Blog

TL;DR - Using Azure Synapse SQL Serverless, you can query Azure Data Lake and populate Power BI reports across multiple workspaces.

Explore data with Azure Synapse's interactive Spark notebooks, integrated with Pipelines & monitoring tools. Learn how to add tests for business rule validation.

Power BI deployment pipelines manage collaboration, change management, and testing of reports, enabling DevOps for analytics solutions.

Some of my thoughts inspired whilst helping out on the farm over the weekend. What is the future of work given the increasing presence of machines in our day to day lives? In which situations can AI deliver greatest value? How can we ease the stress of digital transformation on people who are impacted by it?

The first in a series of posts talking about how to best work with configuration in Azure Functions

Discover Azure Data Factory's null-safe operator for referencing activity outputs that may not always exist. Learn to use it effectively.

A rundown of how to trigger an Azure Synapse pipeline run from C# code.

Summary of key themes from the Doing Data Together conference hosted virtually by The Scotsman newspaper and Edinburgh University in November 2020. The conference agenda was pivoted to focus on the use of data to help tackle the Covid-19 pandemic. It provided a fascinating insight into the lessons learned.

Get started with Mattermost on Azure using the Mattermost on AKS quickstart from the Azure CNAB Quickstart Library.

Modern analytics requires a multi-faceted approach, which can cause integration headaches. Azure Synapse's Swiss army knife approach can remove a lot of friction.

Explore the proxy pattern in this blog post, a design pattern used for controlling access to underlying objects and remote server communication.

Learn how to import .NET packages from NuGet into PowerShell and utilize their classes/methods, while avoiding PowerShell NuGet provider pitfalls.

Learn to automate Power BI data source credential updates using RSA-OAEP encryption and .NET SDK helper classes for on-premises data sources.

C# 9 enhances pattern matching capabilities. Ian Griffiths advises caution to avoid complexity.

CodeOps enables you to layer standards, automation, and governance to your source control repositories, decreasing manual effort and increasing productivity.

This blog is part of a series around design patterns. This post focuses on the facade pattern. The facade pattern provides an interface into a complex system, in order to simplify access to the functionality.

Data insights are useless, and even dangerous (as we've seen recently at Public Health England) if they can't be trusted. So, the need to validate business rules and security boundaries within a data solution is critical. This post argues that if you're doing anything serious with data, then you should be taking this seriously.

This post describes the reasons for choosing specific & immutable dependency versions in your software.

Enabling C# 8's nullable references feature often produces a lot of warnings. Avoid the temptation to make some go away by initializing properties to empty strings.

Fix the "You need permission" error in Azure Synapse Analytics with this guide, addressing its causes and solutions for Data Engineers/Developers.

Assign roles in Synapse Studio for Azure Synapse Analytics devs using Azure CLI. Accessible by Owners/Contributors of the resource.

Investigate the decorator pattern in this blog post, a design pattern used to dynamically enhance object functionality.

Discover how GitOps, often used for Kubernetes management, can benefit a broader audience.

Despite the subsequent media reporting, the loss of 16,000 Covid-19 test results at Public Health England wasn't caused by Excel. This post argues that a lack of an appropriate risk and mitigation analysis left the process exposed to human error, which ultimately led to the loss of data and inaccurate reporting. It describes a simple process that could have been applied to prevent the error, and how it will help if you're worried about ensuring quality or reducing risk in your own business, technology or data programmes.

This post quickly runs through the steps for setting up a new Microsoft Authenticator App for a work or school account.