IT Pro Camp Tampa 2013

This year I was honored to sponsor and speak at IT Pro Camp Tampa 2013. Like always, it is a great pleasure to give back to the community and get to know people from different technical backgrounds. The event was very well-organized and the venue was great.

This year the entire Agile Bay team spoke at IT Pro Camp delivering 4 sessions in total for Track 2: Business Intelligence & Big Data (SQL Server, Hadoop, etc.). You can download the PowerPoint presentations by clicking on the session links below:

1. Wes Springob | Introduction To Reporting Services
2. Jose Chinchilla & Jon Bloom | Introduction to Big Data
3. Jonathan Bloom | Introduction to T-SQL
4. Jose Chinchilla |  Introduction to Microsoft BI
   

Wes Springob deliverin Introduction to SSRS

IT Pro Camp Tampa 2013 Attendees

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Presenting 2 sessions at SQLPASS

I’m truly honored to be chosen to speak at PASS Summit 2013. The honor is compounded as I have been chosen to deliver two sessions:

• Fast Performing SSAS Hierarchies: Tips and Tricks (3 hours)
  Track: BI Platform Architecture, Development & Administration
  Session Abstract: Depending on how they’re implemented, SQL Server Analysis Services hierarchies can be the source for a very high performing OLAP cube or the culprits of long running analysis. Are you implementing SSAS hierarchies correctly?This half-day session will walk you through how to implement SSAS hierarchies the right way and show you some tips and tricks to make them perform faster. You’ll also learn how to query and navigate SSAS hierarchies using common MDX functions.

• PowerPivot + Power View = Self-Service BI Revolution(75 minutes)
  Track: BI Information Delivery
  Session Abstract: The status quo has changed. IT is no longer required for business intelligence. End users can do their own BI within the comforts of Excel and SharePoint. Sound threatening? Maybe freeing? In this session, get to know what your role is and could be in this new self-service delivery model. You’ll also learn how PowerPivot and Power View work, how to leverage them, and how to make them fit into your enterprise data warehouse.

I feel very fortunate to be chosen as a speaker and to be able to give back to the community at a much bigger scale. I hope to instill my passion for the community and to be a relevant source of learning at PASS Summit 2013 to all who attend my sessions.

I encourage you to join me and attend PASS Summit 2013 in Charlotte, N.C. from Oct. 15th to 18th. There are more than 190 sessions to attend. We will also host  12 full-day pre-conference sessions on Oct. 14th and 15th with top SQL Server gurus.

For more information visit: http://www.sqlpass.org/summit/2013/

In addition to speaking at PASS Summit 2013, I am planning to speak and attend the SQL Saturday #237 Charlotte, N.C. BI Edition which will be hosted Saturday Oct. 19th following PASS Summit 2013 week.

For more information about SQL Saturday #237 Charlotte, N.C. BI visit: http://www.sqlsaturday.com/237/eventhome.aspx

I hope to see you there!

.Net Code Camp Orlando 2013

This past Saturday March 16th, I had the opportunity to speak once again the .Net Orlando Code Camp.  I presented a session under the SQL Server track titled “Change Data Capture, a developer’s best unknown friend”.  I had better than expected turn-out with about 20 attendees and overall very good participation.

I was glad to hear from more than one attendee that they were planning to use Change Data Capture in their environment and best of all to get rid of triggers!

I had the opportunity to catch-up with some of my friends and fellow SQL-ers from PASS. Also, met some new folks from the App/Dev community. These type of events are always great to expand your network, share your knowledge and learn something new!

Thanks to the organizers, sponsors, volunteers and attendees to make this event a success and for having me once more.

You can download my PowerPoint presentation and demo files at: http://sdrv.ms/15UUX64

Top 3 Reasons Why Evernote is worth $1 billion to me

Everyone heard about Facebook’s recent purchase of Instagram for $1 billion dollars. No one can imagine how they came with such price tag for a bunch (a big bunch) of pictures with special filters added. I never used Instagram and I don’t think I will ever. I’m happy with my regular’ol Flickr, Twitpic and Picasa.

One free application that is really worth $1 billion is Evernote. Why? Well, it’s way more than just another online organizer to me. And it’s even better than the Trapper Keeper I carry around.

Reason #1: No more emailing back and forth
One of the best reasons why Evernote is so valuable is the fact that I can write notes or take pictures of a whiteboard with my smartphone and they will auto-magically synchronize with my laptop and iPad or vice-versa. No more emailing back and forth so that I can download them. The notes and pictures go right into my user-defined notebooks I saved the notes under and show up wherever I have Evernote configured.

Reason #2: No more wallet full of receipts.
As a consultant I travel a lot and taming my receipts monster for my T&E reports is not an easy task. At the end of a week-long trip my wallet looks somewhat like a juicy double-decker burger. With Evernote, I can take a picture of the receipt with my smartphone, tag it and upload it to my expenses notebook. I can do it right there at the restaurant when the waiter or waitress brings the check and add notes related to the expense.

Reason #3: Share & Grab
Another reason why Evernote is so valuable is the fact that I can share my notebooks and notes with other people. Imagine how cool it is to brainstorm and whiteboard and be able to share those notes, pictures, videos, links, etc with your teammates. Awesome, right! Well, it doesn’t stop there, you can even use third-party extensions and applications like ifttt.com to save content to an Evernote notebook from Tweeter, Facebook, email and other channels based on the criteria that you define. Make sure to check-out the Evernote Trunk section for a complete list of apps.

Just wanted to share this as I find it very useful and believe that applications such as Evernote should be the next billion dollar company. Please comment with other ways you use Evernote for: Recipes? CRM? Reminder? Your own private Facebook? sa password vault?

The affordable self-service BI revolution has started.

I am officially announcing that I have now become an independent consultant and business owner. Becoming independent has always been my dream and I have now decided to follow that dream. I believe it is the right time to do it for my family and myself. It’s time to soar!

Why did I leave Pragmatic Works?

Simple. I wanted to follow my career goals and carve my own path. It was a hard decision to leave Pragmatic Works as I really enjoyed the work environment and had great relationship with the top brass Brian Knight, Adam Jorgensen, and Sam Washburn as well as my co-workers. The folks at Pragmatic Works gave me a lot of opportunities to learn and grow for which I am forever grateful. It is a great company to work for and highly recommend working for them. I would return to work for them in a heartbeat.

What are my plans?

First of all, I have created a corporation, called Agile Bay, Inc. (http://www.agilebay.com) through which I will be providing Business Intelligence consulting services, Software Development, Training and Staffing services. I will also be doing contract work and hiring BI and Software developers to take on some of these jobs.

My plan is to focus on self-service Business Intelligence solutions using the Microsoft toolset, including:

• SQL Server Database Services
• Analysis Services
• Reporting Services
• Master Data Services
• Data Quality Services
• SharePoint
• Performance Point
• PowerPivot
• PowerView
• & more…

I will continue leading, volunteering and sharing my knowledge in the SQL Server and Business Intelligence community and in PASS.

Enter the affordable self-service BI revolution

The new release of SQL Server 2012 will bring a lot to offer in the BI space. I truly believe it will be a game changer and many companies will embark in new Data Warehouse, Business Intelligence and Master Data Management projects. Some of these projects may have been put on hold due to licensing and development costs. This is where SQL Server 2012 will shine as it introduces lower BI licensing costs with the new SQL Server Business Intelligence Edition. Organizations will no longer require Enterprise Edition to do all the cool things Microsoft has to offer with their BI suite.

Additionally, the shift to the BI Semantic Model and the focus on self-service BI will open a lot of doors to consulting firms with lower overhead like mine. Enter the affordable self-service BI revolution!

Hitting the ground running

I am very grateful to the fact that the word has spread out among my immediate professional network and have already been booked for projects and contract work several months ahead.

I have tried not to market myself or my company too much during this initial phase as I want to manage my growth more organically. I am in the process of hiring BI developers at all levels, so if you are interested feel free to contact me via http://www.agilebay.com/#!contact.

 Mission

My mission is to empower individuals and organizations through the Microsoft Business Intelligence Toolset.

Vision

My vision is to be the catalyst and leader of the affordable self-service Business Intelligence revolution.

Value proposition

There are many alternatives available when chosing a consulting firm to help you achieve a succesful Business Intelligence, Data Warehouse and Master Data Management implementation.  My value proposition is to achieve this same success at an affordable budget and by providing you with the knowledge transfer and mentoring needed to continue your own development efforts.

The sales pitch

 You need an experienced and expert professional to help you with your design and development efforts.  I have experience and expertise. Let’s talk.

You may contact me through my company’s website at http://www.agilebay.com/#!contact or through email: info@agilebay.com. 

I’m also available for any quick help through email at jchinchilla@sqljoe.com. Make sure to check out my blog at http://www.sqljoe.com as well.

GiveCamp Tampa 2011

This past weekend I participated at GiveCamp Tampa 2011 (http://www.givecamptampabay.org/) as part as the Worldwide GiveCamp (http://www.givecamp.org) weekend sponsored by Microsoft and other partners. Per GiveCamp’s website:

GiveCamp is a weekend-long event where technology professionals from designers, developers and database administrators to marketers and web strategists donate their time to provide solutions for non-profit organizations. Since its inception in 2007, the GiveCamp program has provided benefits to hundreds of charities, worth millions of dollars of developer and designer time in services!

At GiveCamp Tampa 2011 we chose two non-profits to be the recipients of our development efforts. David Liebman and a group of developers, implemented a content management site for a school. I architected and developed a Data Warehouse and Business Intelligence solution along with 3 other developers for the Florida Children Services Counsel (FCSC) (http://www.floridacsc.org).

About Florida Children Services Council (FCSC)

The Florida Children’s Services Council (Florida CSC) is a non-profit association that represents children’s services councils in counties throughout the state. Florida CSC employs the collective strengths of these public organizations to improve young lives by making strategic investments in the well being of Florida’s children. Its mission is to promote policies that build effective primary prevention and early intervention systems for young children and their families

The GiveCamp Tampa 2011 Business Intelligence Team
(From left to right: Pam Shaw, Terry Brennan, Paul Drumm, Wes Helton, Jose Chinchilla)

Florida CSC Business Intelligence Solution

The scope of our work included the following tasks:

1. Installation and Configuration of SharePoint 2010 and Performance Point
2. Installation and Configuration of SQL Server 2008R2
3. Architecture and Development of a Relational Data Warehouse
4. Design and Development of ETL framework using SSIS Packages
5. Design and Development of SSAs OLAP cubes
6. Design and Development of SSRS Reports and Performance Point Dashboards

The dataset in scope for the FCSC BI solution included Budget Allocation and Participant Demographic data for the 8 different counties participating in the SAMIS Collaborative including Pinellas, Broward, Martin, Duval, Palm Beach, Miami-Dade, Hillsborough and St. Lucie.

Sample Performance Point dashboard developed:

Afterthoughts

It was overall a great experience being able to dedicate my time to the Florida CSC knowing that the BI solution delivered will serve as starting point to derive insightful analysis to solve the needs of children and families in the State of Florida. More than 90 hours of combined development time was dedicated to this solution. All the team members rocked!

I really enjoyed working with the GiveCamp Tampa 2011 team and look forward to the next GiveCamp event!

SQL Server Codename “Denali” CTP3 Resources

SQL Server codename “Denali” CTP3 has been released to the public after much anticipation. You may ask yourself, “What happened to CTP2?” The answer is simple. It was a private build for MVPs and some Microsoft partners. By private, I mean it was not released to the general public. The good news is that you did not miss much in CTP2. A lot of areas were incomplete or not working. But that is to be expected as it is a work in progress.

This blog post will serve as a means to gather resources such as links and blog posts regarding SQL Server “Denali” CTP3. Check back soon as I will be adding new resources. If you have a blog post about SQL Server Denali CTP3 please pingback or email me to add it to the list.

Downloads:

SQL Server DENALI CTP3 Demo VHD
http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=27253

A HyperV image of SQL Server Denali CTP3 in action, including fully configured services and integration with SharePoint 2010 and Office 2010
The following software is configured on the virtual machine:

• SQL Server “Denali” CTP3
• SharePoint 2010
• Office 2010

SQL Server codename “Denali” Community Technology Preview 3 CTP3
https://www.microsoft.com/betaexperience/pd/SQLDCTP3CTA/enus/default.aspx

SQL Server code name “Denali” Express Core Community Technology Preview 3 (CTP 3)
http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=26784

SQL Server code name ‘Denali’ Community Technology Preview 3 (CTP 3) Feature Pack
http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=26726

The SQL Server  code name “Denali” CTP 3 Feature Pack is a collection of stand-alone packages which provide additional value for Microsoft® SQL Server® code name ‘Denali’ CTP 3. It includes the latest versions of  tool and components an add-on providers.

Includes:

• SQL Servercode name “Denali” Master Data Service Add-in for Excel CTP 3
• SQL Servercode name “Denali” Semantic Language Statistics CTP 3
• SQL ServerReport Builder for SQL Servercode name “Denali” CTP 3
• SQL Servercode name “Denali” PowerPivot for  Excel CTP 3
• SQL Servercode name “Denali” Reporting Services Add-in for  SharePoin Technologies
• SQL Servercode name “Denali” Data-Tier Application Framework CTP 3
• SQL Servercode name “Denali” Transact-SQL Language Service CTP 3
• SQL Servercode name “Denali” Transact-SQL ScriptDom CTP 3
• SQL Servercode name “Denali” Transact-SQL Compiler Service CTP 3
• SQL ServerCompact 4.0
• SQL ServerCompact 4.0 Books On-line
• SQL ServerJDBC Driver 4.0 Community Technology 2 (CTP 2)
• Connector 1.1 for SAP BW for SQL Server code name “Denali” CTP 3
• System CLR Types for SQL Server code name “Denali” CTP 3
• SQL Servercode name “Denali” Remote Blob Store CTP 3
• SQL Servercode name “Denali” Books On-line CTP 3
• SQL Servercode name “Denali” Upgrade Advisor CTP 3
• SQL Servercode name “Denali” Native Client CTP 3
• OLEDB Provider for DB2 v4.0 for SQL Server code name “Denali” CTP 3
• SQL Servercode name “Denali” Command Line Utilities CTP 3
• SQL ServerService Broker External Activator for SQL Server code name “Denali” CTP 3
• Windows PowerShell Extensions for SQL Server code name “Denali” CTP 3
• SQL Servercode name “Denali” Shared Management Objects CTP 3
• SQL Servercode name “Denali” ADOMD.NET CTP 3
• Analysis Services OLE DB Provider for SQL Servercode name “Denali” CTP 3
• SQL Servercode name “Denali” Analysis Management Objects CTP 3
• SQL ServerDriver for PHP 2.0
• SQL ServerMigration Assistant

1. Microsoft SQL Server Migration Assistant for Access
2. Microsoft SQL Server Migration Assistant for MySQL
3. Microsoft SQL Server Migration Assistant for Oracle
4. Microsoft SQL Server Migration Assistant for Sybase
5.  Microsoft SQL Server Migration Assistant 2008 for Sybase PowerBuilder Applications

• SQL ServerStreamInsight v1.2

Adventure Works sample databases for SQL Server codename Denali CTP3
http://msftdbprodsamples.codeplex.com/releases/view/55330

Denali CTP3 Adventure Works Sample Databases Readme
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/sql-server-samples-readme.aspx

Includes:

• AdventureWorks2008R2 Data File
• AdventureWorksDWDenali Data File
• SSAS Multidimensional Model Projects Denali CTP3
• SSAS Tabular Model Projects Denali CTP3
• SSAS AMO2Tabular Denali CTP3

Don’t forget to read the sample databases readme file:
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/sql-server-samples-readme.aspx

Tutorials

Tutorials for SQL Server “Denali”
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh231699(v=sql.110).aspx

Includes:

• Multidimensional Modeling (Adventure Works Tutorial)
• Tabular Modeling (Adventure Works Tutorial)
• Tutorial for Project Crescent

Blogs / Wikis:

Microsoft SQL Server Code-Named “Denali” CTP3 Release Notes
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/3711.aspx

SQL Server Team: SQL Server Code Name “Denali” CTP3 and SQL Server 2008 R2 SP1 are HERE!
http://blogs.technet.com/b/dataplatforminsider/archive/2011/07/11/sql-server-code-name-denali-ctp3-is-here.aspx

SSIS Team Blog: Matt Mason – What’s new in SQL Server Denali?
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/mattm/archive/2011/07/12/ssis-what-s-new-in-sql-server-denali.aspx

SQL Server Reporting Services Team Blog: Thierry Dhers – SQL Server codename “Denali” CTP3, including Project “Crescent” is now publically available
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/sqlrsteamblog/archive/2011/07/12/sql-server-codename-quot-denali-quot-ctp3-including-project-quot-crescent-quot-is-now-publically-available.aspx

What’s New in Master Data Services (MDS) in Denali CTP3
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/3714.aspx

Marco Russo: Installing Analysis Services ssas #Denali CTP3 and PowerPivot Denali CTP3
http://sqlblog.com/blogs/marco_russo/archive/2011/07/13/installing-analysis-services-ssas-denali-ctp3-and-powerpivot-denali-ctp3.aspx

Brent Ozar: CTP3 is Here! Five Things to Know About the Next Version of SQL Server
http://www.brentozar.com/archive/2011/07/five-things-sql-server-denali-ctp3/

Jamie Thompson: SSIS enhancements in Denali CTP3
http://www2.sqlblog.com/blogs/jamie_thomson/archive/2011/07/12/ssis-enhancements-in-denali-ctp3.aspx

MSDN SQL Server (Pre-release) forum threads
http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/category/sqlserverprerelease

SQL Server “Deanali” Books Online (BOL)
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms130214(SQL.110).aspx

Technet Wiki: Project Crescent Overview
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/project-crescent-overview.aspx

Update Log:
7/26/2011 Added Denali CTP3 Adventure Works Sample Databases Readme link

9/25/2011 Added SQL Server DENALI CTP3 Demo VHD download link and description and Technet Wiki Project Crescent overview.