Stéph@TechEd 2012: End – the new Certification Cycle for SQL Server 2012

For this last day ( 😥 ) of the TechEd 2012, I going to present the new certification cycle for dba who wants to be certified for SQL Server 2012. But before, let’s start with a brief introduction on Enterprise Information Management, also called EIM

Enterprise Information Management (EIM)

Enterprise Information Management is a set of business processes, disciplines and practices used to manage the information created from an organization’s data.

In SQL Server 2012, EIM is based on 3 tools, the well known Integration Services (SSIS) and 2 new one: Data Quality Services (DQS) and Master Data Services (MDS).

Goals for curating Data with SQL Server 2012 are:

• Produce accurate, trustworthy data
• Deliver credible, consistent data to right users with end-to-to data integration, cleansing & data management

Which role have these 3 tools?

• DQS for Cleanse is a Spell Checking tool:
  • Consist of 4 main steps: Knowledge Discovery, Create Domains, Cleanse Data & Create Matching Policy
  • Statistical and knowledge-based data correction
  • Common term correction using Term Based Relation
  • Reference Data (to compare source columns) are available in the cloud service: https://dqs.datamarket.azure.com
  • Data are uploaded not just rules for the Reference Data…
  • In SSIS, there is a DQS component to include it directly in an ELTP process.

  

• MDS for Manage is a Reference Tables tool:
  • Consist of 3 main steps: Create Entities, Set Attributes & Deduplication
  • Installation of a MDS Add-in for Excel
  • Like DQS, you can go to the Azure Marketplace
  • In SSIS, “Transfer to MDS Staging” component to include in the process
  • SSIS for Integrate is a Data Movement tool

EIM helps addressing problems in many different contexts and the SQL platform is about Managed Democratization.

More information about EIM here

Certification Overview

First time I started looking about the whole certification stack and listening to what I heard around me, my first feeling was: “It’s too complex, I give up!”

BEFORE

NOW

However I discussed with Mattias Lind (MCT Ambassador) and saw the session from Matthew Roche and finally it looks much easier to me. So I’m going to give you a vision of this.

What is Microsoft Certified Solutions Associate (MCSA)?
MCSA certifications validate the core technical skills required to build a sustainable career in IT.
How to become MCSA?

New

Update

What is Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert (MCSE)?
MCSE certifications are designed to recognize IT professionals who can design and build solutions across multiple technologies, both on-premise and in the cloud
How to become MCSE?

New

Update

To see that a bit deeper I went to three Exam Cram Session for SQL Server 2012 to conclude my week.
All exams are based on 80/80 rule: Exam tests you on features used by 80% of users 80% of the time.

Exam 70-461: Querying Microsoft SQL Server 2012
This Exam has 4 Objectives: Create Database Objects 24% + Work with Data 27% + Modify Data 24% + Troubleshoot and Optimize Queries 25%

Exam 70-462: Administering Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Databases
This Exam has 6 Objectives: Installation and configuration 19% + Maintain instances on database 17% + Options and troubleshooting 14% + Manage Data 20% + Implement Security 18% + Implement High Availibility 12%

Exam 70-463: Implementing a Data Warehouse with Microsoft SQL Server 2012
This Exam has 6 Objectives: Design and Implement a Data Warehouse 23% + Extract and Transform Data 23% + Load Data 27% + Configure and Deploy SSIS solutions 24% + Build Data Quality solutions 15%

Go to Microsoft Learning for more information here.

Note that you have new questions with queries to complete, type the command (do not write more T-SQL than necessary), choose the best answer and more and more study cases… Better level of questions!

Advice: It is looks easy, it is easy. DO NOT SECOND GUESS YOURSELF!
And the last step is to be a Master, but it’s another story, young Padawan…

Conclusion

It has been a very interesting week with advanced technical sessions, especially for SQL Server 2012 & Windows Server 2012, with very professional speakers.

I also discovered a beautiful country and town with very kind people…