If you are looking for a great conference to attend, please look at Live! 360. This event combines 6 different areas of IT (including SQL Server) with some of the great experts presenting sessions for 5 days. The sessions are on December 5th thru the 9th in Orlando, FL at Royal Pacific Resort.

This is a link with a discount code for up to $500 dollars off - http://bit.ly/LSPK47_REG

Here are the three I am giving.

SQT07 New Performance Tuning and Security Features in SQL Server 2016

12/06/2016

2:00pm - 3:15pm

Level: Introductory to Intermediate

SQL Server 2016 has added and improved features to an already great product. To start, there is now a Query Store to retrieve history of a query's execution plan and statistics used for that plan. You can compare them to see the changes. You can also see the Execution Plans "Live" to see where a long running query is spending lots of time. You can also compare plans side-by-side, which should make DBAs or anyone that performance tune queries very happy.

From there, you'll go into some of the database design aspects of 2016 to improve table implementation. In-Memory has been half-baked in previous versions and now is enterprise ready with OLTP tables. The Column-store indexes include update-able clustered and non-clustered indexes. Temporal Tables remove the requirement of using triggers or custom code to find a point in time version of the data. You now can mask columns for limited viewing and casting of data to the end users by login permissions.

The T-SQL enhancements will help with better writing of set-based queries. The stretch database feature will assist in archiving data to the cloud with access in applications. Always Encrypted secures the database for abiding to regulations in health care and finance. The last feature will be row-level security, which has been a frequently requested option.

You will learn:

• About T-SQL enhancements in SQL Server 2016
• About Table design changes in SQL Server 2016
• About Query Plan improvements in SQL Server 2016

SQW05 Master Data Management with Data Quality (DQS) and Master Data Services (MDS) in SQL Server 2016

12/07/2016

9:30am - 10:45am

Level: Intermediate

Is there data scattered all over your enterprise? Has your boss asked you to help your users create and manage one source of common data? Are there different spellings of values in the same column of a table? Can you use help from algorithms to find the best match? Is the Customer or Product table in multiple databases with different columns? Do you need help managing the Data Warehouse?

This session will jump into SQL Server 2016 with DQS and MDS. You use the Data Quality projects in Integration Services (SSIS) to rank values and help with misspelled data. You'll help your users manage the DQS projects giving them management access to data quality and moving that responsibility to the business where it should be.

Next, you'll use MDS to help consolidate dimensions scattered in multiple databases to form a true Conformed Dimension area. MDS will help your company move away from spreadsheets or flat files to manage critical information for analytics. These features were added to SQL Server in version 2012 and have been upgraded in 2014 and 2016 to help enterprises with the task of Master Data Management.

You will learn:

• How to use Data Quality Services to cleanse data with DQS and SSIS
• How to create a Master Data Management system with MDS in SQL Server 2016 to consolidate multiple data sources

SQW12 Improve Enterprise Reporting with SQL Server Analysis Services

12/07/2016

4:00pm - 5:15pm

Level: Intermediate

Have you been at a job where requests keep coming in for more and more reports? Does it seem like some are being used and other are not? Are some of the reports exactly the same except a different grouping or sorting request? Has your boss asked you to investigate a Business Intelligence or Data Warehouse solution? Well, it might be time to start using SQL Server 2016 Analysis Services.

Dimensional Modeling is one of the best starts for designing a system with flexible reporting. The database model fits perfectly into Analysis Service (SSAS) databases from Microsoft. There will be a use case for 3 fact tables to create various data marts. We will demonstrate a Multidimensional Cube and the Tabular Model to help you make the decision of which installation to use. Excel and PowerBI will be the focus for reporting.