Esat Erkec

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Esat Erkec is a SQL Server professional who began his career 8+ years ago as a Software Developer. He is a SQL Server Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert.

Most of his career has been focused on SQL Server Database Administration and Development. His current interests are in database administration and Business Intelligence. You can find him on LinkedIn.

View all posts by Esat Erkec

SQL unit testing with the tSQLt framework for beginners

March 18, 2019 by Esat Erkec

tSQLt is a powerful, open source framework for SQL Server unit testing. In this article, we will mainly focus on how to create and run SQL unit testing with help of the tSQLt framework. Before we begin to learn tSQLt framework details, let’s discuss essentials and importance of the database unit testing approach, in general. SQL unit testing is a vital and inseparable part of the modern database development approach and it makes possible to prevent errors before producing the release deployment process. Some database developers are still discussing the needs of the SQL unit testing concept; however, database unit testing is very significant to control and check the behavior of the individual parts of the database. For this reason, we cannot ignore the need to write unit test cases.

SSRS Report Builder introduction and tutorial

March 1, 2019 by Esat Erkec

The SSRS report builder is a powerful tool for data visualization. In this article, we will take a first step into familiarizing ourselves with the SSRS report builder and we will also demonstrate a very basic SSRS report example. Additionally, we will review the self-service business intelligence approach just because this approach can be implemented through the SSRS report builder very easily.

SQL Server Reporting Services Architecture and Component Topology

February 21, 2019 by Esat Erkec

In this article, we will explore SQL Server Reporting Services (also known as SSRS) architecture and its main components. We will also discuss SSRS extensions and related tasks. Additionally, we will discuss the Report Server and Report Server temporary databases.

SQL Unit Testing with SSDT (SQL Server Data Tools)

February 12, 2019 by Esat Erkec

In this article, we will discuss the essentials of the SQL unit testing and then we will explore how to apply SQL unit testing methodology in Azure SQL Database with help of SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT). In particular, this article will focus about unit test theory in terms of SQL Server database development aspect and illustrate SQL unit testing with a detailed example.

SQL Convert Function

January 29, 2019 by Esat Erkec

In this article, we will discuss and learn basics and all details about SQL Server data type converting operations and also we will review the SQL CONVERT and TRY_CONVERT built-in functions with various samples. At first, we will explain and clarify syntax of the SQL CONVERT function and then we will learn how can we make data converting process numerical and date/time data types to character data.

Implicit conversion in SQL Server

January 22, 2019 by Esat Erkec

This article will provide an overview of SQL Server implicit conversion including data type precedence and conversion tables, implicit conversion examples and means to detect occurrences of implicit conversion

Use of Key Performance Indicators in Power BI

December 18, 2018 by Esat Erkec

In this article, we will learn Key Performance Indicators usage in Power BI and solve a business case problem through Power BI.

The STRING_SPLIT function in SQL Server

December 3, 2018 by Esat Erkec

This article will cover the STRING_SPLIT function in SQL Server including an overview and detailed usage examples.

How to create an email alert in SQL Server Agent for job failures

November 28, 2018 by Esat Erkec

SQL Server Agent is a Microsoft Windows service which helps to execute, schedule and automatize T-SQL queries, Integration Service Package, SQL Server Analysis Service queries, executable programs, operating system, and PowerShell commands. These actions which are performed by SQL Server can be called by the SQL Server Agent. Maybe, we can liken SQL Server Agent to an alarm clock because the agent will execute the scheduled task when the time comes

How to use JSON data in Azure Machine Learning

November 9, 2018 by Esat Erkec

Azure Machine Learning (also known as Azure ML) is cloud-based machine learning solution of Microsoft. Microsoft Azure Machine Learning is a fully-managed cloud-based service that provides the ability to create and train predictive analytic solutions. Another advantage of Azure ML is that you can access and easily make changes anywhere in machine learning models with help of Microsoft Azure Machine Learning Studio.

How to use JSON data in SSRS

November 6, 2018 by Esat Erkec

In this article, we will explore the concept of using JSON data in SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS). This usage concept will include a different approach than the usual methodologies because we will take advantage of SQL Server R service support.

What is JSON?

JSON is an abbreviation for JavaScriptObjectNotation. The main purpose of JSON data was to provide data transfer between server and web applications for JavaScript but today’s JSON is the most popular data interchange format. JSON offers two advantages to us. These are; light-weight text based format easily readable by humans. Currently, JSON is not only used in JavaScript applications, it is also used in all popular software programing languages like JavaScript, C++, C#, Perl, Java, Python, Php etc.

Forecast SQL backup size

October 23, 2018 by Esat Erkec

This article will cover the process of analyzing and predicting/forecasting the size of a SQL backup as a means to better handle/manage retention of backups.

One of the main database management tenets is “Do not lose your data”. According to this; a database administrator incurs huge responsibilities to protect data. Under these circumstances, taking database backups and archiving SQL backup files is a key task for database administrators. In data protection strategy, taking database backups and archiving backup file processes play the leading role. Especially, backup planning is very significant for disaster recovery scenarios because backup file will be used for restore operation after any failure or data corruption. For this reason, every dba must generate recovery strategies for possible disaster scenarios and ensure that these scenarios can be solvable. At the same time, these backup files must be tested for data integrity; thus process provides to evaluate the recovery time and integrity of backup files. In this Backup and Restore (or Recovery) strategies for SQL Server database article you can find all details about backup and restore strategies.

How to add parameters to SSRS mobile reports

October 12, 2018 by Esat Erkec

This article will explain detailed usage of parameters in mobile reports in SSRS. Parameterized reports are important because report readers want to filter and customize their report data with parameters and this option helps report readers to focus on particular data. A parameterized SSRS report uses parameters as an input value and filters the report data according to these parameters. In this article we will focus, in particular, on how to use parameters and data sources together and how can we manage the parameters in mobile SSRS reports.

Load testing for SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS)

September 25, 2018 by Esat Erkec

Performance monitoring is a very significant and essential topic for database or system administrators. This is no different with SSRS load testing. In some cases, performance problems can lead to significant system downtime. Most of the time in the background of the problem is having insufficient resources or improper settings. Therefore, before experiencing performance issues, we have to take some time to review preventive measures related to current system configurations or new installations. The load test (or stress test) is the most commonly used approach to tune systems before real-life staging conditions. Now we will discuss the details of load test, and in particular SSRS load testing.

Text Analytics with Microsoft Flow

September 19, 2018 by Esat Erkec

Twitter is a very popular social media platform which generates millions of tweets a day. These tweets include very valuable data for marketers or social media analyzers because they can analyze these tweets with specific algorithms and find out the sense of social media users.

SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) Shared Dataset

September 14, 2018 by Esat Erkec

In the SQL Server Reporting Service (SSRS) report development process; we can use a beneficial feature which is called the “shared dataset”. The purpose of SSRS embedded datasets are to retrieve data from target data sources for only one report but a shared dataset can be used by multiple reports to retrieve data.

How to create a Mobile Dashboard with SQL Server Microsoft Mobile Publisher?

September 10, 2018 by Esat Erkec

Over the past three years, I read some interesting news about Microsoft which was “Microsoft acquires mobile business intelligence leader Datazen”. This news made me excited because showing Reporting Service reports in mobile devices can be painful and often not effective for end users. After this acquisition, Microsoft developers worked quickly to adapt the Datazen application to SQL Server Reporting Services and this effort culminated in Microsoft SQL Server Mobile Report Publisher.

How to integrate Power BI data alerts into Slack

August 31, 2018 by Esat Erkec

There is a growing trend among professionals and entire companies to move away from email as a primary means of communication and are even adopting alternative technologies. One of the most popular of these is Slack. Slack is a new kind of messaging and communication platform between colleagues, team or community members that allows them to integrate a lot of services including Visual Studio Team Service, Jira and GitHub.

Creating Bollinger Bands with SQL Server Reporting Service reports

August 27, 2018 by Esat Erkec

One of the most powerful reporting tools is Microsoft is SQL Server Reporting Service, also known as SSRS. SSRS offers various, impressive features including reports subscriptions, custom code, paginated reports etc. In this article, we are going to review some key features in SSRS, with a highlight on Bollinger Bands

Create a Soccer Heat map with Power BI

July 20, 2018 by Esat Erkec

When I watched the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia match, at the end of the match I saw a very interesting and stunning soccer field heat map analysis. After this, I decided to create a soccer field heat map in Power BI. So I wrote this article!

Main Concepts of SELECT operators in SQL Server execution plans

July 9, 2018 by Esat Erkec

One of the main responsibilities of a database administrator is query tuning and troubleshooting query performance. In this context, SQL Server offers several tools to assist. But among them, query execution plans are essential for query optimization because they include all of the vital information about the query execution process. At the same time as it provides this valuable information “under the hood”, SQL Server creates a graphical description of the execution plan. Read more »

SQL Server Reporting Service Configuration Manager

June 27, 2018 by Esat Erkec

After the native installation of the SQL Server Reporting Service, we may need to customize some settings of Report Server. SQL Server Reporting Service provides a tool that is named as such; Report Server Configuration Manager. This tool helps us to customize SQL Server Reporting Service parameters and configurations. With the Report Server Configuration Manager, we can change and customize various parameters of the SQL Server Reporting Service. We can find the below settings in Report Server Configuration Manager:

How to automatically create KPIs in SQL Server Reporting Services

June 18, 2018 by Esat Erkec

Key Performance Indicator (KPI)

A Key Performance Indicator aka KPI is a metric which objectively measures the numeric equivalent of goals or targets of a company, team or an organization. Any individual or a community which has a numerical target can measure success of their goal with key performance indicators.

In all business roles and levels, if you manage a team you most likely have to set at least one key performance indicator and try influence this metric to show a positive result or trend. KPIs should be both logical and achievable. If not, team motivation and morale may decrease as a result of loss of self-confidence. For this reason, we have to be careful and logical when we set key performance indicators. At the same time, we have to check KPIs at regular intervals to determine if they remain valid. We can illustrate a typical KPI life cycle below.

Real-time streaming in Power BI

May 29, 2018 by Esat Erkec

The concept of the IOT (Internet of Things) is that every object that you might think of is somehow accessed and connected to other devices on the internet. Nowadays every electronic device is now becoming smart and these devices are now able to communicate with each other. Many ideas and technology on IOT are being developed and are even being used today.

How to integrate Power BI to the Facebook Graph API

May 4, 2018 by Esat Erkec

The challenge

With the popularity of social networking and sharing sites and their widespread availability, internet marketing techniques have also been rapidly influenced. Sharing sites with high visitor traffic offers great potential for advertisers, so much so that it is almost unheard of now that brands or products do not have a profile or group on a social networking site. Markets have the opportunity to communicate directly with consumers by creating profiles or groups in sharing sites. Thanks to the comments and forums on the pages, they are able to follow both positive and negative attitudes of the target groups about themselves and thus have more precise ideas about what to do next.