All ColoradoSQL user group meetings start at 5:30 p.m. and provide food and refreshments. There is no cost to attend so bring a co-worker…or two. These events provide for great learning opportunities as well as networking with other local SQL Server professionals.

BoulderSQL

Third Tuesday

Market Force

248 Centennial Parkway
Louisville, CO 80027

Presentation 1:

Title: The SQL Family Connection 

Using social media to get technical support, and also to promote your career.

Presenter: Mike Fal ( blog )

Mike Fal is a musician turned SQL Server DBA, with 10+ years of experience as a database administrator. He has worked for several different industries, including healthcare, software development, marketing, and manufacturing and has experience supporting databases from 1 GB to 4 TB in size. Mike received his a Bachelor's Degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 1996 and has been caught playing trombone in public on more than one occasion.

Presentation 2:

Title: Introduction to Data Warehousing

Just starting or thinking of starting a data warehousing project but not sure where to begin. Or still not sure if your organization needs a data warehouse. This discussion is geared towards answering the what and why (or why not) of data warehousing.

Presenter: Marc Beacom ( blog | twitter )  & Jeff Renz ( twitter )

Marc Beacom, MCTS - SQL Server 2008 BI and Development, has over 15 years of technical and business experience. He is currently Principal Architect and Owner of DawaBI focusing on Making Data-Driven Decisions Possible by delivering user friendly and scalable data warehouse and business intelligence solutions. Marc is an active volunteer within the community and currently co-organizer of the Colorado GiveCamp and Advisory Board Member for Camp To Belong Colorado.  Marc has also volunteered for other organizations such as the Denver SQL Server UG, Colorado Springs SQL Server UG and spent a year as a regional mentor for PASS.

Jeff Renz: Currently working for Abound Solar as the lead architect implementing a solar panel field performance data warehouse.
Developed global manufacturing and supply chain data collection and reporting solutions since 1999.  Bachelors degree in computer science and a masters degree in operations research from the Colorado School of Mines.  Certified by the Genesee Academy as a Certified Data Vault Data Modeler.

SpringsSQL

Third Wednesday

Hyatt Place – Garden of the Gods

503 West Garden of the Gods Road
Colorado Springs, CO 80919

Presentation 1:

Title:

What’s new in T-SQL for SQL Server 2012 – Part 1

SQL Server 2012 has many new T-SQL enhancements that will simplify your code…and life.  We’ll roll up our sleeves and dive in.

Presenter: Marc Beacom ( blog | twitter )

Marc Beacom, MCTS - SQL Server 2008 BI and Development, has over 15 years of technical and business experience. He is currently Principal Architect and Owner of DawaBI focusing on Making Data-Driven Decisions Possible by delivering user friendly and scalable data warehouse and business intelligence solutions. Marc is an active volunteer within the community and currently co-organizer of the Colorado GiveCamp and Advisory Board Member for Camp To Belong Colorado.  Marc has also volunteered for other organizations such as the Denver SQL Server UG, Colorado Springs SQL Server UG and spent a year as a regional mentor for PASS.

Presentation 2:

Title: Develop a Quick and Dirty Web Interface to your Database: for the DBA and other non-developers

So you want to develop to your database? Do you have your own tools to check performance? Does Chris Shaw's Utility Database sound like a tool you have and want a web interface, but don’t want to write a lot of code? I will demonstrate how a simple ASP.Net MVC site can be developed and deployed against your database. See firsthand how easy we can use Shaw's utility database and access across the web over a mobile device so you may manage performance online whilst zipping your drink of choice.

Presenter: Gabe Villa ( blog | twitter )

Bio: Originally from El Paso, Texas, Gabriel has over 10 years’ professional developer experience using Microsoft technologies. Gabriel is an MCPD, ASP.NET Developer and an MCTS in SQL Server 2008 Database Development. He has developed desktop, web and database systems for the medical, retail, imports distributors, and automotive industries. Gabriel recently moved with his wife and three kids to Colorado Springs, where he works for a small ISV developing software for the big-ticket retail industry.

DenverSQL

Third Thursday

Microsoft DTC Office

7579 Technology Way, Suite 400
Denver, CO 80237

Presentation 1:

Title: Exposing the Core: Intro to SQL Server 2012 on Server Core

Everything that's old is new again. With SQL 2012, we can now run our SQL Servers on Server Core, a version of the Windows OS that is smaller and more secure. This presentation will introduce you to Server Core, how to prepare it for a SQL installation, and how to actually install SQL 2012 on to it.

Presenter: Mike Fal ( blog )

Mike Fal is a musician turned SQL Server DBA, with 10+ years of experience as a database administrator. He has worked for several different industries, including healthcare, software development, marketing, and manufacturing and has experience supporting databases from 1 GB to 4 TB in size. Mike received his a Bachelor's Degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 1996 and has been caught playing trombone in public on more than one occasion.

Presentation 2:

Title: ETL as Master Data Management

The worst customer service I have ever personally experienced was directly tied to a company’s failure to have an effective Master Data Management (MDM) system.
Most companies have multiple data sources that track the exact same data. Retail operations have multiple point of sale systems (internet, phone, bricks and mortar); health care providers have multiple applications for specialties (Radiology, oncology, etc.); finance companies have multiple systems based on products (mortgages, other loans, checking and savings accounts). These systems track the same or similar data (e.g. all systems track customers) and can maintain completely different information about the same thing. This arises from human data entries and failure to manage the critical nouns for the company and a lack of effective MDM solutions in the market.
ETL solutions in the BI stack are perfectly positioned to manage this data, reconcile the differences and maintain consistency across an enterprise. I will speak about what I consider to be the four main jobs of any MDM system and how to incorporate these into an ETL system:

• Identify data inconsistencies
• Reconcile those differences (programmatically if possible)
• Synchronize reconciled data with source systems
• Send any un-reconciled data to humans for resolution

Presenter: Mike Sexton ( blog | twitter )

Stunningly handsome yet surprisingly humble, Mike Sexton spent the first ten years of his career as a public defender in New York. Realizing he could make far more money as a junior programmer than as a lawyer with 10 years’ experience, he had a revelation, the words of which that are not appropriate for a family publication. Since then Mike has traveled the lands taming errant database applications, publishing and blogging at www.sqlmountain.com. He recently published Applied Architecture Patterns on the Microsoft Platform, which may be found at finer bookstores. Mike can be found living the high life in Colorado with a hot blonde on his arm.

All ColoradoSQL user group meetings start at 5:30 p.m. and provide food and refreshments. There is no cost to attend so bring a co-worker…or two. These events provide for great learning opportunities as well as networking with other local SQL Server professionals.

BoulderSQL

Third Tuesday

(Location has moved – please see website at www.BoulderSQL.org for more info)

Presentation 1:

Title: Smart Coding for Addressing Index Fragmentation

Rather than simply running pre-formed maintenance plans that may have unexpected results, learn to write “smart code” – code that assess which tables have indexes that need to be rebuilt, then judiciously decide which ones to target, and optionally automate this process.

Level: Beginner to Intermediate, for both DBAs and Developers

Presentation will include.

– What tables are indexed?

– What columns does table X have indexed?

– Are there any “included columns” in the indexes?

- Write scripts for judiciously rebuilding indexes based on your criteria of table size (rows or bytes) and fragmentation level.

Presenter: Paul Paiva ( blog )

Paul Paiva has 16 years’ experience with Microsoft SQL Server. He has worked in the roles of production DBA, database developer, database architect, applications developer, business intelligence and data warehouse developer, and instructor for students aspiring for MCDBA certification. He has performed numerous data migrations and supported large databases (3 Terabyte, 1+ billion rows) with high transactions. Presently he is an independent SQL Server consultant with CoCreative Solutions. He is a member of the Professional Association for SQL Server (PASS), blogs about lessons learned from a developer’s approach to SQL Server administration, and has been the co-president of the Boulder SQL Server Users’ Group for the past three years.

SpringsSQL

Third Wednesday

Hyatt Place – Garden of the Gods

503 West Garden of the Gods Road
Colorado Springs, CO 80919

Presentation 1:

Title: Oracle for the SQL Server DBA

Are you curious about Oracle, but afraid to admit it? It is common for many DBA's to be biased to one database platform, but it has become more and more demanding of the database administrator to manage and have a firm knowledge of more than one in many environments. This session will introduce the SQL Server DBA to Oracle in a way that will meet their day to day challenges in a multi-platform database environment. Come learn about how Oracle and SQL Server are very similar, different and how to translate common concepts in SQL Server to Oracle database administration. No prior experience in Oracle is required and important features and concepts will be covered to assist the SQL Server DBA in incorporating Oracle into their database skill set.

Presenter: Kellyn Pot’vin

Kellyn Pot'vin, (pronounced Poet-Vaughn) has been a database administrator for over eleven years, a new Oracle ACE, specializing in large database performance tuning. In the last year, she's been working with large SSD databases and Exadata, taking advantage of the newest technology and performance tuning features. Kellyn is known for her technical blog, dbakevlar.com, and is a member of the board of directors for Rocky Mountain Oracle Users Group, (RMOUG). She's performed numerous presentations on performance tuning and written articles for various technical newsletters and Web sites, starting out as an active participant on the Oracle-L list. She currently contributes to several technical sites and publications, including ITNewsCast and OraDBPedia. Kellyn lives with her three children in Broomfield, CO, and currently is honing her technical skills at I-behavior, a marketing firm in Louisville, CO.

Presentation 2:

Title: What is the Best Disaster Recovery Solution

Case Study – Get ready to work through a real world problem, we are going to spend this session reviewing a company and the challenges they faced when it comes to Disaster Recovery. Once we have a good handle on the challenges they have, we will talk through what the solution for them would be. Consider this a follow up to last month’s meeting. Take a few minutes to download and review some of the specifics on this company.

Presenter: Chris Shaw ( blog | twitter )

DenverSQL

Third Thursday

Microsoft DTC Office

7579 Technology Way, Suite 400
Denver, CO 80237

Presentation 1:

Title: Big Data

Why is Big Data such a hot topic these days? Is there anything different at the conceptual level than what we are doing with data today? What is Microsoft's offering in the Big Data space? Why is a guy from the SQL Server product team talking to us about noSql concepts and open source products?

Presenter: Kevin Cox ( web | twitter )

Kevin Cox has been working with databases for over 35 years and with SQL Server for more than 25 years. He is an author, lecturer and mentor in database subjects. Kevin is currently with the Microsoft SQL Server product group in the Customer Advisory Team and feels fortunate to be able to work on the largest projects around the world.

All ColoradoSQL user group meetings start at 5:30 p.m. and provide food and refreshments. There is no cost to attend so bring a co-worker…or two. These events provide for great learning opportunities as well as networking with other local SQL Server professionals.

BoulderSQL

Meeting canceled this month

SpringsSQL

Third Wednesday

Hyatt Place – Garden of the Gods

Presentation 1:

Title: What is the Best Disaster Recovery Solution?

It depends, every situation is different. The question is often asked of DBA's to provide a solution to very open ended requirements.  However, the best solution can only be provided if the database professional is getting all the answers.  This session is a case study into many of Disaster Recovery options that we as database professionals have.  Understand the answers to the important questions that  we should be asking to provide the best solution not only for the database but for the business as well.  As an attendee you will learn how to change an answer from it depends into a solid solution that can be built upon. We will take examples from experiences and as a group determine what the best situation is, and then compare it to the actual solution implemented.

i.   At the end of this session, the attendees will be able to describe the differences between all the disaster recovery solutions and when to use them.
ii.  Walk away knowing the right questions to ask when presented with a disaster recovery project and why the answers change the disaster recovery options that could be presented.
iii. Learn from real life examples the stumbling points that you won’t read in books on line.

Presenter: Chris Shaw ( blog | twitter )

Chris started his database career while in the Marine Corps somewhere in 1993.  From there he went on to companies such as Wells Fargo, Pulte Mortgage and Yellow Pages Inc., and later consulted with insurance companies including Anthem Blue Shield.  Chris has enjoyed writing and speaking about SQL Server over the last 10 years at events such as SQL Connections, Pass and SSWUG Ultimate conferences where Chris was the Conference Chair. Chris received the Microsoft MVP award.  He is the founding member of the Colorado Springs SQL Server User Group and is currently blogging on chrisshaw.wordpress.com, sswug.org and writing his book,  How to Find Your Next DBA Job.

DenverSQL

Third Thursday

Microsoft DTC Office

7579 Technology Way, Suite 400
Denver, CO 80237

Presentation 1:

Title: What is SQL Server AlwaysOn?

SQL Server AlwaysOn is the new comprehensive high availability (HA) and disaster recovery solution for SQL Server 2012. Using AlwaysOn, businesses can now achieve increased application availability and get better return on their hardware investments through a simplified HA deployment and management experience.

AlwaysOn comes with new and enhanced capabilities that can provide availability for specific application database(s) and also the entire instance which provides the flexibility to support various high availability configurations:

• AlwaysOn Availability Group is the new capability that helps protect application databases from both planned and unplanned downtime.
• AlwaysOn Failover Cluster Instance provides protection for the entire instance and is an enhancement to the existing SQL Server Failover Cluster Instance.

Both AlwaysOn Availability Group and AlwaysOn Failover Cluster Instance rely on Windows Server Failover Clustering infrastructure which provides a robust and reliable high availability platform.

Presenter: Mike Wilmont ( blog | twitter )

Mike Wilmot is an SQL Server Technology Specialist working in the Communications and Media & Entertainment sectors at Microsoft. He has been working with Microsoft Database and Development tools since the early-1990s and has been at Microsoft since 1997 and took a 3 year hiatus to run his own Microsoft-based consulting firm before returning back to Microsoft. Mike has a Masters in Computer Science from University of North Carolina (Charlotte). Mike’s technical strengths are Microsoft SQL Server OLTP and OLAP technologies and .NET development.  He also worked for Lucent Technologies where he worked on  multi-threaded, kernel-mode VOIP devices drivers.

Mike’s interests outside of work are trying to keep up with his 3 kids, playing online chess and running triathlons in Colorado. His undergrad was from the US Naval Academy and he spent 6 years in the Marine Corps and was in Desert Storm.

All ColoradoSQL user group meetings start at 5:30 p.m. and provide food and refreshments. There is no cost to attend so bring a co-worker…or two. These events provide for great learning opportunities as well as networking with other local SQL Server professionals.

BoulderSQL

Third Tuesday

Level 3 Communications

Room 4LA-07

1025 Eldorado Blvd
Broomfield, CO 80021

Presentation 1:

Title: Eating the Elephant: SQL Server Table Partitioning

Is your table fat? Do you need to manage a table that has billions of rows within it and are overwhelmed by index rebuilds that take more than 12 hours? SQL Server's table partitioning gives the DBA the tools to manage this beast and support very large tables in a way where index management and data retrieval does not become unwieldy. This presentation will take you step by step through choosing an appropriate partitioning key, setting up the partitioning on the table, and finally maintaining the partitions.

Presenter: Mike Fal ( blog | twitter )

Mike Fal is a musician turned SQL Server DBA, with 10+ years of experience along with some brief excursions into Oracle and Netezza. He has worked for several different industries, including healthcare, software development, marketing, and manufacturing and has experience supporting databases from 1 GB to 4 TB in size. Mike received his Bachelor's Degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 1996 and has been caught playing trombone in public on more than one occasion.

SpringsSQL

No meeting as they hosted SQL Saturday #104

DenverSQL

Third Thursday

Microsoft DTC Office

7579 Technology Way, Suite 400
Denver, CO 80237

Presentation 1:

Title: TDE, oh what fun! Auditing, no!!

I have this database which must meet all of these governmental regulations. Just like the government to make life a lot harder but wait, now they say I most also meet International regulations. Can this be true? Why me? Let's look at what we can do to help us pass audits and comply with the laws around us. We will explore the features in SQL Server 2008 which help us.
I need to install TDE, what do I do? Move the database to other server, can I do that? I used certificates, can I change them. I don’t like governments making me do all this stuff, it complicates my database. What does TDE do to my backups? Can I remove it? Auditing, no, let’s run for the hills. Let’s see how Sql Server can help us with these issues.

Presenter: Tom Norman

Tom has been working with SQL Server since 1998. He has worked internationally with SQL Server. His current responsibilities include Replication, Performance and Server Compliance of all Production databases in the US and UK. Tom and his team has just finished upgrading several products to Sql Server 2008 R2 on VMware while putting them on a new SAN and bringing them into PCI compliance. Tom is the past President of the Denver SQL Server User Group and actively speaks at SQL Saturday events and local events.

All ColoradoSQL user group meetings start at 5:30 p.m. and provide food and refreshments. There is no cost to attend so bring a co-worker…or two. These events provide for great learning opportunities as well as networking with other local SQL Server professionals.

BoulderSQL

Third Tuesday 

Level 3 Communications

Room 4LA-07

1025 Eldorado Blvd
Broomfield, CO 80021

Presentation 1:

Title: SQL Programming: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly

Presenter: Victor Kushdilian

An insight into some common poor SQL development practices that can severely impact the performance of the database server. I will bring to light my experiences from 4 production SQL environments including some real examples with a focus on how to detect and avoid these practices.

Victor Kushdilian has over 20 years experience developing database applications starting with PL1/CICS/DB2 as an employee at IBM. Founded SportsWare, Inc in 1994 - a company developing and marketing desktop software for the fledgling fantasy sports market. As one of the founding businesses in the industry, designed, developed and sold The Commissioner series of fantasy sports software products using various database platforms including Foxpro, VB, Delphi.

Developed and launched one of the first commercially available web sites supporting fantasy leagues in 2001 using SQL Server 2000. Converted to a contract BI Developer in 2008 and have worked in 4 production SQL Server environments with the responsibilities that include design and development of complete database systems including functions/procs/jobs/schema, various SSIS packages, and complete SSRS reporting systems. I have successfully revamped 2 database systems to create highly scalable, high performance reporting solutions.

Currently working at Ball Manufacturing in Broomfield as a BI Developer and Analyst designing and developing a new data warehouse (SSAS) which will collect manufacturing metrics from 19 remote SQL Servers.

Presentation 2:

Title: New Features in SQL Server 2012

Presenter: Mike Wilmot

Power View code name “Project Crescent” is a new interactive data exploration and visual presentation tool coming in the next version of SQL Server 2012.  This and other features like Always On will be demonstrated by Microsoft.

SpringsSQL

Third Wednesday 

Mr. Biggs

5825 Mark Dabling Boulevard
Colorado Springs, CO 80919

Presentation 1:

Title: A Journey Through the Metadata Catalog

Presenter: Troy Ketsdever ( blog | twitter )

In this interactive session, we will explore the system catalog views that tell us about the schema and structure of your database. Navigating the views via their logical relationships, we will examine representative queries and their utility for learning about your db design.

Troy Ketsdever is a data architect with over 15 years of commercial software development experience, and has maintained a love/hate relationship with SQL Server since version 4.2. In addition to his "day job", Troy enjoys writing articles and presenting at user groups on a variety of database design and implementation topics. His main objective and vision is “making the right information available to the right people at the right time.

Presentation 2:

Title: SQL Server Performance Tuning

Presenter: Mark Halstead

SQL Server performance tuning with an emphasis on finding the bottlenecks, Query design problems and database design problems.

Mark Halstead is the SQL Server technical lead dba for Xtivia working in the Virtual-DBA group. He had been with Xtivia, Inc. for 5 years and has worked with SQL Server for more than 15 years. He has worked in IT for 20+ years specializing in database administration.

DenverSQL

Third Thursday 

Microsoft DTC Office

7579 Technology Way, Suite 400
Denver, CO 80237

Presentation 1:

Title: What is in that table anyway? Profiling Data with the SSIS Data Profiling Task and Viewer

Presenter: Andy Vold ( twitter )

Have you ever been tasked with data profiling responsibilities or simply wanted an easy way to learn more about the data in your tables? In this session Andy Vold will introduce you to the Data Profiling Task within SQL Server Integration Services and how it can be used to help you accomplish these tasks.

Andy Vold is a Consultant with RevGen Partners. His primary focus is in database development, SSIS and SSRS.

Presentation 2:

Title: So you are a New DBA – Now What?

Presenter: Todd Kleinhans ( twitter )

In this presentation, Todd will go over a recent client experience of being a new DBA in an existing environment. It will be a mix of screenshots, some code, and audience participation.

Todd Kleinhans has been working with SQL Server since 1999. He has worked as a DBA, developer, data architect, manager, and consultant. His current job is as a Senior SQL Server DBA consultant at Datavail.

Microsoft has recently released the SQL Server Developer Training kit for SQL Server 2012. The developers kit includes fantastic resources to learning SQL Server. Download it here.

The Colorado GiveCamp is underway with 40 volunteers and 5 charities.  Gabe Villa ( blog | twitter ), Kevin Krueger ( blog | twitter ), Jason Horner ( twitter ) and I have been organizing this event for the last several months.  This is the second GiveCamp hosted in Colorado. The first was in January down in the Springs where Gabe organized a great event where we were able to help a charity move from a static HTML website to a content management system, mojoPortal.  The local news was on hand throughout the weekend to cover the event back in January.  Check out the KOAA video to get a sense of what a GiveCamp is all about.

This weekend, we are working with the following 5 charities. 

 Anchor Center for Blind Children. Founded in 1982, Anchor Center for Blind Children's staff have taught visually impaired infants, young children and families, for almost 30 years-providing hope and a nurturing environment where children reach their highest potential. Housed in a beautiful, architecturally modern building in Stapleton, Anchor Center is designed to address the learning styles of young children with vision impairments.  Walk in the door and find specialized lighting, acoustics and a myriad of textures that help children find their way around.  A stroll through the sensory gardens will delight all visitors as they experience bright colors, interesting textures and pleasing scents.

Children from birth through five and their families are served at this magical place.  Parents begin their journey by attending programs where they and their babies learn to simply enjoy each other and get used to seeing the world using senses other than vision.  By the time children turn into toddlers they, like all children, begin to think the world revolves around them. Parents begin to step back and let their children take the lead. Observers of the preschool will see rambunctious children navigating their way using canes and utilizing early Braille skills to read. Children spend time with friends learning good manners, sharing snacks and meals, gardening, tap dancing, riding tricycles, rolling down grassy hills, singing and going on field trips to ice arenas, swimming pools, fire stations and more. So that students do not lose all that they have learned over the school year, we have an extended summer program. This lets children continue their development and also allows parents and siblings the chance to participate in programming, providing them access to information and techniques to aid them in at-home therapies.

Community Ministry. For over 40 years the mission of Community Ministry has been to meet the basic needs of qualified people in Southwest Denver who are experiencing economic hardships and related problems. This is accomplished by providing:

• Emergency food
• Children’s clothing
• School Supplies
• Utility Assistance
• Thanksgiving and Christmas Food boxes
• Christmas gifts for needy children
• Information and referral Services
• Collaborating with other non-profit agencies to provide medical screening, nutrition classes and other services.

Community Ministry was founded in 1968 by eight churches. Today twenty-five churches, area schools and community groups support the organization with in-kind and financial donations as well as volunteers. As a volunteer driven non-profit, Community Ministry is pleased to report that over 82% of its budget comes from donations, in-kind contributions, and volunteer time. The organization employs only three part-time people to oversee the entire operation. The ability to use volunteers as the primary workforce ensures cost efficiency and maximizes help to thousands needy families in Southwest Denver.

The Laboratory to Combat Human Trafficking is an anti-human trafficking non-profit based in Denver, CO. Ours is not a laboratory of beakers and burners, but instead a laboratory for the exchange of innovative ideas and ongoing discussion. Our mission is to combat human trafficking at a local and global level through community-based research, training and education, leadership development, and intentional collaboration. We have a vision of developing sustainable efforts to end human trafficking by establishing community support mechanisms and serving as a catalyst for social change.

One of our exciting current research projects is the Colorado Project. Where many anti-trafficking efforts have operated in isolation, the Colorado Project seeks to foster respectful and intentional collaboration. Led by the Laboratory to Combat Human Trafficking (LCHT), the Project Team is intentionally composed of a small group of experts who represent the 4Ps in anti-human trafficking efforts (prevention, protection, prosecution, and partnerships). With an interdisciplinary Project Team and the oversight of a diverse national Advisory Board, we aim to build bridges between researchers and practitioners, capitalizing on the combined strength of individuals and organizations to guide and assist communities in anti-human trafficking efforts.

Partners in Routt County. The mission of Partners in Routt County (PRC) is to make a positive difference in the lives of Routt County youth by facilitating one-to-one partnerships between adult volunteers and youth.  In 1996, a group of concerned community members contacted Partners Mentoring Association to receive assistance in developing a youth mentoring organization. For ten years, PRC’s sole focus was the One-to-One Mentoring Program and then in 2006, PRC began the implementation of a School-Based Mentoring Program as well.  We aim to address high risk behaviors and increase protective factors in the lives of the youth in our community.  PRC’s vision is that all Routt County youth will be empowered to live healthy, productive lives, contribute to their community, and successfully pursue their dreams.

Pikes Peak Young Marines. The Young Marines is a youth education and service program for boys and girls, ages 8 through completion of high school. The Young Marines promotes the mental, moral, and physical development of its members. The program focuses on character building, leadership, and promotes a healthy, drug-free lifestyle. The Young Marines is the focal point for the U.S. Marine Corps' Youth Drug Demand Reduction efforts.

The image below is of most of the first day attendees, including volunteers and charities.

The Denver SQL Server User Group is starting another round for the certification study group. Last year we ran three sessions with each focusing in on a specific subject area (DBA, Dev, BI). For the next session starting next week, we thought we would try a general study session and allow for anyone wanting to study for any of the exams to participate.

Please send an email to studygroup@denversql.org so that we can add you to an email list. We’ll use this list to send any updates as they relate to the certification study group. Several of you have already sent us an email expressing your interest and have been added to the list so no need to send a second email. We can get your email address at Monday’s meeting if you don’t respond.

The Concept

The concept of the study sessions is to assist you in your path to passing the Microsoft SQL Server certifications. The core of this is self-study utilizing the training kits and other resources you have available. We’ll meet in person on a regular basis (once a week or so) to discuss any questions or concepts to better strengthen your understanding of the materials. The duration of the study session will last 6 weeks.

Meeting Details

We are meeting at the Department of Technology Services for Denver Public Schools located at 780 Grant Street, Denver, CO 80203.  This is a secure building and you will be allowed access via the front door located on Grant Street.

Study Outline

If anyone is studying for any of the MCITP exams, we’ll develop a schedule as there is not a specific study book for these exams.

Helpful Links

Below are links to additional information and study materials for the different tests. Here is information on special offers Microsoft has through June 30, 2011. To ask any questions to the group, the user group forms can be found at the following links: BI, Dev, and DBA.

Study Materials

Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS)

BI 70-448 Materials TS: Microsoft SQL Server 2008, Business Intelligence Development and Maintenance

DEV 70-433 Materials TS: Microsoft SQL Server 2008, Database Development

DBA 70-432 Materials TS: Microsoft SQL Server 2008, Implementation and Maintenance

Microsoft Certified IT Professional

BI 70-452 Materials PRO: Designing a Business Intelligence Infrastructure Using Microsoft SQL Server 2008

DEV 70-451 Materials PRO: Designing Database Solutions and Data Access Using Microsoft SQL Server 2008

DBA 70-450 Materials PRO: Designing, Optimizing and Maintaining a Database Administrative Solution Using Microsoft SQL Server 2008

All ColoradoSQL user group meetings start at 5:30 p.m. and provide food and refreshments. There is no cost to attend so bring a co-worker…or two. These events provide for great learning opportunities as well as networking with other local SQL Server professionals.

BoulderSQL

Third Tuesday (September 20)

Level 3 Communications

Room 4LA-07

1025 Eldorado Blvd
Broomfield, CO 80021

Presentation 1:

Title: SQL Programming: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Presenter: Victor Kushdilian

An insight into some common poor SQL development practices that can severely impact the performance of the database server. I will bring to light my experiences from 4 production SQL environments including some real examples with a focus on how to detect and avoid these practices.

Victor Kushdilian has over 20 years experience developing database applications starting with PL1/CICS/DB2 as an employee at IBM. Founded SportsWare, Inc in 1994 - a company developing and marketing desktop software for the fledgling fantasy sports market. As one of the founding businesses in the industry, designed, developed and sold The Commissioner series of fantasy sports software products using various database platforms including Foxpro, VB, Delphi.

Developed and launched one of the first commercially available web sites supporting fantasy leagues in 2001 using SQL Server 2000. Converted to a contract BI Developer in 2008 and have worked in 4 production SQL Server environments with the responsibilities that include design and development of complete database systems including functions/procs/jobs/schema, various SSIS packages, and complete SSRS reporting systems. I have successfully revamped 2 database systems to create highly scalable, high performance reporting solutions.

Currently working at Ball Manufacturing in Broomfield as a BI Developer and Analyst designing and developing a new data warehouse (SSAS) which will collect manufacturing metrics from 19 remote SQL Servers.

Presentation 2:

Title: "So You Are a New DBA - Now What?"

Presenter: Todd Kleinhans ( twitter )  

In this presentation Todd will go over a recent client experience of being a new dba in an existing environment. It will be a mix of screenshots, some code, and audience participation.

Topics will include:

• Professional Conduct
• Responsibilities
• Immediate Concerns and Projects
• Getting Access to Systems
• Escalation Procedures
• Documentation - We Don't Need No Stinkin' Documentation!
• What Maintenance?
• Scheduling Changes and Maintenance
• Routines and Monitoring
• Optimization and Tuning
• Free Tools

Todd Kleinhans has been working with SQL Server since 1999. He has worked as a dba, developer, data architect, manager, and consultant. His current job is as a Senior SQL Server DBA consultant at Datavail.

SpringsSQL

Third Wednesday (September 21)

Mr. Biggs

5825 Mark Dabling Boulevard
Colorado Springs, CO 80919

Presentation 1:

Title: “This is SQL Jeopardy!”

Presenter: Rebecca Mitchell ( blog | twitter )

The category is “Colorado Springs SQL Server User Group”. The clue is “A thrilling, mettle-proving battleground of fun in which knowledge of SQL is proven amongst peers in 20 glorious minutes!” If you said “What is SQL Jeopardy?” you are absolutely right!  Join our very own T-“Do Not Call Me Alex” SQL Princess in our first ever SQL Jeopardy as we set our members against one another to determine who will be crowned the SQL Jeopardy Champion!

Rebecca is currently a database administrator with six fun-filled years of experience in SQL Server administration and development. With a background in a variety of technologies, she possesses over twelve years of notable success in providing and implementing technology solutions in an assortment of industries including aerospace manufacturing, container shipping, and local government. Sometimes referred to as the “T-SQL Princess,” she is also the Vice President of Marketing for the Colorado Springs SQL Server User Group and an overall goofball.

Presentation 2:

Title: Devs are from Mars, Report Servers are from Venus

Presenter: Doug Lane ( blog | twitter )

Do you remember what it was like to fall in love? Wasn't it wonderful? Lately it just hasn't been the same. You've been stuck in the same old routine, doing the same old charts and tables. Maybe Reporting Services doesn’t tell you what’s wrong. Maybe you're even thinking about seeing other reporting products (!) In this session, Doug will re-ignite your passion for RS by showing you how to design for better performance, explaining what RS has been trying to tell you through logs (but you haven't been listening), and demonstrating some new -- and easy -- tricks you may not have known RS can do. After this session, you'll want to spend some time alone with your new old flame.

Doug (MCTS) is a business intelligence, database, and sometimes ASP.NET/C# developer with ten years experience using Microsoft web and database products in the agriculture, insurance, taxonomy, and healthcare industries. He currently works for University Physicians, Inc. as a BI developer.Contact URL: http://www.douglane.net

DenverSQL

Third Thursday (September 15)

Microsoft DTC Office

7579 Technology Way, Suite 400
Denver, CO 80237

Title: PASS Summit 2011 Debrief

Presenter: DenverSQL Board Members (and more!) ( twitter )

Ever wonder what it's like to attend the PASS Summit? Did you want to attend but just couldn't get the boss to approve it? Do you attend the User Groups for free pizza? If you answered yes to at least one of these questions, you will love this month's meeting!
This year's PASS Summit has come and gone, growing by over 20% since last year. In order to shake up the traditional style, some of the DenverSQL Board Members (Marc Beacom ( blog | twitter ), Jason Horner ( blog | twitter ), Steve Wake ( blog | twitter ), Brandon Tucker), first-time PASS attendee Mike Fal ( blog | twitter ), and possibly more will be giving short, informal talks on their experience this year. Topics will include:

• Business Intelligence track
• DBA track
• The social side of PASS
• Networking
• What it's like to attend PASS for the first time
• ...and more!

Please join us for these talks as well as an open forum/panel afterwards to discuss anything not covered. Have your questions ready...this will be your chance to get a feel for everything the PASS Summit has to offer!

All ColoradoSQL user group meetings start at 5:30 p.m. and provide food and refreshments. There is no cost to attend so bring a co-worker…or two. These events provide for great learning opportunities as well as networking with other local SQL Server professionals.

BoulderSQL

Third Tuesday (September 20)

Level 3 Communications

Room 4LA-07

1025 Eldorado Blvd
Broomfield, CO 80021

Title: SQL Server on VMware?

Presenter: Janis Griffin ( twitter ) of Confio

More and more companies are virtualizing with VMWare, and databases are the next logical step. This presentation will explore the fundamentals of monitoring databases running in a VMWare environment because it can be much different than when running on a physical machine. You will learn business and technical benefits of virtualization, master new terms and concepts, pick up useful planning tips and tricks, and cover best practices for maintaining optimum performance in a VMWare environment.

Janis Griffin has over 25 years of DBA experience including design, development and implementation of many critical database applications. Before coming to Confio Software, Janis held may DBA positions working with both real-time routing databases and OLTP business to business applications. As a Principal Architect and Senior Manager, Janis has mentored many other DBAs on best practices in database performance tuning.

SpringsSQL

Third Wednesday (September 21)

Mr. Biggs

5825 Mark Dabling Boulevard
Colorado Springs, CO 80919

Presentation 1:

Title: 10 Things I wish I Knew Then

Presenter: Chris Shaw ( blog | twitter )

Have you ever looked back at your life or decisions you have made and said…. I wish I would have known that 10 years ago. In this short but quick session I will share with you the 10 things I wish I had known then, that I know now.

Chris Shaw started his database career while in the Marine Corps working with Lotus Ami Pro databases somewhere in 1993. From there he went on to companies such as Wells Fargo, Pulte Mortgage and Yellow Pages Inc., and later consulted with insurance companies including Anthem Blue Shield. Chris has enjoyed writing and speaking about SQL Server over the last 10 years at events such as SQL Connections, Pass and SSWUG Ultimate conferences. Chris received the Microsoft MVP award.

Presentation 2:

Title: Detecting and Correcting Database Design Anomalies

Presenter: Troy Ketsdever ( blog | twitter )

It's nice when, as database developers, we have a clean slate to work with. Most of the time, however, we inherit and must support existing designs and implementations (or, perhaps even worse - revisit a design we deployed long ago before we "knew the ropes"). To add to the challenge, more often than not documentation of the database doesn't exist or is out-of-date with respect to the production system.In this session, we'll look at some tools, techniques, and scripts that will accelerate your understanding of that beast you're now in charge of supporting and extending, with a focus on identifying and correcting design and implementation anomalies.

Troy Ketsdever is a data architect with over 15 years of commercial software development experience, and has maintained a love/hate relationship with SQL Server since version 4.2. In addition to his "day job", Troy enjoys writing articles and presenting at user groups on a variety of database design and implementation topics.His main objective and vision is “making the right information available to the right people at the right time”.

When not attempting to wrangle logical conundrums (aka, constraint-less dbs), he enjoys empirical testing via field trials of various aspects of fluid dynamics, particularly with respect to gravitational interactions on deformable dynamic structures in gaseous mediums.

DenverSQL

Third Thursday (September 15)

Microsoft DTC Office

7579 Technology Way, Suite 400
Denver, CO 80237

Title: See the Future with Visual Predictive Analytics

Presenter: Carlos Bossy ( blog | twitter )

Expand the value of your Business Intelligence infrastructure by delivering powerful forecasts and predictions using SQL Server Reporting Services visual capabilities. Using proven predictive models that forecast future buying patterns, foster care placement success, or customer income and net worth, you will see how to create appealing charts, graphs and maps that allow business users to include predictive analytics in their decision making process. In this session, Carlos Bossy will show you how to combine the visual features of SQL Server Reporting Services with the power of Data Mining and Analysis Services to take your organization’s BI competency to the next level.

Carlos Bossy is a MCTS SQL Server 2008 Business Intelligence Developer and Certified Business Intelligence Professional (CBIP) with 25 years of experience in software and database development. Carlos is a consultant for his own company and focuses on developing Business Intelligence solutions including data warehouses, predictive analytics, data integration and reporting. He has been working with SQL Server for 10 years and is very enthusiastic about its powerful features, and enjoys speaking at events such as SQL Saturday conferences, local users groups and IASA. He has developed data warehouses and business intelligence solutions for several industries and state agencies, including solar energy, manufacturing, education and social services.