Innovation and Knowledge Development Research Award

Friday 7 October was a very special day for me. I attended the Annual Association of Open University Graduates Research Awards Ceremony at The Open University in Milton Keynes with my family. I was amazingly privileged to be the recipient of the 2016 AOUG Will Swann Award for Innovation and Knowledge Development for dedication and outstanding achievement in postgraduate research.

This followed the submission of my thesis A Study into Best Practices and Procedures used in the Management of Database Systems for which I am awaiting my viva voce exam. 

Microsoft Machine Learning and Data Science Summit 2016

The Machine Learning & Data Science Summit took place in Atlanta between 26 - 27 September 2016.

There are many Videos from the Microsoft Machine Learning & Data Science Summit in Atlanta to watch.














I have so far watched the great Day 2 Keynote Session by Dr. Edward Tufte on The Future of Data Analysis included 

"Data analysis seeks to learn from experience.  Better inferences require better thinking and better tools. Practical advice about how to   make more credible conclusions based on data. What we can expect in the future, and what we should aspire to in the future. "

The many other videos cover many topics including practical patterns to jump start your analytic solutions to data lake patterns and practices.

Microsoft Streamlines Technical Certifications

Microsoft has announced a streamlining of certifications.

The Born to Learn site contains the full details,

The five new expert certifications are:

• MCSE: Cloud Platform and Infrastructure - focusing on skills validation for Windows Server and Microsoft Azure

• MCSE: Mobility - focusing on skills validation for Windows Client and Enterprise Mobility Suite

• MCSE: Data Management and Analysis - focusing on skills validation for both on-premises and cloud-based Microsoft data products and services

• MCSE: Productivity - focusing on skills validation for Office 365, SharePoint, Exchange, and Skype for Business

• MCSD: App Builder - focusing on skills validation for Web and Mobile app development

To earn each of these credentials, you must first earn a qualifying Microsoft Certified Solutions Associate (MCSA) certification and, then, pass a single additional exam from a list of electives associated with the corresponding Center of Excellence.   

Every year, you need to take an additional exam from the list of electives, demonstrating your investment in broadening or deepening your skills in a given Center of Excellence to retain the certification.  Each time you earn the certification, a new certification entry will be added to your transcript. 

Thesis Submission

After 6 years working on my part time PhD entitled A Study into Best Practices and Procedures used in the Management of Database Systems, it is complete. I wrote about 95,400 words.















The final package was posted for examination.

DocumentDB Tools

There is a useful cheat sheet to help with writing DocumentDB queries. This can be downloaded here

Estimate Request Units and Data Storage
https://www.documentdb.com/capacityplanner

Query Playground converts T-SQL Syntax to JSON
https://www.documentdb.com/sql/demo

OpenMinds 2016 Database Research

The 'Get Animated about Research' article shares details about my research with the kind help of my friend Andrew Fryer. The article on page 10-12 is in the annual OpenMinds 2016 magazine dubbed 'the journal for enquiring minds', The Open University alumni publication.

Document Database Comparisions

Azure DocumentDB is a NoSQL database that leverages a write-optimised, latch-free database engine service for highly available and globally distributed apps.








An interesting comparison of DocumentDB offerings.