What we're about

Southampton Data Platform and Cloud user group has been running since 2010 (originally Southampton SQL Server User Group). In that time we have had many local and international speakers present high-quality sessions on a range of SQL Server and data platform topics. We host the user group at 2 Venture Road, on the Science Park at Chilworth on the second Wednesday of each month.
https://goo.gl/maps/dZkH5Vb1dQ6hsoSV9
///sleep.hamsters.person

We aim to deliver high-quality training and insight for free to the Data Platform community.

The user group has been run by John Q Martin & Steph Martin since 2012, during which time we have seen the group grow significantly with members joining and moving on.

Ten years later Mikey Bronowski took over the user group.

We are sponsored by SpectrumIT which is a local recruitment company, set up by recruitment agents who have helped us by providing the location, Pizza and an Amazon voucher to raffle off each meeting.

As a member of this meetup group, you agree to follow the terms set out in the Azure Tech Groups code of conduct here.

Future dates:

  • May 24th in person - University of Southampton Science Park
  • June 14th - virtual only
  • [summer break] July
  • [summer break] August
  • September 13th, 2023 - in-person
  • October 11th, 2023 - virtual only
  • November 8th, 2023 - in-person
  • [winter break] December
  • [winter break] January

Upcoming events (3)

VIRTUAL - SotonDataCloud - 14th June - Power BI Pipelines, Dataflows, Kusto

Link visible for attendees

Welcome to Southampton Data Platform and Cloud Group.

This is the meetup for the VIRTUAL event.

<< link provided shortly before the event >>

Registration will open two weeks before the event:
Wednesday, May 31,[masked]:00 PM

Agenda (UK time)
18:00: Welcome and Intros

18:00: Odeta Jankaitienė - From Development to Production: The Benefits of Power BI Deployment Pipelines

18:30: Marthe Moengen - Power BI Dataflows - why should you care?

19:30: Rosie Djurovic - Powering Up Dataverse and Power BI with Azure Functions

20:00: Brian Bønk - The power between Kusto and Power BI

20:30: Finish

Session details:

1. Odeta Jankaitienė - From Development to Production: The Benefits of Power BI Deployment Pipelines
In this session, Odeta will present the creation and usage of Power BI deployment pipelines for the seamless transition of Power BI solutions from development to production environments. Attendees will learn how deployment pipelines help to streamline and automate the deployment process, reduce errors, and improve collaboration between developers and end users. Odeta will also provide real-world examples of how organizations have leveraged Power BI deployment pipelines to accelerate business intelligence initiatives, increase agility, and improve overall operational efficiency. By the end of the presentation, attendees will have a comprehensive understanding of the benefits of Power BI deployment pipelines and how to implement them within their organizations.

2. Marthe Moengen - Power BI Dataflows - why should you care?
Power BI Service is providing new solutions and ways to solve challenges. One of those features is Power BI Dataflows. So what is that, and why should you care?

In this session, we will take a look at the Power BI Service-specific feature dataflows, and dig into how dataflows can improve the performance of how you consume, create and share business insights. What is the difference between dataflows and Power Query, how can you use dataflows to enable non-technical report developers and are there any AI features you can take advantage of?

3. Rosie Djurovic - Powering Up Dataverse and Power BI with Azure Functions
Azure Functions give you the power to extend the capabilities of Dataverse and Power BI using code (you choose the language!)

In this session I'll talk about how and why I use Azure Functions to run Python in the cloud.

I'll demo
- How to setup your Azure Function
- Retrieve data from Dataverse
- Trigger Power BI refresh

This session will be ideal for beginners who have never used Azure Functions or experienced users who are interested in learning about other use cases.

4. Brian Bønk - The power between Kusto and Power BI
Kusto (and the Azure Data Explorer) is leveraging the possibility to report on live data from ex. telemetry, IoT devices, logs etc. the Kusto query language in itself is not that hard to understand and use, but there is some key takeaways and good things to know when starting to do analytics on the data using Power BI.
In this session I'll cover the ultimate power between Power BI and Kusto and show how the data from the Kusto cluster can be leveraged into Power BI, build a data model and show how we can help Power BI use the data correctly.
Power BI needs a bit of help to give good performance when working with Kusto.
Kusto-wise this is a level 100, Power BI data model wise a level 200. The session is on a level where everyone can follow along, and use the shown methods directly in their daily work when they come home.

About Odeta Jankaitienė
I have been working as a data analyst for 10 years and teaching others how to use SQL, Power BI, and R. I am passionate about data and sharing my knowledge with others.

About Marthe Moengen
26-year-old digitalization geek from Oslo enjoying the sweet spot between analyst and developer.

About Rosie Djurovic
I am a BI Developer with experience of developing solutions using the Microsoft Power Platform, Power BI, Python and SQL. I am hugely grateful to the Data and BI community and hope that by sharing my experiences I can help others who are on similar journeys.

About Brian Bønk
Brian has worked with SQL Server for more than two decades - varying projects on both size and complexity. Now he's working to support the Data & Analytics team at Fellowmind.

MVP on Data Platform.

Currently given the honor of being Microsoft Recognized Fasttrack Solution Architect.

***
A massive thanks to our sponsor Spectrum IT. Without them, we would not be able to host this event for free. Spectrum IT kindly provide funding for the room, pizza and a £20 Amazon Voucher for in-person attendees.
***

SUMMER BREAK - SotonDataCloud - 12th July - no live meetup

Link visible for attendees

Welcome to Southampton Data Platform and Cloud Group.

In the summer month (July & August) we won't host a live meetup, either in-person or virtual.

Thanks,
@SotonDataCloud

SUMMER BREAK - SotonDataCloud - 9th August - no live meetup

Link visible for attendees

Welcome to Southampton Data Platform and Cloud Group.

In the summer month (July & August) we won't host a live meetup, either in-person or virtual.

Thanks,
@SotonDataCloud