

    Tardis (Dijlezaal)
    Tue 15:30 - 16:30
    • Azure SQL Database
    • Database Design
    • ETL
    • Performance Tuning
    • 200 - Intermediate

  • Adventures in CICD with Azure Synapse

    In this session we'll look at the pitfalls, prerequisites, and process of setting up a continuous deployment pipeline for your Azure Synapse workspace. In this demo-heavy session we'll set up a YAML pipeline using Azure DevOps to deploy an Azure Synapse workspace resources through a development lifecycle.

    DeLorean (Scala)
    Tue 15:30 - 16:30
    • Azure Synapse Analytics
    • CI/CD
    • DevOps
    • YAML
    • 300 - Experienced

  • Hacking and Hacking Mitigation For SQL Server

    In recent years we have seen and heard about a scenarios where hackers gained access to your system, databases are encrypted and where data is stolen.
    The question is not if our systems are going to be attacked, but rather when this is going to happen.

    As a data professional you have the obligation to protect the data to the best of your abilitity.
    You have to deal with both outsider and insider threats.
    Outside attackers motivated by profit, activism, retribution, or mischief.
    Insider threats may have the same motives but could be tied to workplace issues resulting in people abusing their access privileges to inflict harm.

    When you have been attacked it is really important to find out what happened and how to mititgate the attack.
    Mitigation, or Attack Mitigation, is the reduction in seriousness or severity of an event.
    In mitigation we center around strategies to limit the impact of a threat against our data.

    In this session we will discuss:

    * Teach you how you can attack your systems
    * Mitigate the attack
    * Log your findings

    Time Stone (Alcazar)
    Tue 15:30 - 16:30
    • Hacking
    • Security
    • SQL Server
    • 300 - Experienced

  • Handling Big Data with Power BI

    When you started working in Power BI you only had a few million rows or data or the data latency requirements were non-existent. Now all of that has change, the data volume is billions of rows and/or data latency must be less than 5 seconds. How do you manage these challenges with Power BI. Join this demo-heavy session where we will explain and demonstrate how.

    Psychedelic VW Beetle (Auditorium)
    Tue 15:30 - 16:30
    • Power BI
    • 300 - Experienced

  • Data Mesh - The emperor’s new clothes…

    …or the best original idea since the invention of sliced bread?
    In this session Johan and Rune will presents arguments from both sides and discuss why Data Mesh is the new way forward… or just the same old stuff in a different wrapping.
    We will further discuss how the current cloud toolset can be used in a “Data Mesh-way”… or just how it should be used anyways using the terms, methods and practices we know from before.
    Walking away from this session we hope we have clarified for you:
    - What is Data Mesh?
    - Why is Data Mesh a great idea… or not so great?
    - How can we do modern data platforming the “Data Mesh-way”… or not?

    Welcome to 60 minutes of enlightenment…?

    Waverider (Herten Aas)
    Tue 15:30 - 16:30
    • Data Architecture
    • 300 - Experienced

  • Implementing a successful user engagement during Power BI rollout

    When you rollout Power BI (or any other tool for that matter) in an organization it´s important to engage user and help them so they feel comfortable using the tool. This is specially important when you rollout self-service tools.

    Training is a big part of that but active user community is also very important. The end goal is to help users help each other and themselves but it doesn’t happen by itself.

    In this session you will hear about how you can setup a successful Power BI community in your organization. This presentation is based on a real use case where a successful Power BI user community has been running for almost two years. You will hear about it from two different perspectives. Technical perspective and a organizational perspective. Both perspectives are important and it´s hard to see how a user group can be successful without them both being successful.

    The technical perspective will go into how you make sure you have the right tools and the right technical know how to make sure users get their questions answered and get some technical knowledge out of the community? If the users don´t see value they stop attending.

    The organizational perspective will go into how you setup the right structure for the community to succeed and prosper? It will also talk about how you manage such a community and what kind of backing is needed to make it a success?

    The attendees will take away advice and concrete suggestions on how to run a successful user group in their organization.

    Quantum Tunnel (Begijnenzolder)
    Tue 15:30 - 16:30
    • Personal Growth
    • Power BI
    • 100 - Introductory and Overview

  • The untanglement of nested jsons

    Big, nested jsons can be a pain in the ass for every data specialist trying to put the data in it to use.
    Not only do they take up a lot of memory to process in the first place, they can also be quite tricky to untangle. How do we get json data into a table structure (eg a SQL db)?
    How can we do this efficiently? Do we code it? Do we use SQL, python,... Something else? What about the schema?

    The goal of this talk is to take some use cases and provide the audience with some tips and tricks on how to handle jsons in ETL.
    For example, one of the usecases untangles a deeply nested json file using ADF/Synapse Data Flows, put's it in a SQL db and shows pro's and con's of this way of working with Json-files.

    Time Turner (Verloren Zoon)
    Tue 15:30 - 16:30
    • Azure Data Factory
    • Azure SQL Database
    • Business Intelligence
    • Data Engineering
    • Data Integration
    • Data Modelling
    • ETL
    • Integration Pipelines
    • JSON
    • Python
    • SQL
    • SQL Server
    • 200 - Intermediate

  • Baking Extended Events recipes without breaking a sweat

    OK, you got the message: Extended Events is the way to monitor SQL Server from now on. However, you feel overwhelmed by XML shredding and the simplest of tasks seems impossible.
    Fear not: in this demo intensive session I will show you how to tackle the most challenging tasks without writing a single line of code. I will use the open-source tool XESmartTarget to audit logins, find unused objects, capture and notify deadlocks and much more.
    Stop doing things the hard way! Join me and learn how XESmartTarget can do all the heavy lifting for you.

    Tardis (Dijlezaal)
    Tue 16:45 - 17:45
    • Administration
    • Extended Events
    • Performance Tuning
    • 300 - Experienced

  • SQL Server 2022 and Azure: the beacons are lit

    The beacons are lit! SQL Server 2022 calls for aid! ...And Azure will answer.

    DeLorean (Scala)
    Tue 16:45 - 17:45
    • SQL Server
    • 200 - Intermediate

  • The traditional modern Data Warehouse

    Big data, Databricks and now also Synapse Analytics. Microsoft really focuses on how to put together BI and DWH solutions that can handle huge volumes of data. But what about the "ordinary" solutions in the SME market? How do we put together a sensible and affordable Azure solution for them? Where we can reuse the competencies we have already got from making the same solutions on Microsoft SQL Server. And on the same time take advancement of the flexibility and scalability you get with Azure services.

    This session will go through and show you how to setup a simple E(L)TL framework based on Data Factory, Data Lake, SQL Database and Power BI. A framework than can handle both structured and semi-structured data sources.

    All code is available for you to download and use right away!

    Time Stone (Alcazar)
    Tue 16:45 - 17:45
    • Azure Data Factory
    • Azure Data Lake
    • Azure SQL Database
    • Azure Synapse Analytics
    • Data Architecture
    • Data Engineering
    • ETL
    • Integration Pipelines
    • Power BI
    • 200 - Intermediate

  • Application Lifecycle Management for Power BI

    In Power BI we are used to create reports and dashboards really quickly, but in most cases we forget to think about governance, development and maintenance at an enterprise wide scale.
    During this session I share some best practices about applying DTAP (Development, Test, Acceptance and Production), or better known as multi-tier deployment.

    During this session I will tell you all about Power BI deployment pipelines and how this helps in setting up Application Lifecycle Management for Power BI content. The session will not only cover deployment pipelines in the Power BI service, but also how you can integrate them with Azure DevOps and bind to other processes.

    After this session you will be able to:
    - Understand the importance of Application Lifecycle Management
    - Know how to setup and use Power BI Deployment Pipelines
    - Integrate deployment pipelines in Azure DevOps

    Psychedelic VW Beetle (Auditorium)
    Tue 16:45 - 17:45
    • Administration
    • ALM Toolkit
    • Automations
    • DevOps
    • Power BI
    • 300 - Experienced

  • Crazy Data Science

    Data is one of the most valuable assets to the company. Another most valuable asset is people. Gaining a corporate advantage through the insights of your data that engineers, analysts, and data scientists provide, is the only correct way.

    However, the journey of implementing advanced analytics, data science solutions, or machine learning algorithms can also lead to very interesting results, side quests, or even side projects. And crazy data science v2.0 is one of these side projects that always find a funny note and different aspects of data science.

    Remember that algorithm that named paint colours? That's nothing compared to what you are going to witness in this session. From analysing demonic possession based on selfies taken from people during sessions, analysing how "metal" song is, and many quirky, wacky, funny examples. In this session, we will explore many of the crazy things that can be done with data science. And who knows? You might even learn a thing or two!

    Waverider (Herten Aas)
    Tue 16:45 - 17:45
    • Advanced Analytics
    • Data Science
    • 200 - Intermediate

  • "We need this report in Power BI" - How to Gather Reporting Requirements

    Many reporting requests have a common starting point - existing reports.

    These might be Excel workbooks, large PowerPoint slide decks, or bundles of reports scattered across other technologies. For one reason or another, these reports need to be re-made, re-designed or migrated over to Power BI. “They need to be in Power BI, and they need to be there now.” The business has urgent needs, and there’s pressure from management to see the result. But where do we start? What do we make? Defining the right requirements is essential if we want to make an effective report that is used and delivers value. Otherwise, it will just be collecting digital dust & cobwebs in an abandoned app…

    Here I will discuss 3 common approaches to collecting reporting requirements, arguing in favour of the third approach - working iteratively & collaboratively with business users.

    Quantum Tunnel (Begijnenzolder)
    Tue 16:45 - 17:45
    • Power BI
    • Soft Skills
    • 300 - Experienced

  • Databricks Autoloader : An efficient way of ingesting data incrementally

    Incremental ingestion of data is an ETL ideology none of us can rule out while building an ETL flow. In past, we have done this by maintaining a custom log of how many files have been read and where to start from next and the story becomes more and more interesting if you have to reprocess the data. All this can be summed up to a high latency, higher devOps cost and a burnt-out Data engineer.
    Autoloader simplifies this task and overcomes these limitations as an optimized file source by maintaining a file notification service at the back end. It can be run as a stream or used as a batch like process while all along feeding only the new data without getting on your nerves of how to maintain the state of processed files.
    In this session we will go through various ways of ingesting data incrementally and how far we have come to which in turn leads to the use of databricks component autoloader. We will peep in to the new features being added to this tool and how we can make use of it to our advantages.

    Time Turner (Verloren Zoon)
    Tue 16:45 - 17:45
    • Advanced Analytics
    • Azure Databricks
    • ETL
    • 200 - Intermediate
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