March 2018 Roundup

March 2018 Roundup

In my role, I spend a lot of my time on a plane. On short haul flights, I’m usually on a Boeing 737, a plane designed almost 50 years ago, having first entered service in 1968. There are numerous articles about why plane travel hasn’t progressed at the same pace as other technologies. However, the main reason is the operational cost, going faster costs more fuel per passenger-mile. Just like the airline industry, IT departments have constant operational pressure which means they aren’t always able to run their Data Platform in an optimal state.

The Virtual DBA service is designed to solve the problem of how to achieve operational excellence for your SQL Server and Business Intelligence platforms at a fraction of the traditional cost. Learn how WARDY IT Solutions can take care of your databases so you can take care of the rest.

Ardent Bowling and Entertainment improve their game with Power BI

With roughly 100 users relying on heavy duty and detailed reporting that was in dire need of an efficiency upgrade, Ardent Bowling and Entertainment took action. Working with WARDY IT Solutions, the company automated the reporting process and gave its stakeholders in-depth business insights at their fingertips.

Since the transition to Power BI, the senior leadership team has been delighted with the quality and speed of reporting, and the analytics team feel empowered, with job satisfaction notably improving. Read the full story here.

Video: Navigating reports & dashboards in Power BI

This video is perfect introductory tour for those who want to start using Power BI! Camille explains how to navigate reports and dashboards in the Power BI Service.

She covers how to view reports, dashboards and workspaces, how to drill down and up, how to add visualisations to a new dashboard, how to share your reports and how to get notifications when reports update. Watch video.

It’s SQL Saturday season in Australia

SQL Saturday season is fast approaching in Australia. SQL Saturdays are free, 1-day training events for SQL Server professionals that focus on local speakers, providing a variety of high-quality technical sessions, and making it all happen through the efforts of volunteers.

Here’s the key dates for your diary:

GDPR and the Microsoft Data Platform

If your company does business in Europe, you’ll need to be aware of this new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) privacy law, which is set to bolster data protections for individuals living within the European Union (EU) starting on May 25, 2018.  Microsoft recommends a four-step process to guide you through the journey to comply with GDPR. Find out more.

 The ins and outs of Stretch Database

Stretch DB – We’ve all heard of it but how many of us have actually used it? And how many have put it into production? In this post, Data Platform Consultant, Anderson Rangel explains what Stretch DB is, how it works, when we should be implementing it and what to look out for. Read blog post.

Have your say with UserVoice

We’re excited to announce that we’ve implemented UserVoice for all WARDY products – My Virtual DBA™, SQL Beacon and SQL Detect!

Have your say by submitting a feature request, or voting up an existing request to inform our development roadmaps. Feature requests with the highest number of votes will be prioritised in our sprints. Submit a request.

Understanding & Managing Virtual Log Files

Over the last few months, we heard a lot of misconceptions around Virtual Log Files (VLFs). In our latest post, Data Platform consultant Anderson Rangel, demystifies VLFs once and for all. Read blog post.

Preview: SQL Information Protection

The public preview of SQL Information Protection (Data Discovery & Classification), introduces advanced capabilities for discovering, classifying, labeling & protecting the sensitive data in your databases. Learn more here.

Modernisation with Azure SQL Managed Instance

The introduction of Azure SQL Managed Instance simplifies the ability to migrate to Azure, whilst providing all the benefits of PaaS. Unlike Azure SQL Database, the new Managed Instance provides all of the instance level configurations that you know and love. Learn more.