ALM Byte Sized Session: Database as source wrap-up

I must admit, it was a very interesting session we had on managing databases last week.

Thank you again to Riaan and Roelof from Capfin, who took the time to show us what they have achieved, what they are using and where their problems are.

Some interesting question were posed and here is some feedback on the questions that we did not have a hope of answering on the spot:

Q) Is there any way to use something like Application Insights to trace database code?
A) As far as I can see not much to trace the code in a stored procedure or function. What is possible is something called "Dependency Tracker" that will track how long these calls to external systems (services calls, database calls etc.) take.

Q) How can we show Code Coverage in the new SonarQube C# plugin?
A) It seems you simply have to run the code coverage tool of choice and then import the code coverage result file as part of the runner settings. See this for more detail

Q) What is the table count limit in SQL?
A) Some useless information of the day: The sum of the number of objects (including objects such as tables, views, stored procedures, user-defined functions, triggers, rules, defaults, and constraints) in a database cannot exceed 2,147,483,647. (Cutting it close there Riaan )

I hope everyone enjoyed it as much as I did, and hope to see you at the next and final session for the year  http://bit.ly/almdays where we will look at technical debt analysis and some new extensibility features in TFS 2015

ALM days 2015 - Byte sized sessions : Database as source

I often see that the database does not get the love from developers that they give their code. One big topic is always around the tooling and how expensive some of the database management tools are.

Well this session will hopefully give you some insight into the "free" tools that are available and built into the Visual Studio ALM stack.

Interested in how to manage database schemas / source and to discuss some of the scars that one of my client is in the process of picking up?

Our next session is on 17th of September 2015 at the Microsoft Offices in Pinelands. Feel free to register here : http://bit.ly/almdaysSept15 
(and invite anyone you think may be interested!)

Edit: We apologise, but Microsoft has scheduled Dev Days Cape Town on the 17th as well. Due to this conflict we a re-scheduling to the 1st of October 2015. We apologise for any inconvenience that this may cause.

Thank you to Microsoft for sponsoring the venue for this session.

ALM days 2015 - Byte sized sessions : 11 June 2015

The first of 4 ALM sessions planned for Cape Town will take place on 19 March 2015* 11 June 2015 at the Microsoft Office in Pinelands.
Session topics:
What’s new in TFS ALM
We look at what has happened in the world of TFS in the last year. The new bits and pieces and some of the licensing changes that came into play making TFS much more affordable and accessible.

Real World Session: Let’s talk Release Management
MS Release Management is a great tool for pushing software into different environments. We hear some real world experiences on how RM can be used to move issues into production very quickly or alternatively leverage it to make your life a lot easier.
Register to join us.
Thank you to Microsoft for sponsoring the venue for this session.

*Note: Due to unforeseen circumstances we have had to re-schedule. We are looking forward to seeing you on the new date!

ALM days South Africa 2014

January 23rd 2014 saw the launch of ALM days SA in Cape Town.

This event was organised and sponsored by Team Foundation Consulting, South Africa’s only consultancy focussed solely on ALM, TFS and Visual Studio.

Attendees came to learn about updates to Microsoft’s Application Lifecycle Management offerings which enable software development teams to be more productive and to collaborate more effectively.

The event aimed to provide insight, advice, strategies and techniques to improve quality and ensure that the final application meets the needs and expectations of users

A HUGE thank you to all who attended and participated in the first ALM days!!

We had a lively crowd of about 40 people, all of whom chose to spend their day learning something new.

Some of the positive feedback from those who attended…

“Broad coverage of topics, well done”
“Keynote was excellent, Agile was interesting, looking at new tools & features was great…”
“Great presentations, very informative. Awesome keynote…”
“…Lunch awesome & venue great. Thank you for taking the initiative of organising this day. Much appreciated.”
“Would be nice to see this every year.”
“Nice mix of topics – technical & theoretical.”
“Good speakers, good content, good location, learned a lot.”
“Hope you host TechDays 14.”
“Great food!”

Thank you to all our SPEAKERS who helped to make this event possible!

Roderick Lim Banda, our Keynote speaker, set the tone for the day and got everyone thinking about the future of IT and the people who are involved in the industry.

”Awesome keynote…” “Enjoyed Roderick’s views on CPT IT industry.” “Keynote was excellent…”

Cara Turner gave us some insight into a real world business situation where Agile proved invaluable.

Daniel van Wyk showed us how to incorporate SQL in the development process.

Dawie Snyman showed us a few of the cool features in TFS 2013.

Niel Zeeman provided insight on how to incorporate Quality Management & Enablement in day-to-day processes. He also showed us what is possible when it comes to Continuous Deployment as a key concept in Velocity Culture and how it all comes together.

A special thank you to Ahmed & Michelle from Microsoft SA who kindly organised the Visual Studio 2013 info sheets as well as the 2 books and Visual Studio USB’s which were given out to participants

At Team Foundation Consulting, we saw the need to have
an ALM event where developers and members of the IT community could share experiences, learn new concepts, have access to experts and engage with likeminded individuals.

Judging from the feedback from those who attended…we were right!

We are proud to have launched ALM days, and we look forward to making the next one even better!

www.alm-days.co.za

We are currently in the process of gathering slides and will make them available on the ALM days site. Keep an eye out for updates either on http://www.alm-days.co.za , or on this blog.