January 2015 – Gerhard Brueckl on BI & Data

Almost two years ago I published the first version of an Dynamic ABC Analysis in Power Pivot and by now it is the post with the most comments among all my blog posts. This has two reason:
1) the formula was quite complex and not easy to understand or implement
2) the performance was not really great with bigger datasets

When the first of those comments flew in, I started investigating into a new, advanced formula. At about the same time Marco Russo and Alberto Ferrari published their ABC Classification pattern – a static version using calculated columns – at www.daxpatterns.com. When I had my first dynamic version ready I sent it to Marco and Alberto and asked if they are interested in the pattern and if I can publish it on their website. Long story short – this week the new pattern was released and can now be found here:

ABC Classification – Dynamic

It got some major performance improvements and was also designed towards reusability with other models. The article also contains some detailed explanations how the formula actually works but its still very hard DAX which will take some time to be fully understood. The pattern also features some extended versions to address more specific requirements but I think its best to just read the article on your own.

Hope you enjoy it!

2015 just started – and it is a quickstart in terms of SQL Server conferences! There is quite a lot of upcoming conferences and I am happy that most of them are in Europe.

Below you can find a short overview followed by some more details:

What?	When?	Where?	Am I there?
German SQL Server Conference	February 3-5th	Darmstadt, Germany	Yes, I am speaking!
SQL Saturday Vienna	February 27-28th	Vienna, Austria	Maybe, but not speaking
SQLRally Nordic Copenhagen	March 2-4th	Copenhagen, Denmark	Yes, I am speaking!
SQLBits XIV Superheroes	March 4-7th	London, UK	Yes, I am speaking!

UPDATE 2014-01-13:
I just received a confirmation that my session “Power BI on SAP HANA” was accepted for SQL Bits XIV!
It’s also the first time that I will do a session together with a Co-Speaker, my colleague Markus Begerow (b)

It starts with the German SQL Server Conference 2015 on February 3-5th

I am also very happy that my session “Load testing Analysis Services” was selected and I will be speaking the second time in a row at this awesome conference which is also the biggest German SQL Server Conference out there. And now worries, there are also a lot of English session in case you do not speak German Winking smile

Up next is a true marathon of conferences starting with the SQL Saturday #374 in Vienna on 28th of February.

This year also featuring Pre-Cons on 27th of February!
Reza Rad (t, b) and Leila Etaati (t, b) will be speaking on “Power BI from Rookie to Rockstar” and Dejan Sarka (t, b) on “Advanced Data Modeling”
Last year it was fully booked pretty soon and we had a long waiting list so better do your reservation now!
The schedule can be found here and features 20 sessions of well-know SQL Server professionals.

Directly after the SQL Saturday in Vienna the PASS SQLRally Nordic opens its doors in Copenhagen again on March 2-4.

The official schedule was just released today and can be found here (full PDF)!
I will deliver my session “Deep-Dive to Analysis Services Security” on Wednesday 4th.

Last but definitely not least is SQLBits Conferences, Europe’s biggest SQL Server conference, which is taking place the 13st time now on March 4-7 in London. (don’t get confused just because its SQL Bits XIV, Microsoft also skipped Windows 9 Open-mouthed smile ). This year its all about Superheroes and a lot of SQL Server Superheroes will be there!

A schedule is not available yet but will be made public within the next days I guess so stay tuned!