I already announced a few weeks ago that I and Alberto will speak at SQLBits in Liverpool. We will also speak at SQLPASS Summit in Seattle and at SQLRally Nordic. A few details about my sessions:
- SQLPASS Summit (Seattle, WA – October 11-14, 2011): My session will be Vertipaq vs OLAP: Change Your Data Modeling Approach, which will replicate the SQLBits one. I will try to discuss whether the dimensional modeling (i.e. the star schema) is still the best way to model your relational data for analysis now that you have two different analytical engines, BISM Tabular and BISM Multidimensional. I know, the easy answer is “yes, of course” but it will be interesting to understand when and why this is true and when other design choices might be better.
- SQLPASS Nordic (Aronsborg, Sweden – 8-9 November 2011): I will deliver a BISM Introduction session, showing how to use BISM Tabular (which is the big news in Denali) and what will be the roadmap for the future version of Analysis Services, analyzing the impact on existing applications and the opportunities offered by new features and new tools.
Most important, these conferences will be a great opportunity to be in touch with other BI professionals. The next release of SQL Server will bring the higher number of changes since SQL Server 2005. A critical decision in our professional career is to choose the right moment to adopt the new technologies. You cannot afford to ignore them, but it is also important to understand what to choose and when. The BISM evolution/revolution is a big challenge for all of us, I expect a lot of discussions before and after each session. See you in some corner of the world!