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Databases have been pivotal in the advancement of business, analysis, software applications, websites and all manner of things. While not all databases are SQL Server databases, Microsoft SQL Server is taking an ever increasing role in data manipulation, database management and tools.

Yesterday, the Charlotte North Carolina SQL Server Users Group hosted an event to highlight the new features in Microsoft SQL Server 2008 – the latest and greatest iteration in the Microsoft SQL Server database family.

I was thrilled to be able to attend this event which highlighted some of the most talented  SQL Server MVP’s in the Southeast. It was apparent from the start that a tremendous amount of  planning and organization had resulted in this half-day event that brought SQL Server 2008 into the limelight for many local SQL Server professionals.

The day was organized into six sessions of an hour each with a welcome and closing taking up the balance of the time budgeted.  Although one of the scheduled speakers was not able to make it due to car trouble, a back-up plan (and what good DBA is without one?) was quickly implemented and we were quickly immersed in our chosen areas of interest.

Initially divided between administrative and business intelligence areas, participants were able to move between the sessions easily and we got more information than we bargained for!

Being a one-man shop, I have to wear both the hat of developer as well as the hat of administrator, so I was torn between the sessions, but ultimately chose some from both sides of the menu.

I had already been treated to Rafael Salas’ sharp presentation of Dimensional Modeling at SQL Saturday last year in Greenville, but had not had the pleasure of experiencing Wayne Snyder’s wit and wisdom on that same subject, so when the two of them teamed up to present “An Introduction to Dimensional Modeling”, that was a “must see” as far as I was concerned and I was not disappointed. I’m still trying to get my mind around this concept — knowing that by utilizing this technology and theory I will ultimately deliver robust and thorough data analysis to my company. It’s by hearing speakers like these two that the whole thing becomes clearer and my goal gets closer.

I had already had a hint of some of the new datatypes coming with SQL Server 2008, so attending the presentation by Alejandro Mesa on the new datatypes was also a no brainer choice. It seems that there is so much new to SQL Server 2008 in this respect that an hour wasn’t enough time to thoroughly go over them all! Alejandro touched on most of them and gave examples of how to utilize them in code. I’ll be checking the Charlotte SQL Server User Group website to download those scripts as they will take some analysis on my part before I begin to understand the implications and uses of all of them.There will be an additional on-line presentation by Alejandro next Friday on this subject, so if you have a free lunch hour, be sure to check in for that event through the Charlotte SQL Server User Group‘s website.

It was when I moved over to this session that I got to meet someone I’ve only corresponded with via an email list — Stephen Dyckes has been very helpful to me over the past year by answering questions through the Lazy DBA email list. Meeting this bright young man yesterday was icing on the cake.

The third session I made a point of attending was “Creating More Flexible and Richer Reports” given by John Welch. John’s another speaker I’ve had the very great pleasure of hearing before and he introduced us to the new Tablix feature in Reporting Services along with the new and simpler charts and dashboards that are now inherent with this valuable SQL Server tool. These tools alone will be a lure for my company to upgrade to Microsoft SQL Server 2008 and having this peek into the vastly improved flexibility of the Reporting Services module will be invaluable to me in promoting and justifying upgrading to SQL Server 2008.

I was delighted to be the recipient of a USB Lava Lamp as a prize for being the person who traveled the farthest for this event — it’s happily bubbling away on my desktop now as I type and will serve as a reminder of what a great fun and learning experience yesterday was. I was also amazed (and humbled) to learn that Peter Shire – the president of Charlotte SQL Server Users Group — not only follows me on Twitter but has actually WATCHED the video I made of my hometown of Donalds on Viddler!

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