An Introduction to Microsoft Fabric: Enabling End-to-End Analytics

Join us for this session as we explore Microsoft Factory (with demos!)

Microsoft Fabric is a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform that offers organizations a comprehensive analytics solution, from data ingestion to actionable insights. By integrating Azure and open-source capabilities within its Power BI ecosystem, Microsoft Fabric addresses the challenges of data complexity and fragmentation. It simplifies the analytics process, eliminates the need for extensive integration, and provides a shared foundation for data management, collaboration, and security. Attendees of this session will learn about the key components of Microsoft Fabric and how it represents the future of analytics.

The benefits of Microsoft Fabric include a unified analytics platform, the introduction of OneLake for unified data storage, and seamless integration with Power BI and Office products. It empowers business users through its low-code/no-code experience, enabling them to focus on complex tasks while providing timely insights. Microsoft Fabric reduces pricing model complexity and offers mature capabilities from Azure, such as Data Factory and Apache Spark, as a SaaS offering. It embraces open-source file formats and simplifies the overall analytics architecture.

What the market expects from developers in the data space

Technology evolves faster than organizations, education and any training available. How can you keep up with so many changes?

Imagine that you have been trying to get a position in the data space, are trying to find a new role or want to improve your current position, and you suddenly discover that the skills and experience required are unreachable.

In this session, I will share 10 tips to help you increase your opportunities to begin or improve your journey as a data professional, taking you to the next level.

These tips are based on my own experience as a data expert and community enthusiast.

Starting with Azure Cognitive Services

Do you want to learn more about the Cognitive Services offering? What is Artificial Intelligence as a Service? Trying to save time building and training models?

This session is for you and will provide the answers to each of these questions. Using Azure Cognitive Services, you will learn how to empower your business with AIaaS (Artificial Intelligence as a Service) models that are ready for consumption. I will also include some demos using some of these services.

Storing information in Azure

The main objective of this course is to better understand the large number of options that we have in Azure to store information and to help our customers choose the correct services for their solutions. An existing basic technical knowledge of Azure is required for this course.

Each session will focus on the foundations of the services with additional demos and activities that the student will need to complete as homework.

At the end of this course you will be able to:
- Understand key differences between services
- Identify the different Azure storage options when designing and building solutions
- Select storage services within the Azure environment

The offering in Azure for storing information, focused on 3 main areas and their differences:
• Storage accounts and managed disks
• Relational databases
• Non-relational databases

Concepts covered in this course:
• Storage accounts and managed disks
o Blob Storage
o Table Storage
o Queue Storage
o Azure Files
o Azure Data Lake Version 2
o Managed Disks
o Azure Backup

• Relational databases
o Azure SQL Database
o Azure SQL Managed Instance
o Azure Synapse Analytics
o Azure Database for MariaDB
o Azure Database for PostgreSQL
o Azure Database for MySQL

• Non-relational database
o Azure Cosmos DB (many APIs)
o Azure Cache for Redis

Relational databases in Azure

What are the different options for provisioning a relational database in Azure? What are the benefits and disadvantages of each option? How expensive will it be?

This session will answer and expand upon each one of these questions. Azure SQL Database is not the only option within the Microsoft cloud environment, there are more services for storing your information. Let’s compare all the services!

At the end of this session, you will be able to choose the best fit for storing your information.

Real time information with Azure and Power BI, breaking the 3 second barrier

We will extract, transform and stream real time information in less than 3 seconds using best practice methods. Are you ready?
Have you been asked about displaying real time information on your Power BI reports dashboards? Have you had performance problems delivering a real-time solution? Have you found the correct tools for delivering real time solutions? Through this session, you will learn how to deliver Power BI solutions streaming real time information while keeping it simple.

I will go over the different tools that we can use to approach as closely as possible (1 second) to a real-time solution along with combining real time information with batch processed information.

Power BI and Data Lakehouses

What are data lakehouses? When and why should you use this design pattern? What are the different options for Power BI to consume data from a data lakehouse?

This session will answer these questions and expand on how Power BI continues to be the best tool for creating actionable insights from these data stores.

You have heard about Data Lakes and data warehouses, but as technology evolves, there are new design patterns like data lakehouses that you should take into account when building Power BI solutions.

Get Started with Azure Synapse Analytics

This is a 1-day post-conference workshop.
Should you learn about Azure Synapse Analytics? Absolutely, it will make you a better data professional.

The adoption of Azure Synapse Analytics has grown significantly in the last 2 years because of its big data, data warehousing and machine learning capabilities. It allows any data professional to develop solutions in an ecosystem that offers all the tools that you’ll need.

In this workshop you will learn:
• Key components of Azure Synapse Analytics
• Business cases and useful tips for implementing Azure Synapse Analytics in an organisation
• Why you should be using Azure Synapse Analytics
• When to use Azure Synapses SQL Pools, Spark Pools, and Azure Data Explorer
• Cost considerations for using Azure Synapse Analytics

This workshop includes several exercises, including:
• Creating an Azure Synapse Pipeline to copy information to an Azure Data Lake
• Utilising Delta Lake and Azure Serverless
• Visualising streaming data with Azure Data Explorer
• Connecting Power BI to Azure Synapse Analytics

Access to a test Azure Synapse Analytics environment is provided during the duration of the class, but you’ll need to bring your own laptop and make sure you have access to the Azure portal.

At the end of this workshop you will:
• Have a good understanding of various Azure Synapse Analytics components
• Understand common pitfalls to avoid during initial planning and implementation
• Have developed some solutions in Azure Synapse Analytics

The ideal candidate for this workshop:
• Should have some experience in building big data, data warehousing, advanced data analytics or machine learning solutions
• Have a high-level understanding of Azure
• Be ready to develop some solutions with Azure Synapse Analytics

Are there any freebies?
Participants will receive a checklist of activities to aid with the successful implementation of Azure Synapse Analytics.

Is this an advanced course?
No, we will cover some advanced topics, but we will not deep dive into developing complex solutions as part of this course.

In the past two years, I have implemented multiple instances of Azure Synapse Analytics to solve multiple business problems across different industries. I look forward to sharing my experience so you can avoid any pitfalls during the implementation and usage of Azure Synapse Analytics.

Ingesting, Processing & Displaying Real-Time Information with Azure

Have you been asked about displaying real-time information? What about ingesting millions of records per second coming from IoT or devices?

To answer these questions, Azure offers different platforms such as Azure IoT Hubs, Azure Event Hub or even Apache Kafka. From a data analytics point of view, I will go through a variety of characteristics, scenarios and differences that we need to take into account in order to choose the best fit for our solution.

Displaying small and large enterprise datasets with Power BI

Whether small, medium or large datasets, Power BI can consume any volume of information. However, the approach could be different depending on your environment, the maturity of your data ecosystem and the tools available in your company.

This session will provide guidance and suggestions for working with small, medium and large datasets. It will help you make the most out of your investment based on real-experience deploying these solutions.

We will cover different options like Power BI Premium, shared datasets and composite models, or having more cost-effective solutions for large volumes of data using Azure Synapse Analytics.

Demystifying horror stories on cloud data analytics solutions

You might have heard horror stories when building data analytics solutions in Azure. Projects running overtime, cloud expenses going 500% over budget or solutions that didn’t meet business requirements.
In this session, based on my own experience, I will demystify these stories and help you identify the three main components of the PPT framework. These components must be considered and are not negotiable when starting a cloud journey or new projects.
By using this framework, you will set your company up for success in terms of data analytics solutions Azure projects and others.

Data Management Maturity Assessments

Data Management Maturity Assessments can help when you are trying to improve or define the data governance within your company, trying to adopt new technologies, improve organisational data quality issues or are going through big organizational changes.

In all the scenarios above, you need to answer the following questions:
Where are we currently? Where do we want to be? What do we need to do to get there?

Data management maturity assessments can help you understand the current data maturity levels within your organization, define the desired maturity level and create a roadmap to achieve it.

In this session, I will run you through my findings for performing data maturity assessments and get you started.

Data Warehousing and Business Intelligence

After the hype of big data and the rise of artificial intelligence and machine learning, I think that people don’t talk much about data warehouses and only talk about new technologies, machine learning and AI.

After working in the data analytics space for more than 10 years, creating numerous data warehouses and data stores, I have found this to be true.

Data Warehouses and Business Intelligence are still key for any organisation and will help you innovate and adopt edge technology. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to review the fundamentals for Data Warehousing and Business Intelligence.

Data Lakehouses for beginners

What are Data Lakehouses? When and why should you use this design pattern? How are they different from Data Warehouses?

This session will answer these questions and expand on how new architecture design patterns can help you solve some of your business problems and prepare for the future.

You may have heard about Data Lakes and data warehouses, but as technology evolves, there are new design patterns like Data Lakehouses that you should take into account when building data solutions.

Azure Synapse Analytics What's New?

During the past 12 months, we have seen a lot of new features being released in Azure Synapse Analytics so what's new?

In this session, we will cover some of the most important features that have been released, run some demos and understand some business scenarios where you can apply them.

Azure Synapse Analytics SQL Pools Performance Tips and Tricks

In this session, I’ll share the recipe for 5 tips and tricks to help you optimize the state of your Azure Synapse Analytics SQL Pools and ensure that your platform is both future-proof and reliable.

Adoption, adoption, adoption: What gets measured, gets done

Are you spending thousands of dollars or investing a lot of hours on writing a report that nobody will use? Or maybe trying to justify an increase in your budget?

The success of your Power BI implementation is based on the usage and adoption of your platform.

Adoption, adoption, adoption! Always have your users in the back of your mind.

In this session, I’ll share common Power BI pitfalls and how to avoid them, as well as measures that you can use to ensure the success of your investment while increasing your Power BI users’ engagement.

Azure Synapse Analytics Cost Optimization

What if you could save 30% on your mortgage or buy a car with a 30% discount? Would you accept the offer or let it go?

In this session, you’ll learn how to optimize the ongoing cost of your Azure Synapse Analytics services so you can put the savings towards other services or data initiatives. I will share tips and tricks for optomizing the ongoing cost of your Azure Synapse Analytics platform.

Azure Synapse Analytics SQL Pools Performance Tips and Tricks

Do you often look at the performance of your Azure Synapse Analytics SQL Pools? Are you trying to improve this performance? If so, then this session is for you.
In this session, I’ll share the recipe for 10 tips and tricks to help you optimize the state of your Azure Synapse Analytics SQL Pools and ensure that your platform is both future-proof and reliable.

Data Lakehouse Architecture

What are Data Lakehouses? When and why should you use this design pattern? How are they different from Data Warehouses?

This session will answer these questions and expand on how new architecture design patterns can help you solve some of your business problems and prepare for the future.

You may have heard about Data Lakes and data warehouses, but as technology evolves, there are new design patterns like Data Lakehouses that you should take into account when building data solutions.

Starting with Azure Synapse Analytics Studio

Do you want to learn more about Azure Synapse Analytics? What is Azure Synapse Analytics Studio? Are you trying to save time when building data analytics solutions?

This session will provide the answers to each of these questions. By using Azure Synapse Analytics, you will learn how to empower your business with actionable insights.

This session includes some demos using a selection of available features.

Starting with Azure Cognitive Services

Do you want to learn more about the Cognitive Services offering? What is Artificial Intelligence as a Service? Trying to save time building and training models?

This session is for you and will provide the answers to each of these questions. Using Azure Cognitive Services, you will learn how to empower your business with AIaaS (Artificial Intelligence as a Service) models that are ready for consumption. I will also include some demos using some of these services.

Azure Synapse Analytics: one-stop-shop for analytics

Do you want to know why Azure Synapse Analytics is a one-stop-shop for analytics? Are you wondering what its key features are?
If so, this is the perfect session for you as it will answer these questions and more.

Azure Synapse Analytics enables Data Engineers, Data Scientists and IT Professionals to collaborate. It’s a place where they can develop end-to-end data solutions within a single platform and experience.

This session focuses on the main features available in the new workspace experience.

85% Demos - 15% Slides

Azure Synapse Analytics for developers

Azure Synapse Analytics allows you to build Power BI Reports, Azure Data Factory pipelines, and more.

Azure Synapse Analytics enables developers to build actionable insights in a timely manner within the same workspace and to improve their skills across Big Data and Data Warehouse solutions.

This session will describe objects that you can develop for reporting, data movements and performing data analysis.

Azure Synapse Analytics and Power BI

Learn all about the future of Analytics using Power BI and Azure Synapse Analytics.

Learn how organizations adopted Synapse with Power BI to help accelerate End-To-End Analytics ecosystem.

Azure Synapse Analytics enables seamless integration between Data Lakes and Power BI. It also allows you to easily take advantage of Azure Synapse Analytics’ powerful engine. The workspace experience allows Power BI Experts, Data Engineers, Data Scientists and IT Professionals to collaborate while combining data warehousing, big data, reporting and machine learning.

This session focuses on the main features available in the new Azure Synapse Analytics workspace experience.

Azure Data Factory (V2) ABCs

Do you want to learn more about Azure Data Factory? Would you like to know if it will replace SQL Server Integration Services? Trying to understand the difference between Pipelines, SSIS and Mapping Data Flows?

If so, this is the perfect session for you as it will answer these questions and more.

Azure Data Factory improvements made during the past three years have helped to boost the productivity of data movement solutions. Understanding the benefits of these improvements is important as this cost-effective product will soon be the solution for many of your data movement challenges.

Demos using this service will be included.

Azure Data Share for beginners

What is Azure Data Share? Do you want to know how to take advantage of the Azure Data Share? Do you want to start using the Azure Data Share but you don’t know where to start?

This session is for you.

Azure Data Share allows you to securely share your data assets with other organisations. This session will cover the fundamentals of using the Azure Data Share. I will cover the different scenarios where the Azure Data Share is the masterpiece for solving the problem.

Harnessing the Power of Generative AI for Legal Tech

In this session, we'll dive into the transformative potential of generative AI within the legal sector. Starting with a brief introduction to generative AI and its applications, we'll demystify AI technologies like GPT-4, showing you how it can generate human-like text and highlight business scenarios where can be utilized for tasks like legal document automation and research.

Unleashing the Power of OpenAI's ChatGPT on your Data Sets

Explore the capabilities of OpenAI's technology, ChatGPT, in this illuminating session, with an emphasis on its transformative potential for large-scale data analysis. In an era where legal data volumes are growing exponentially, leveraging AI like ChatGPT, backed by Microsoft's vast infrastructure, becomes crucial for tasks such as legal document review, contract analysis, and case research.

We'll demystify the inner workings of ChatGPT and outline a roadmap for deploying this cutting-edge technology. Additionally, we'll showcase a practical demo on scanning your own data and leveraging ChatGPT's capabilities to ask and answer complex legal questions.

This session is a must-attend for legal professionals and tech enthusiasts keen on integrating AI into their legal data processes.