Azure Birmingham UK User Group - 9th February 2017, 6.15pm

Session 1: Jen Stirrup - Implementing NHS Azure Hybrid Architectures

Session 2: Paul Andrew - Creating Azure Data Factory Custom Activities

Agenda

6.15pm – 6:30pm Meet & Greet

6:30pm - 7:30pm Jen Stirrup - Implementing NHS Azure Hybrid Architectures

The NHS is undergoing a time of unprecedented change, as well as increasing financial pressure under a public microscope. In order to meet these challenging requirements, NHS South London and Maudsley is undergoing a Digital Transformation program which is fundamentally ultimately altering delivery of its healthcare services. The Digital Transformation is crucial to the success of the Trust, and it affects everything from the physical layer right up to self-service reporting. It is also an important balancing act between highly sensitive patient privacy in a world that expects data on-demand in mobile and external environments.

In this technical session, join us to learn from the expert team who architected, designed, and delivered the hybrid Azure cloud and SQL Server solution for NHS South London and Maudsley Trust. Learn about the technical constraints and challenges and how we overcame those challenges, particularly through a healthcare lens of highly-sensitive patient privacy issues in a world of data. You will also learn about the technical benefits that were gleaned from this hybrid implementation. In order to bring the achievements to life, you will see real-life insights into healthcare in a Power BI demo, in use by hospital team members.

Using Azure, SQL Server and Power BI means that the NHS is empowered to create enriched opportunities for research to improve patient outcomes, both now and in the future, as well as directly improved patient outcomes now. Join us for this technically-oriented session to see how Azure, SQL Server and Power BI joined forces to fundamentally deliver improved patient healthcare, research and insights right here in London.

7:30pm - 8:00pm Break & Pizza

8:00pm – 9:00pm Paul Andrew - Creating Azure Data Factory Custom Activities

In this session we’ll go beyond the Azure Data Factory copy activity normally presented using the limited portal wizard. Extract and load are never the hard parts of the pipeline. It is the ability to transform, manipulate and clean data that normally requires more effort. Sadly, this task doesn’t come so naturally to Azure Data Factory as an orchestration tool so we need to rely on its custom activities to break out the C# or VB to perform such tasks. Using Visual Studio, we’ll look at how to do exactly that and see what’s involved in Azure to utilise this pipeline extensibility feature. What handles the compute for the compiled .Net code and how can does this get deployed by ADF. With real work use cases we’ll learn how to fight back against those poorly formed CSV files and what we could to if Excel files are our only data source. Plus, lots of useful tips and tricks along the way when working with this emerging technology.

Event Sponsors

Purple Frog Systems - A big thank you to Purple Frog Systems for organising the event.

Rullion - A big thank you to Rullion for providing the catering for this event.

Venue

This session will be held at Aston Manor Academy NOT the Midlands Art Centre.

Address:

Aston Manor Academy Phillips Street Aston Birmingham B6 4PZ
http://www.astonmanor.bham.sch.uk/contact-us/

Parking on site is available through the main gates but is limited. There is also on street parking available opposite.

We will be hiring the main hall which located through the entrance doors and to the left as highlighted on the aerial photo below.

Other Details
We'll be putting on food for the event, so please do register so we know numbers. If you then can't make it we'd really appreciate it if you'd unregister and/or let us know.

Dress code: relaxed

Event Organiser Contact Details

If you need any further details or have any requests for this or future Midlands SSUG events, please contact get in touch. 

Paul Andrew Twitter: @mrpaulandrew Email: Paul@SQLMidlands.com

Alex Whittles Twitter: @PurpleFrogAlex Email: Alex@SQLMidlands.com

SSUG Twitter: @SQLMidlands

Speaker Profiles

Jen Stirrup is the principal Data Whisperer at Data Relish Ltd. Jen is a data strategist and technologist, Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP), a technical community advocate, internationally renowned speaker and blogger, as well as published author of analytics and visualisation books.

Paul Andrew has 10+ years’ experience working with the complete on premises SQL Server stack in a variety of roles and industries. Now as the senior developer at Purple Frog Systems has turned his keyboard to business intelligence solutions in the Microsoft cloud. Specialising in real-time data streaming with the internet of things (IoT), Azure Data Lake Analytics and Data Factory orchestration for big data platforms. Paul is also a STEM Ambassador for the networking education in schools’ programme, SQL Midlands PASS chapter leader, SQL Relay/SQL Saturday speaker as well as very active member of the technical community.