About the course

The role of the data modeler has become even more critical to the ongoing life-cycle of development and maintenance, especially in this age of digital transformation. Analysts, developers, DBAs, and BI professionals need to develop their skills in analyzing and modeling data. Whether working with new or legacy data, you must define rules for quality, retention, and protection. And you need a good foundation of data and data design concepts before you begin sourcing, preparing, and manipulating data.

In this introductory course, learn how logical and physical data modeling can give you a better understanding of your organization's data, business rules, and information architecture decisions. Examine how data models are critical to your data security, privacy, and compliance posture. And get hands-on with real-world data—analyze it, implement business requirements, develop data models, and forward and reverse-engineer SQL Server databases.

Note: To complete the hands-on requirements, you’ll work with Office 365, Visual Studio, and Azure SQL Database. Free or limited-time trials are available for these products. You will require an Azure subscription. You can sign up for a free Azure trial subscription (a valid credit card is required for verification, but you will not be charged for Azure services). Note that the free trial is not available in all regions. It is possible to complete the course and earn a certificate without completing the hands-on practices.

What you will learn

By the end of this course, you will know:

  • Fundamentals of normalization and why it's important to transactional databases;
  • How to develop logical and physical data models;
  • How to model data security, privacy and protection requirements;
  • When and where to model database-specific performance requirements;
  • How model-driven development fits in a DevOps or agile environment;
  • How to avoid schema drift and other data anti-patterns.

About the instructors

Chris Randall is a trainer, consultant, and author with 25 years of industry experience, specializing in SQL Server and the Microsoft data platform. He is a Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert for the SQL Server Data Platform and Business Intelligence, and works in the Microsoft Learning Experiences team as a senior content developer, where he plans and creates content for developers and data professionals who want to get the best out of Microsoft technologies.

Karen Lopez is a senior data architect with an extensive background in development processes and data management. She specializes in taking practical approaches to solutions development. Karen has helped many IT organizations choose appropriate methods and standards based on the group’s culture, experience, and focus. She is an international speaker on modern development and design processes, specializing in engaging, often irreverent presentations on data and career-related topics. She blogs at datamodel.com and can be found on Twitter @datachick. Karen is a Microsoft Data Platform MVP and wants you to love your data as much as she does.

Duration: 4 weeks, 2-4 hours per week

Language: English

Instructors: Chris Randall and Karen Lopez

Institution: Microsoft

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