The SQLARTIST Blog

Business Intelligence in SharePoint Server 2010 (Outstanding Poster)

2010-02-10T18:01:00Z

I have been blown away by the high quality of architecture diagrams and process posters from the SharePoint team back from the beta of 2007. Now SharePoint 2010 is coming I have just come across the work they have been doing for this release and is of very high quality. As SharePoint 2010 has a significant BI feature list I thought I would post an example here. These Visio diagrams are huge… Getting started with business intelligence in SharePoint Server 2010 http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details...(read more)

Mapping the Brain using SQL Server 2008 Spatial Features

2009-09-05T00:37:00Z

I have had a problem with my brain for the past few years now and about 3 years ago had a ‘Brain Pacemaker’ fitted – now without going into the gory details (check my facebook for the pictures J ) this involves placing a couple of electrodes into the brain on the left and right sides. When I first had the implant I was the youngest in the world to have it but the 12 th person overall. So research was lacking on exactly the right place to put the electrodes. I was convinced for some time they were...(read more)

MapPoint Add-in for SQL Server (Updated with Example)

2009-07-31T19:14:00Z

Nice :) If you have MSDN you can download MapPoint Europe or US or get the trial from the link below - will be trying this out tonight View and edit your SQL data on a map. It’s quick, low cost, and doesn’t require special training. To get started you need the free Add-in, MapPoint 2009 1 , and access to data in a SQL Server 2008 database http://www.microsoft.com/mappoint/en-us/sqladdin.aspx UPDATED: Right first I downloaded the 1.8GB European MapPoint and then remembered all my spatial SQL 2008...(read more)

Live Meeting: Creating a Star Schema and OLAP Cubes

2009-06-25T19:06:00Z

Hi, I just finished my first live meeting for the UK SQL Server user group on the subject of creating a star schema and OLAP cubes. I think it went well, it was recorded so Ill let you all be the judge of that - presentation to follow. I spoke way too fast, Tony Rogerson told me I sound "well Cockney" - but depressing as in my own head I sound like Hugh Grant. I spoke way too fast as I am inclinded to do but even though I got through most of my content I defintely forgot loads and apologies...(read more)

Thinking outside the box - impressive

2009-06-07T21:13:00Z

I cant believe I have missed this blog for so long but I came across a site last night that is just plain exciting for people who love Transact-SQL. "Thinking outside the box" - http://weblogs.sqlteam.com/peterl/Default.aspx has some of the best and unique examples of working with sql I have seen (Itzik quality) I think Peter even won the recent String Grouping competition with his submission. I loved that Celko even posted comments on one of the articles dismissing the way Peter had solved...(read more)

Avanade & Princes Trust Business Intelligence Training

2009-05-20T13:51:00Z

During the past two weeks the company I work for was asked by the Princes Trust to provide a training course to them to explain the entire Microsoft Business Intelligence software stack. My company agreed to donate my time and a colleague’s time to put this training material together. Our remit was to provide novice to advanced training over two weeks on Microsoft SQL Server and Microsoft Office Sharepoint Server. So basically a minimum of 8 weeks worth of training material given over 2 weeks written in just over a week – no mean feat J

Because of the worthwhile causes that the Princes Trusts supports and the fact that talking about the entire Microsoft SQL Server product family is something I love doing this was a fairly exciting but somewhat overwhelming challenge. I called in some old friends back from when I was a SQL server MVP and asked Itzik Ben-Gan and Kalen Delany if I could use some of their content to assist me in my training plan – they both very kindly agreed to let me use some of their material and Itzik sent through a large number of his books to distribute and Kalen is sending through some of her SQL Server Architecture and Metadata training DVDs. The generosity of the SQL community never fails to amaze me.

So I have just finished my part of the training and am assisting my colleague with the Sharepoint and Performance Point stuff. I’m not a official Microsoft trainer but I do love seeing people excited by SQL Server and hearing people spending their own time over the weekend downloading SQL Express on their home machines and trying out some of the labs we developed for them to further understand the product.

So I would like to thank Audrius Pranckevicius, Igal Greenberg and David Haigh from Avanade for giving their time for free - obviously at the request of Avanade J and to Marina Rumyantseva and Richard Chadwick at the Princes Trust for making the whole experience very enjoyable and rewarding.

Extra special thank to Itzik Ben-Gan, Kalen Delany for their kind offer of materials and to Tony Rogerson for validating my entire two weeks’ worth of content.

"These views are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of Avanade."

http://www.princes-trust.org.uk

http://www.avanade.com

Introduction

2009-05-20T12:29:00Z

Hi,

Im Trevor Dwyer, also known as SQLARTIST, I have been involved with SQL Server for about 15 years, was a SQL Servr MVP for 6 years and made many good friends in the SQL community. I have spoken at SQL conferecences around the world, worked on a few SQL server books and currently work for a company called Avanade, a joint collaboration between Microsoft and Accenture as a director and principal solutions architect.

I focus on Business Intelligence, Large SQL Server databases and my passions of Text Mining and Search. I have been recently been working on BI on Microsoft Surface.