Databases, whether relational or non-relational, are at the centre of every business and every solution. They tap into and integrate with every part of the infrastructure and it is crucial to get every bit right at the beginning to avoid costly mistakes.
— Me, 2020
If you would like me to help you with SQL Server, Power BI or have data-related questions, I can do so on a consulting basis. This is what I can do for you:
Data Migration Consulting and Delivery
Data migrations cover a wide range of activities such as migrating data between disparate systems and different vendors. For example, a business could decide to move from one ERP solution to another. In this case, quite possibly manual data mapping and transformations will have to be applied to the old data in order to fit it into the new system. Another, much simpler examples are migrations of databases between different servers or even server upgrades, consolidations of multiple servers into one to save on license cost.
- I will advise on the best migration path from the old to the new system.
- I will advise on any potential constraints.
- I will produce data mappings and migration paths.
- Finally, I can also build and run the migration end to end.
SQL Server administration and health checks
Are you having problems with your SQL Server? Is it randomly running slow or maybe you are worried about potential data loss? I have been working with SQL Server for over 15 years. I am also the creator of the open-source SQL Server monitoring solution – SQLWATCH.IO and contributor to dbatools.io – PowerShell automation framework for SQL Server.
- I will review your estate and tell you what needs fixing and how to achieve better performance.
- I will review your disaster recovery strategy and tell you how to meet your RTO and RPO.
- I will advise how to save on license cost.
- I will review the security of your SQL Server estate.
- I will review your infrastructure and tell you what is wrong.
- I will help you upgrade your SQL Server estate to the most recent version.
Database and Data Warehouse development
Whether you need help with database design or peer review I can help. I can also help with data warehouse design using both Inmon and Kimball approaches, and help with getting the data into the warehouse.
- I will review your database and data warehouse design against business requirements.
- I will advise on the best use of data types.
- I will advise on the referential integrity.
- I will help you implement CI/CD for database workflows. (see how I did it for SQLWATCH in GitHub).
- I will advise on the best design to ensure availability, SLA, RTO and RPO (yes, these are with the dev teams as well as DBAs, NOT ONLY with DBAs)
- I will help you automate data warehouse feeds.
- I will help you build Power BI dashboards and rollout Power BI across your business.