SQL Server 2014 Trainer required

[MoelyCrio]

A manage a team of business analysts and accountants. They are ok with basic SQL queries for gathering information and helping with requirements, but nothing more than that.

We've just upgraded to SQL 2014 (from 2008) and I'm aware that the BI functionality is improved.

I'm looking for a trainer to come onsite for a day or too and improve our collective knowledge of data analysis. Not SSRS/SSAS, just SQL querying from SSMS. There is probably loads of stuff we could do better/quicker. Its a large bank, but the training we require is quite specific, hence me organising it myself.

Any recommendations? Its City Centre Manchester. Thanks.

[djones123]

MoelyCrio said:

he training we require is quite specific

Could you please provide more information.

[MoelyCrio]

djones123 said:

MoelyCrio said:

he training we require is quite specific

Could you please provide more information.

Sure, I meant quite specific compared to what our training department can provide. Our actual use of SQL is very noddy....

We can query data using select, joins, group, where, case, order etc are are ok with variables, but that's about it.
So were looking for as much bang for our buck with the overall aim of improving our team data analysis and problem solving capability.

[maniac886]

MoelyCrio said:

A manage a team of business analysts and accountants. They are ok with basic SQL queries for gathering information and helping with requirements, but nothing more than that.

We've just upgraded to SQL 2014 (from 2008) and I'm aware that the BI functionality is improved.

I'm looking for a trainer to come onsite for a day or too and improve our collective knowledge of data analysis. Not SSRS/SSAS, just SQL querying from SSMS. There is probably loads of stuff we could do better/quicker. Its a large bank, but the training we require is quite specific, hence me organising it myself.

Any recommendations? Its City Centre Manchester. Thanks.

Will any of the courses below be suitable - QA's office is on Oxford Street so I imagine not too far from where you are based. I have actually done the 2016 Querying SQL course and it was very good - the trainer was excellent.

https://www.qa.com/training-courses/technical-it-t...

[MoelyCrio]

maniac886 said:

Will any of the courses below be suitable - QA's office is on Oxford Street so I imagine not too far from where you are based. I have actually done the 2016 Querying SQL course and it was very good - the trainer was excellent.

https://www.qa.com/training-courses/technical-it-t...

Thanks - looking for somebody to come on site ideally.

[maniac886]

MoelyCrio said:

Thanks - looking for somebody to come on site ideally.

Knowledge Academy may be a possibility?


https://www.theknowledgeacademy.com/onsite/

[L2L]

Have used and can highly recommend Wise Owl Training, they are in Manchester but can do onsite delivery as well. Really clear materials and delivery, have a look at the testimonials.

http://www.wiseowl.co.uk/reviews/accountants.htm

[Greenmantle]

Will need more information to go on.

Reading your original post it seems that you are experiencing some issues with 2014.
Can you say what problems you are experiencing (slowness, read inconsistency etc etc).

Next someone needs to understand what code you are writing and what sort of TSQL practices are in use or carried over from 2008 (Good and bad practices).

Next do you need to look at the installation from the ground up. Have you base lined your system. How realistic are your expectations. Are you using the newer techniques to identify issues or are you still using "SQL Profiler"

Next do you have Standard or Enterprise edition - there is a big difference in what you can do.
for example partitioning, data compression.

For example if I have a
HP BL685c blade (2 processors, 28 cores) 128Gb RAM
HP 3PAR SSD storage
SQL Server Ent 2014 SP1 on Windows 2012R2 virtualised using VmWare 5.5 / 6.0
RDM storage, multiple controllers,
Using Data compression, table partioning
then this has a potential to fly - where is your system compared to this

Give us some more info

John

[RTaylor2208]

To be honest from only a querying perspective not much has changed in SQL server since 2005 so the jump from 2008 to 2014 isn't huge. Yes the database engine has changed significantly but by the sounds of what you describe this is analysts that will be querying data rather than changing anything from a design perspective so as mentioned above partitioning, compression etc etc is pretty irrelevant.

What would you like to learn? How to write better code or how to use the newer functionality? or a bit of both?

9 times out of 10 the issues I see regularly is the approach taken to query the data rather than the use of new functionality solving the problem. As ever there is a few exceptions like if your working with XML \ JSON data.

I've not had any personal training myself from this company but have met Brent in person and attended some of his talks when I've been over in the states and the information provided was excellent. They offer in person consultancy and training as well as online training:

https://learnfrom.brentozar.com/

[MoelyCrio]

L2L said:

Have used and can highly recommend Wise Owl Training, they are in Manchester but can do onsite delivery as well. Really clear materials and delivery, have a look at the testimonials.

http://www.wiseowl.co.uk/reviews/accountants.htm

Cheers, does look good.

[MoelyCrio]

Greenmantle said:

Will need more information to go on.

Reading your original post it seems that you are experiencing some issues with 2014.
Can you say what problems you are experiencing (slowness, read inconsistency etc etc).

Next someone needs to understand what code you are writing and what sort of TSQL practices are in use or carried over from 2008 (Good and bad practices).

Next do you need to look at the installation from the ground up. Have you base lined your system. How realistic are your expectations. Are you using the newer techniques to identify issues or are you still using "SQL Profiler"

Next do you have Standard or Enterprise edition - there is a big difference in what you can do.
for example partitioning, data compression.

For example if I have a
HP BL685c blade (2 processors, 28 cores) 128Gb RAM
HP 3PAR SSD storage
SQL Server Ent 2014 SP1 on Windows 2012R2 virtualised using VmWare 5.5 / 6.0
RDM storage, multiple controllers,
Using Data compression, table partioning
then this has a potential to fly - where is your system compared to this

Give us some more info

John

Thanks for your post, but from my op...

MoelyCrio said:

A manage a team of business analysts and accountants.

And

MoelyCrio said:

improve our collective knowledge of data analysis.

....its just querying for data analysis. Ideally we'd all have Tableau and never go near SSMS, but its a bit expensive.

[RTaylor2208]

MoelyCrio said:

....its just querying for data analysis. Ideally we'd all have Tableau and never go near SSMS, but its a bit expensive.

Have you considered microsofts PowerBI instead of Tableau? It is much much cheaper and whilst pretty new technology can produce impressive results. Best of all you can try it for free:

https://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-us/

Its still dependent on a logically designed database behind it, but may fill your requirement.

Also as an alternative to someone training your team I'd highly recommend purchasing a few copies of these books for the team to self study, it will cover far more detail than training sessions ever will:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/T-SQL-Fundamentals-Itzik-...
https://www.amazon.co.uk/T-SQL-Querying-Developer-...

They too ocassionally run courses, although usually in London and quite expensive. I was fortunate enough to attend a weeks training providede by Itzik back in 2010 and it was probabably the most valuable course I have ever been on.