Book Image

Hands-On Data Science with SQL Server 2017

By : Marek Chmel, Vladimír Mužný
Book Image

Hands-On Data Science with SQL Server 2017

By: Marek Chmel, Vladimír Mužný

Overview of this book

SQL Server is a relational database management system that enables you to cover end-to-end data science processes using various inbuilt services and features. Hands-On Data Science with SQL Server 2017 starts with an overview of data science with SQL to understand the core tasks in data science. You will learn intermediate-to-advanced level concepts to perform analytical tasks on data using SQL Server. The book has a unique approach, covering best practices, tasks, and challenges to test your abilities at the end of each chapter. You will explore the ins and outs of performing various key tasks such as data collection, cleaning, manipulation, aggregations, and filtering techniques. As you make your way through the chapters, you will turn raw data into actionable insights by wrangling and extracting data from databases using T-SQL. You will get to grips with preparing and presenting data in a meaningful way, using Power BI to reveal hidden patterns. In the concluding chapters, you will work with SQL Server integration services to transform data into a useful format and delve into advanced examples covering machine learning concepts such as predictive analytics using real-world examples. By the end of this book, you will be in a position to handle the growing amounts of data and perform everyday activities that a data science professional performs.
Table of Contents (14 chapters)

Using Data Factory for data transformation

So far, we have used on-premise technologies, such as SSIS or R. This short section steps out of an on-premises environment. As a growing amount of data is stored in the cloud, Microsoft introduced a cloud-based technology, Azure Data Factory (ADF), which is a technology intended for the following tasks:

  • Data acquisition from a wide set of data sources, including on-premise data sources (E phase of ETL processes)
  • Data transformations using several languages (T phase of ETL processes)
  • Publishing data for further usage (L phase of ETL processes)

Reviewing the preceding bullet list, we can say that ADF is a cloud-based SSIS. Here, we also define sources of data, data manipulation, and the data storage destination. However, the technology background is completely different and terminology also differs from SSIS.

ADF is provided in two versions...