• Brian Bønk

Eventhouse - medallion architecture in sub seconds

The new Eventhouse from Microsoft Fabric consolidates over 100.000 real-time analytics databases in one logical group.

But why do that, and what cause do I have to use it?

Attend this sessions and find out why the Eventhouse should be your go to approach when working with real-time analytics.

We start of by loading data from Eventstream to a KQL database and then go from there to show you the fastest possible way in Fabric to load data through the medallion architecture using the Eventhouse and the features from the KQL databases.

We end in PowerBI to see the results.

I promise this session will be fast paced, contain a lot of information and still be fun and interesting.

Slides

Austrian Data Community Day - Eventhouse medallion architecture in sub seconds - Brian Bønk.pdf

• Theresa Hirz
• Kristina Preuer

From Synapse to Fabric: A Customer's Perspective

In this presentation, we will share our experiences from a recently conducted Customer Proof of Value (POV). We transitioned part of an existing Synapse data preparation pipeline for energy forecasting into Fabric. By implementing real pipelines with actual data, we uncovered the true potential of Fabric, along with some challenges. We are excited to share our insights to help you determine if Fabric meets your needs.

Slides

DataCommunityDay_250124.pdf

• Dhyan Rathore

Enforcing Power BI Best Practices with Azure DevOps

One of the major issues Power BI Developers faced was synchronizing their efforts while working on the same report and model. This was critical so they didn't overwrite each other's changes. Thanks to Fabric and recent DevOps developments, those issues are almost a thing of the past now. Fortunately, introducing DevOps capabilities to Power BI has opened up new possibilities like integration, automation, and quality control. For instance, we can now automate the deployment of Power BI reports and models, ensuring that the latest version is always available.

In this session, we will discuss why and demonstrate how to integrate Power BI best practices in an Azure DevOps build pipeline. This integration, which guarantees best practices for all semantic models and reports within a Fabric workspace, can prevent common mistakes and enhance team efficiency. By enforcing these best practices, you can play a crucial role in improving the overall quality of your Power BI reports.

Slides

Enforce Best Practices with Azure DevOps.pdf

• Erland Sommarskog

Don’t Let Your Permissions Be Hijacked!

You are sysadmin on a production server, and on this server, there are databases where there are users with power permissions such as the db_owner or db_ddladmin roles. They have no server-level permissions, but there may be rogues who want to perform actions beyond what their own permissions allow them to. One they can achieve this is to have you to unknowingly run code that perform these actions, using your almighty permissions – or by another word hijacking them. For instance, if you have set up a reindexing job for all databases, this is a great opportunity for permission hijacking.

Not only sysadmin can be the victim of such attacks, but a developer who has permissions to create stored procedures and triggers can attack a user who is in the db_owner role to extend his or her permission in the database.

In this session I will discuss some of the possible attacks on this theme and what means you can take to protect yourself against them. This includes some best practices for Agent jobs.

Slides

PermHijack (DataSat 63).zip

• Valerie Junk

Dashboard Design - The icing on the cake

Level: Beginning & Intermediate

This session uses a baking competition analogy to guide the audience through 5 steps for creating visually appealing and easy-to-read reports.

Just like anyone can bake a cake, anyone can build a report. But the best ones turn heads! Learn simple tricks to make your reports visually appealing, easy to understand, and leave a lasting impression. No prior design experience needed!
In this session, you will:

• Master the basics: Get a clear understanding of design principles that make reports pop in Power BI.
• Craft clear visuals: Discover easy-to-use techniques for creating visuals that make an impact on your audience (the end-user).
• Boost readability: Learn how to format your reports for clarity and impact.
• Design with Confidence: By the end of this session, you'll have the skills to create reports you're proud of and feel confident presenting them to any audience.

Slides

20250124 - Data Community Austria - The Icing on the Cake - Valerie Junk.pdf

• Olivier Van Steenlandt

Database Unit Testing for Data Professionals

In traditional software development, Unit Testing is pretty well known. But what about Unit Testing for database solutions?
Or more specifically, what about Unit testing for Data Warehouse solutions?

In this session, we will dive into the world of Unit Testing for databases, with a focus on Data Warehousing solutions.
Before we dive into practical examples, we need to understand the key concepts and the importance of Unit Testing.
As soon as the basics are set, we will talk about different possibilities/frameworks to implement Unit Testing.

Near the right before the halfway mark, we will dive into the tSQLt Framework specifically and we will start to get more practical.

What are we going to discover?
* How to create 1 or more Test Classes?
* How to create different Unit tests?
* What's possible with tSQLt?
* How to automate your Unit tests?

If you are wondering how to get started with Unit Testing for Data Warehouse solutions or databases in general this session is for you!

Slides

Unit Testing for Database Development - Olivier Van Steenlandt.pdf

• Benni De Jagere

Using Lakehouse Data at scale with Power BI, featuring Direct Lake mode

Many companies have invested heavily in building data lakes to store large volumes of structured and unstructured data from various sources into Delta Parquet files. These Delta Parquet files can be used for a wide range of Analytics and Business Intelligence applications. Most of these organizations struggle to derive insights from their investments due to the complexity of accessing and querying the data, and how to let self-service users connect to this data in the lake using Power BI.

With the introduction of Microsoft Fabric, an all-in-one analytics solution for enterprises, we now have a better approach for this. In this session, we will explore how to use Lakehouse data at scale with Power BI, using the new Direct Lake connectivity mode. Power BI Direct Lake combines the best of both worlds from Import and DirectQuery mode, and gives us the option for great performance over data in the lake, without introducing additional latency for dataset refreshes.

We will start by discussing the benefits of the Lakehouse architecture and how it can improve data management and analytics. We will then move on to explore how to connect to Lakehouse data using Power BI by combining both of these architecture components and using each of them to their strengths.

We will also cover best practices for optimizing performance when working with large volumes of data, including using data partitioning and query optimization techniques. We will demonstrate how to use Power BI to analyze Lakehouse data in real-time and how to build reports that provide actionable insights for decision-making.

By the end of the session, attendees will have a solid understanding of how to leverage Lakehouse data at scale with Power BI and how to build powerful analytics solutions that can handle massive amounts of data. Whether you are a data analyst, data scientist, or BI professional, this session will provide you with valuable insights into the world of Lakehouse data and Power BI, featuring the new Direct Lake connectivity mode.

Slides

LakehouseDataAtScalewithPowerBI.pdf

• Hugo Kornelis

Execution plans ... where do I start?

SQL (the language) is not a third generation language, where the developer tells the computer every step it needs to take. It is a declarative language that specifies the required results. SQL Server itself will figure out what steps it takes to get to those results. Most of the time, that works very well.

But sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes a query takes too much time. You need to find out why, so you can fix it. That's where the execution plan comes in. In the execution plan, SQL Server exposes exactly which steps it took for your query, so you can see why it's slow.

However, execution plans can be daunting to the uninitiated. Especially for complex queries. Where do you even start?

In this session you will learn how to obtain execution plans. and how to start reading and understanding them.

Slides

Execution Plans ... Where do I start - Austria.zip

• André Kamman

An introduction to DBT

The Data Engineer space is on fire, and new tools and techniques are showing up at breakneck speed.
Some of them seem to get more traction than others. DBT, or Data Build Tool, seems to be one of those highly popular tools.
Backed by venture capital and coming almost out of nowhere, I heard about it more and more and I got curious.
I've got some experience in the ETL world with old and new tech and big and small environments. Let's look at this thing together.
How does it work, where would it fit in a data warehouse stack? I've already used it in a couple of projects and I'm a fan. I'll show you why I like it. Demo's will be on SQL Server, Databricks, Fabric and if time permits even a bit of DuckDB just for fun :-)

• Vitalija Bartusevičiūtė

Navigating Data Seas: Diving into Databricks with Orcas

Join an introductory session on the Databricks platform, a cloud platform which simplifies complex data management and unites BI and ML together!

In this session we will cover an introductory overview, exploring its key features and functionalities. We will dive straight into core concepts like the Medallion Architecture, Unity Catalog, advanced workflows, notebooks, SQL editor.

First, we will look at the theoretical concepts before we showcase how you can set up a simple end-to-end solution and swim with the big mammals within the world of BI.

We will organize the data into bronze, silver, and gold layers and discover how the Unity Catalog provides unified data governance, ensuring secure and compliant data management. Finally, we'll discuss task automation using workflows that streamline data engineering and analytics processes.

Join me in this session to gain an overview of how to get started with Databricks, enhance your data management capabilities, foster better collaboration, and drive innovation in your organization.

Slides

Navigating Data Seas.pdf

• Marisol Steinau

You shall not pass! Designing access in Microsoft Fabric

Microsoft Fabric has been out there for a bit already and new features keep emerging almost constantly. Keeping up isn't a piece of cake, especially it seems that there are (too) many options out there for securing data, aren't there?

As with all security topics, it requires some in-depth consideration to achieve the proper result. You need to protect your data from things such as accidental deletion, manipulation, unwanted resharing, and other big headaches. Developing an appropriate security plan requires you to be aware of all the options that Microsoft Fabric offers. And here is where you have to make your way through the labyrinth of different data restriction possibilities.

According to the "Microsoft Fabric security white paper", the multi-layer security model of Fabric offers workspace permissions, item permissions, and granular permissions for each Fabric engine. In this session, I aim to break this down into simple terms to spare you reading the entire paper (and all the linked content). You'll walk out with an overview of

- Workspace roles: Why it is a good idea to assign them to security groups or M365 groups
- Item level security: How to control access to individual Fabric items when users do not have access to a workspace and why you should generally stay away from it.
- Securing the SQL Analytics endpoint: Applying object-level security, column-level security, row-level security, and dynamic data masking.

But wait, there's more! Currently in preview, OneLake data access roles apply role-based access control to data stored in OneLake, determining what folders user see when accessing the "lake view" of the data via the lakehouse, UX, notebooks, or OneLake APIs.

That raises questions: Does this mean OneLake RBAC applies to Lakehouse Items only?! Does OneLake RBAC work together with Workspace roles? Can OneLake RBAC roles be combined with Lakehouse item permissions? What about SQL Analytics endpoints? Or Shortcuts?

It is apparent why permission assignment isn't anyone's favorite topic. However, hopefully after this session you'll find that the labyrinth of data restriction options no longer feels overwhelming. Knowing your way around this labyrinth gives you the confidence to apply access control in practice to keep all data in Fabric perfectly secure.

Slides

YouShallNotPass_202501_MarisolSteinau.pdf

• Tonie Huizer

Database DevOps...CJ/CD: Continuous Journey Continuous Disaster?

Transforming a team that was used to a SVN-based-big-single-repo work style and little to no automation was a bumpy ride.
Join me in this session where I share my experience in implementing Azure DevOps with Git, automated build and release pipelines and disposable personal databases.

In this session I will tell you about my days as team lead and the challenges I faced while introducing:

DevOps:
- The formal DevOps term and process
- Working with sprints (our 4th attempt)

Git:
- Git as version control to SVN / TFVC people
- Using branches instead of only the master
- Adapting a Git branching strategy

Pipelines:
- Adapting a Build & Release Workflow
- Implementing naming conventions for: repos, branches, builds and releases
- The Introduction (and success) of pipelines
- Manual vs Pull Request Release

Dedicated Environments:
- Working with a database IDP (internal development platform)
- With versioned personal databases
- Including stashing databases when priorities change

Migrating an existing team that is stuck in its ways, critical by nature and fed up with deadlines is an interesting journey you don't always hear about.

But in the end...it's a lot of patience, work and yes it's exhausting, but completely worth it.

Take-aways
1. Insights in a real world DevOps migration / transformation
2. Knowledge and experience sharing on the often forgotten DevOps part: the database
3. Beside all the talking: demonstration with tips you can directly make use of

Slides

Database DevOps CJCD Continuous Journey Continuous Disaster.pdf

• Julia Førde

Databricks vs. Fabric: A Side-by-Side Comparison

In this session, we'll dive into a comparison of the Databricks and Fabric platforms. We'll explore which use cases fit best with each technology by taking a closer look at:

Deployment and Infrastructure: How easy it is to set up and manage each platform.

Functionality: What features they offer and how they differ.

Cost: A look at pricing and overall value.
Security: How each platform handles data protection.

Strengths & Weaknesses: The pros and cons of each option.

We'll also touch on how Databricks and Fabric differ in their overall strategies and what that means for users.

Slides

Fabric vs Databricks, Vienna .pptx

• William Durkin

Failing to plan is planning to fail

IT systems are already highly important for most (if not all) companies.

Those systems need to be available (up to) 24/7/365. This requires a lot of planning to ensure those systems are taken care of properly.

As we all know from recent memory: outages of "unbreakable" systems happen more often than we'd like.

In this strategy session we'll talk about what these outages can mean to a business, how to assess availability requirements, how to avoid/mitigate potential outages, and also how to proceed when an outage occurs.

You will leave this session with a set of ideas to help you approach planning for system failures/outages at your job.

A little bit of preparation can save a lot of stress and expense in the future!

Slides

Failing to plan.pdf

• Ynte Jan Kuindersma

Model like a star - starschema 101

Every Power BI user should be familiar with the star schema concept and its application. However, for analysts who are not data engineers, implementing this concept might seem challenging.

In this session, I will introduce the theory of the star schema (also known as Dimensional Modeling) and demonstrate its application in real-world scenarios.

I will utilize Power Query to achieve the following:

- Create a Sales Fact table by combining Order header and Order details, incorporating facts and IDs to Dimension tables.
- Appropriately allocate Order Freight amounts from the Order table to their respective detail lines, addressing granularity issues.
- Develop a bridge table to resolve many-to-many relationship challenges.

If there is time, I will show you how to manage historical data by creating a Customer Dimension table with surrogate keys, implementing both SCD0 and SCD2 methods.

I'll be using a publicly accessible ODATA version of the Northwind traders database as my source system for transactions.

Slides

demo_files_ready.zip

• Erwin de Kreuk

Microsoft Purview what does this mean to me as an organization?

Microsoft Purview offers significant benefits for business users, streamlining and enhancing data governance, compliance, and risk management.
In this session, we will cover the new portal specifically designed for data governance, which includes functionalities for:

• Business Domain Management: Organize and manage data assets by business domains, ensuring relevance and context.
• Data Products: Create, manage, and govern data products, ensuring they meet organizational standards and are easily discoverable.
• Data Quality Management: Tools to assess and improve data quality, ensuring reliable and accurate data.
• Data Estate Health: Monitor the overall health of your data estate, identifying issues and areas for improvement.

By the end of the session, you will have a comprehensive understanding of how Microsoft Purview can enhance your organization's data governance what Microsoft Purview could mean in your organization.

Slides

ErwindeKreuk-Microsoft Purview what does this mean to me as an organization.pdf

• Devang Shah
• Gabi Münster

Fabric Real-Time Intelligence for Power BI Pros

Power BI into Microsoft Fabric, Synapse Real-time Analytics into Fabric Real-Time Intelligence. If you’re wondering “why should I or my organization care about Fabric Real-Time Intelligence?”
In this demo-led session, we’ll start our journey investigating the capabilities of Fabric Real-Time Intelligence from a Power BI Pro's desktop, discover a catalog of streaming sources in your organization, create new data streams, re-shape data, land data in a data store, and eventually build a Power BI report. What will this PBI report use? Direct Lake or DirectQuery?
And can you visualize real-time event data on a Power BI report? Is there another option to visualize continuously arriving event data?
Join this session to find answers to these questions

• Oliver Engels
• Tillmann Eitelberg

Data Quality Roundtrip 2025 in the Microsoft Data Platform

Data Quality Tools and Services in the Data Platform has always played a niche role. Anyone remembers DQS in SQL Server? As Data Governance plays more and more an important part in the strategy of Microsoft, we will run a demo packed session to show you what is currently available in Fabric, in Azure Services and as well in Microsoft Purview. We will discuss the pitfalls, the potential and have look to the benefits and possible strategy for your data estate

Slides

Data Quality Roundtrip 2025 in the Microsoft Data Platform.pdf

• Erwin de Kreuk

Building a Fortress of Your Fabric Environment: Best Practices for Data Engineers

Microsoft Fabric is a powerful, all-in-one analytics solution for enterprises that integrates data movement, real-time analytics, data science, and business intelligence. As data engineers, securing this environment is essential to protect sensitive data while maintaining efficiency. Microsoft Fabric, as a SaaS platform, offers robust built-in security features that simplify this task.

In this session, we’ll dive into the key security features and practices you can leverage to strengthen your Fabric environment. We’ll discuss the latest available security options, including private links for inbound access to Fabric and its artifacts, Trusted Workspace, Managed VNets with outbound Private Endpoints for external resources and how users can authenticate, ensuring your data remains secure.

By the end of this session, you’ll have a comprehensive understanding of the out-of-the-box security features of Microsoft Fabric, as well as the best practices to implement for maintaining a resilient and secure data environment.

This knowledge will help your organization safeguard its data, enhance operational efficiency, and build a secure foundation for future growth.
After this session you are ready to build your own Fortress.

Slides

ErwindeKreuk-Building a Fortress of Your Fabric Environment Best Practices for Data Engineers.pdf

• Uwe Ricken

Partitioning in Microsoft SQL Server

Unlock the power of data partitioning in Microsoft SQL Server and take your database management and performance optimization skills to the next level. If you're a database professional responsible for handling large datasets and optimizing query performance, this workshop is your gateway to mastering the art of partitioning.
In this comprehensive workshop, we will delve deep into the principles, strategies, and practical implementation of data partitioning in SQL Server. Whether you're a seasoned database administrator, developer, or data analyst, this workshop will equip you with the knowledge and hands-on experience needed to harness the benefits of partitioning for your database environments.

Slides

SQL Server - Partioning - EN.pptx

• Yvette Lovas

Design Thinking in the BI Product Lifecycle

There is no such thing like two exactly the same BI report or project. The requirements are always evolving, so does the business. Due to the knowledge and data democratisation trends, the stakeholder group is even more heterogenous now than ever before.

To address this problem, different approaches can be followed during product delivery, and Design Thinking method could easily establish a common ground where the users, the designers and the developers can collaborate to create data products beyond expectations.

During my session I would like to present:
• how Design Thinkin approach can be applied,
• when the wireframing method can be useful,
• where to start gathering feedbacks,
• which questions needs to be asked and interpreted,
• how establishing visual standards can support the process,
• how delivering simple products may have significant effects on data literacy,
• what are the different approaches to effectively train & onboard your users,
• how user adoptance can/should be tracked.

Slides

DataCommunityAustria_DesignThinking.pdf

• Ásgeir Gunnarsson

Find the Spark as a SQL data warehouse developer

You are a data warehouse developer that´s been using SQL Server on-premise or in Azure to build your data warehouses. You are comfortable in writing SQL scripts, stored procedures and creating views to fuel your data warehouse. You have heard about the new kid in town Spark but you have not yet take the plunge and are wondering if you have to or if you should.

If the above is something like you then this is the session for you. The session is built largely on my own experience. I had been doing data warehouse in SQL for years and I had decided Spark was nothing for me. I felt there was enough to do in SQL so there was no reason to add Spark to the tools I was using. It seemed like a lot of learning and when you are an old dog that can be difficult to do 😊.

The reality is that Spark offers some very cool features and it´s not that different to how you have been doing things. Actually the concept of how to do a data warehouse do not change that much even though it´s built in a data lake and is called a data lakehouse. Yes the technology is different and the language is a lot or slightly different depending on what you choose but transitioning was lot easier than I thought.

We will start by comparing SQL data warehouse and Spark lakehouse. What is common and what is different. Then we will look at a demo on how you could do things in a Spark lakehouse all the time comparing it to how we are used to doing it in SQL data warehouse. We will then move onto understanding how to acquire the right knowledge to get started with Spark as well as how to try it out without breaking the bank.

After attending this session you will be better able to understand if Spark lakehouses are for you and how you can figure out how to learn the required skills. You will also know how to get started for free or with a very low cost.

Slides

FindingTheSparkAsgeirGunnarsson.pdf

• Andy Cutler

Enhance Fabric: A Guide to Building Workloads using the Fabric SDK

When Microsoft first introduced Fabric to the world, a pre-defined set of workloads became available for all types of organisations to use. These included Data Warehousing, Data Engineering using Spark, Realtime ingestion and analysis, Data Integration, and more.

How about custom workloads? Microsoft has you covered...the Fabric SDK puts the power of building your own custom workloads in your hands. Whether you want to build a solution for deployment in your own organisation or perhaps as part of a product catalog to sell-in to the Fabric eco-system, the Fabric SDK gives you the control.

In this session attendees will understand how to build their own Fabric workloads using the Fabric SDK.

Slides

Microsoft Fabric Custom Workloads - Austria 2025.pptx

• Alexander Klein

10 minutes about generative AI for data engineers

Generative AI models such as ChatGPT or Microsoft Copilot have become valuable tools for data engineers. Their ability to automatically generate text, complete code and find creative solutions can make everyday work much easier.

Slides

Alexander Klein EN - 10 minutes about generative AI for data engineers.pdf

• Kev Chant

Four ways to create a Microsoft Fabric Data Warehouse Database Project

During a recent conference I showed three ways to create a Microsoft Fabric Data Warehouse Database project.

In this sequel I will show you four different ways to create a Microsoft Fabric Data Warehouse Database project.

Which you can then initialize as a Git repository and deploy to other Data Warehouses as part of a state-based deployment strategy.

It will be a fast-paced and enlightening ten-minutes for anybody looking to perform CI/CD for Microsoft Fabric Data Warehouse Database projects.

• Matthias Nohl

Successful Fabric PoC - These 5 things must not be forgotten!

This session will cover the essential elements needed for a successful Fabric Proof of Concept (PoC) in the Azure data ecosystem. Focused on both technical and non-technical aspects, we will discuss five key factors that can influence the outcome of your PoC.
Firstly, we will talk about the importance of having well-defined objectives and scope to prevent scope creep and ensure alignment with business goals. Secondly, the necessity of a robust technical infrastructure will be highlighted, along with tips for optimal configuration and resource management. Thirdly, the session will cover stakeholder engagement and communication, emphasizing their impact on the project's momentum. Fourth, we will touch on the value of iterative testing and validation to catch potential issues early and make necessary adjustments. Finally, we will address the importance of documentation and knowledge transfer to facilitate smooth transitions and future scaling.
This session aims to provide practical insights and guidelines for data professionals, project managers, and stakeholders involved in a PoC, helping you navigate the complexities of the process and increase the likelihood of a successful outcome.
Join me to learn how to make your Fabric PoC both effective and efficient.

Slides

DCDAT2025_Successful Fabric PoC.pdf

• Elena Drakulevska

From Skopje to Seattle: My Speaking Adventure

If you’re looking for some inspiration, this is for you!

Join me on this 10-minute journey from Skopje to Seattle as I share my adventure of stepping outside my comfort zone, finding inspiring mentors, and embracing risks. Together, we’ll uncover how venturing into the unknown led me to take the stage at the PASS Data Community Summit in Seattle.

Discover the pivotal moments, the lessons learned, and the sheer joy of chasing dreams beyond boundaries.

The sky is not the limit!

• Sai Prudhvi Neelakantam

Near-Real-Time Object Recognition using Azure AI and Microsoft Fabric

Join me for a session on implementing near-real-time object recognition using the powerful suite of tools available in Azure and Microsoft Fabric.🚀

This session will guide you through the end-to-end process, from data ingestion and preprocessing data to real-time object recognition, data warehousing, and analytics.

Learn how to leverage Azure AI's advanced models to analyze image and video data, orchestrate complex ETL workflows, and store and analyze data using Microsoft Fabric📈

Slides

Near-Real-Time Object Recognition using Azure AI and Microsoft Fabric - Data Community Day Austria 2025 - Sessionize.pptx

• Thomas Grohser

SQL Server Availability options in the year 2025

Over the last three decades SQL Server added a lot of high availability and disaster recovery options. This session will shine a light on which are still relevant in 2025 and which ones work well with each other and which ones not so much.
Choosing the wrong HA/DR solution might make things worse than having no solution in place. Learn how to avoid being in this situation.

Slides

SQL Server HADR in 2025.pptx

• Strahinja Rodic

From SQL to Insights: Unlocking the Power of Azure SQL & Microsoft Fabric

In the modern era data is at the core of every (informed) decision. With Microsoft Fabric, an end-to-end data platform designed for enterprises that require a unified solution, organizations can move beyond traditional ETL processes and drive business outcomes more effectively.
This session highlights the replication capabilities of Azure SQL and Microsoft Fabric, along with an introduction to the SQL database within Microsoft Fabric—a developer-friendly transactional database designed for creating operational databases effortlessly. These features enable near real-time integration of operational data with analytical workloads, fostering smarter insights and faster decisions.
Join us to explore how Microsoft Fabric revolutionizes ETL processes and transforms data management for your organization.

Slides

DCA2025 - From SQL to Insights - Unlocking the Power of Azure SQL & Microsoft Fabric.pdf

• Grant Fritchey
• Uwe Ricken

How Automation Helps With Data Compliance

Join Grant Fritchey and Uwe Ricken as they discuss the critical role of automation in ensuring data compliance. They will delve into a range of topics, including how automated systems can streamline audit processes, reduce human error, and enhance data integrity.

Grant and Uwe will bring the subject to life by sharing stories, tips, and learnings from their experience in the industry, with plenty of time for audience questions. So, join these 2 industry experts to build your understanding of how automation can be leveraged to achieve and maintain compliance in data management. Ultimately leading to more secure and efficient database operations.

• Marjolein Opsteegh

Consistent Power BI reports with templates and themes

Do you find yourself spending a significant amount of time preparing your Power BI report canvas and defining your visual characteristics, repeatedly? Struggling to maintain consistency throughout?

Working neatly, clutter-free, and consistently is important, but it can also give you a lot of headaches.

Did you know it is relatively easy to extract your theme from Power BI and manipulate it to eliminate rework?

Combined with a standard background template, this will save you a lot of time and make consistency much easier.

In this session, we will first take a look at dashboard design best practices and explore the standard functionalities of Power BI. Next, we will briefly examine how to prepare background templates in Figma. Finally, I will guide you through everything you need to know about JSON design themes.

We will cover:

- How to set up a Power BI theme checker file
- How to use the checker
- How to extract and manipulate a JSON file
- How to quickly start a new project.

Furthermore, I will provide a set of background templates, my theme checker, and some JSON files to assist you in implementing what you've learned.

Slides

materials.zip

• Ben Weissman (he/him)

The Future of SQL is Hybrid!

Over the last years, Microsoft announced and released multiple services under their Azure Arc umbrella. And yet, this entire brand seems confusing to many.

What's in it for the data professional?

Join me on a journey through the different offerings in Azure Arc and how they can benefit you as a data professional!

There are way too many offerings to look at all of them so we will focus on those that matter to us as data folks: Azure Arc-enabled Machine Learning, Azure Arc-enabled Data Services and, after the features being added in 2023, the real game changer: SQL Server enabled by Azure Arc.

You'll walk away with a good understanding on what Azure Arc is offering and how it can benefit you as well as with pointers to more deep dive materials on the specific offerings!

Slides

arc.pdf

• Filip Popović

Mastering Microsoft Fabric Data Warehouse Performance

Join us for an in-depth session on mastering Microsoft Fabric Data Warehouse performance, where we will cover everything from the fundamentals of query optimizer to advanced performance monitoring and optimization techniques. This session will explore how query optimizer intelligently tunes your workload for optimal performance, learn the latest features and enhancements such as data clustering, query Insights and improved UI monitoring capabilities. We will provide you with the essential skillset for end-to-end performance management. Packed with demos and practical advice, this session will include best practices for optimizing your data estate and delivering delighting performance experiences to your data warehouse users.

Slides

Mastering Microsoft Fabric Data Warehouse Performance.pdf

• Gianluca Sartori

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.

Slides

Baking Extended Events Recipes.pdf

• Frank Geisler
• Klaus Hoeltgen

Data Wrangling the PowerShell way

Data is the Oil of the 21th century as The Economist once titled. In a perfect world this data is stored in the perfect data model, either on prem or in the cloud, nicely formed and ready to use. Right? But we live in a world that is far away from this. Data is everywhere. It is in SharPoint Lists, CSV Files, Excel Files, maybe in your System, maybe in another Application, even in your Active Directory. Often there are requirements to transform this data from one Data Storage to another just to sync data between different sources or just because the boss wants some Excel file (sigh). A big Data Transformation Solution like SSIS or Azure Data Factory might not always be the best solution to accomplish these tasks. Join german Data Platform MVP Frank Geisler in a demo centric session where he demonstrates how to transform data between different data sources with PowerShel, dbatools and ImprortExcel and do all this little transformations in the blink of an eye. And remember your Boss waiting on his Excel Sheet? Even this can be archeived easily through PowerShell!

• Grant Fritchey

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 discuss how to build the slides, demonstrations, and more. You'll learn about how to rehearse to get ready for your session. Finally, we'll cover actually giving the session, handling questions, hecklers and other points.

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.

• Lisa Hoving

Help, my Azure Databricks is too expensive! Some tips and tricks.

Azure Databricks is expensive. Running a cluster can cost thousands, if not 10s of thousands of Euros per month. Therefore, Databricks is only suitable for the biggest of datasets. Seems to be common knowledge… right?

Let’s be honest, it doesn’t need to be this way. With some tips and tricks, Azure Databricks can be suitable for processing any kind of dataset. Without breaking the bank.

Not convinced? During this talk, I will show you how. Together, we follow several scenarios that unnecessarily increase your monthly spend. By understanding what these scenarios are, and how to solve them, we will get a grip on that Azure bill.

By the end of this talk, you will be able to:
- Understand the concept of “DBU”
- Create an Azure Databricks cluster in a cost-effective manner
- Stream data and run batch jobs in a way that doesn’t break the bank
- Use the Azure cost-calculator effectively
- Set budgets and alerts on your Azure subscriptions

Slides

24-01-2025 Data Community day - novideo.pdf

• James Reeves

Breaking Barriers: Thriving with ADHD in the Tech Industry

As a tech professional recently diagnosed with ADHD, I've faced challenges but also discovered incredible potential. In this session, I'll share my journey of thriving in the tech industry while navigating ADHD.

We'll explore common challenges, like time management and communication, and strategies to overcome them. We'll also dive into the unique strengths of ADHD, such as creative problem-solving and hyperfocus, with real-world examples of how they've propelled my career.

I'll offer tips for self-advocacy, building supportive networks, and challenging stigmas. Whether you're neurodiverse or an ally, this session provides valuable insights and strategies to celebrate our strengths and redefine success in tech.