Capital Area SQL Server User Group

Festive Data Enthusiasts!
In lieu of our usual user group meeting, we will be instead heading over to Swifty's in Albany for a casual holiday party. Same time as our usual meeting, but a completely different location!

This is a casual social event and a great opportunity to chat with our local data community, ask questions, and enjoy some laughs. We do have a variety of swag to give away to attendees!

We are meeting starting at 5:30 at Swifty's Restaurant at 95 Everett Road, Albany 12205. Feel free to arrive whenever you are available. We'll wrap up for the evening by 7:30 or 8:00.

Here is the web site for Swifty's:
https://www.swiftyspub.com/
They have an extensive enough menu to cover most dietary restrictions, but if you are unsure, feel free to ask and I'll find out for you.

Please RSVP for yourself and any guests to ensure we have enough space set aside for everyone.

***Please note that unlike some past CASSUG parties, this is not paid for by the user group. Be sure to cover your part of the bill before leaving for the night***

Greetings, data enthusiasts!

Our January meeting is scheduled for Monday, January 13th, at 5:30 pm! We will meet in person at: Rensselaer Chamber of Commerce, 90 4th Street, Troy, NY.

Please RSVP here if you are attending, so we can purchase an appropriate amount of food for everyone. Food is TBA (will be announced closer to the event). For this meeting, we are welcoming Scott Helmers, a Microsoft MVP hailing from the Boston area!

Our meeting schedule is as follows:

• 5:30 PM: Food, soft drinks, and networking
• 6:15 PM: Chapter news and announcements
• 6:30 PM: Presentation

We usually wrap up between 7:30 PM and 8:00 PM.

Scott helmers is presenting: Transforming Network and Facility Management with Visio and Power BI:

There’s no shortage of data in most organizations, but the existence of data isn’t enough. How do you leverage that data, learn from it, and draw insights that will help you move your organization forward?

One answer is to visualize the data in the context of a diagram, which is surprisingly easy to do when you know a little bit about Visio and Power BI. In this session, you’ll learn how to create Visio diagrams that “light up” with several types of visualizations. You’ll also appreciate how easy it is to drop a Visio diagram into Power BI and link it with other visuals so you can slice and filter data across multiple visuals with one click. The presence of the Visio diagram in Power BI adds context: you know exactly which rooms are too hot; which virtual machines are running apps that have failed; which network switch needs to be replaced and exactly where it’s located.

The examples used in this session are from a real customer project and include facility diagrams that incorporate drilldown from a regional view to a building to a floor, and then use heat maps to show property maintenance issues. You'll also see a theme park map in which buildings light up based on data about equipment they contain. Though this session features two specific case examples, the concepts apply much more broadly: If you have a diagram and corresponding data, you can visualize it using tools you already have.

Greetings, data enthusiasts!

Our February meeting is scheduled for Monday, February 10th, at 5:30 pm! We will meet in person at: Rensselaer Chamber of Commerce, 90 4th Street, Troy, NY.

Please RSVP if you are attending, so we can purchase an appropriate amount of food for everyone. Food is TBA (will be announced closer to the event). For this meeting, we are welcoming Dominick Raimato, who is joining us from the exotic land of New Jersey! Thank you for taking the time and energy to join us and share your knowledge!

Our meeting schedule is as follows:

5:30 PM: Food, soft drinks, and networking
6:15 PM: Chapter news and announcements
6:30 PM: Presentation

We usually wrap up between 7:30 PM and 8:00 PM. Dominick's session will be, "Simulating Scenarios with Power BI":

What if we could predict the future? Forecasting helps us see what could happen, but what if you want to prepare for the worst-case scenario? What if you want to see how changes in headcount could impact your store sales? Could I turn our data into a coaching tool to help leaders and individual contributors alike understand how they can make a difference?

If you have ever considered how you could simulate different scenarios within Power BI this session is for you! We will look into how to you can leverage What If parameters for simple scenarios with a couple of clicks and keystrokes. Have lots of inputs and adjustments you could make? See how easy it is to embed a Power App directly into your report to manage the simulation. Either way, you will learn how to extract valuable insights into what could happen in the future.

At the end of the session, you will understand how to enable simulation with both What If parameters and Power Apps within Power BI.

This session is ideal for users who have developed reports and are looking to take their reports to the next level. A basic understanding of DAX and Power Apps is helpful but not a requirement.

Greetings, data enthusiasts!

Our March meeting is scheduled for Monday, March 10th, at 5:30 pm! We will meet in person at: Rensselaer Chamber of Commerce, 90 4th Street, Troy, NY.

Please RSVP if you are attending, so we can purchase an appropriate amount of food for everyone. This is a ROUNDTABLE meeting, therefore the schedule, topics, and presentations will be shorter, more casual and ad-hoc.

Our meeting schedule is as follows:

5:30 PM: Food, soft drinks, and networking
6:15 PM: Chapter news and announcements
6:30 PM: Presentation
We will wrap up between 7:30 PM and 8:00 PM.

This month's meeting is a CASSUG Roundtable! Bring your own topics and we will discuss and try to solve them! Some ideas on what makes a successful roundtable:

Questions
Discussions
Conundrums
Challenges
Personal victories
Code sharing
Job search status/requests

While there will not be a formal speaker for this meeting, having an agenda makes things move more smoothly. If you have anything to present, discuss, or ask and know in advance, please message me or reply to this event and I will create a rough agenda of what we will tackle! As a bonus, this allows us to prepare a bit more and look up some resources ahead of time.

Details on topics, proposals, and requests will be added closer to the meeting date. Feel free to bring your own content or ideas to share, as this is a casual/relaxed meeting.