James Serra

James works at Microsoft as a big data and data warehousing solution architect where he has been for most of the last nine years. He is a thought leader in the use and application of Big Data and advanced analytics, including data architectures such as the modern data warehouse, data lakehouse, data fabric, and data mesh. Previously he was an independent consultant working as a Data Warehouse/Business Intelligence architect and developer. He is a prior SQL Server MVP with over 35 years of IT experience. He is a popular blogger (JamesSerra.com) and speaker, having presented at dozens of major events including SQLBits, PASS Summit, Data Summit and the Enterprise Data World conference. He is the author of the book “Deciphering Data Architectures: Choosing Between a Modern Data Warehouse, Data Fabric, Data Lakehouse, and Data Mesh”.

Blog Post

Microsoft Purview GA menu’s

The new data governance features in Microsoft Purview are now being made generally available as they are gradually rolled out across various regions. You can view the deployment schedule...

2024-10-02 (first published: )

157 reads

Blog Post

Microsoft Purview FAQ

I get many of the same questions about Microsoft Purview, so I wanted to list those common questions here along with their answers. If your question is not answered...

2024-09-23 (first published: )

226 reads

Blog Post

Microsoft Fabric AI Skill

Are you ready to have conversations with your data? Announced in public preview within Microsoft Fabric is AI Skill, a new capability in Fabric that allows you to build...

2024-09-11 (first published: )

360 reads

Blog Post

Copilot in Microsoft Fabric

Microsoft Copilot is an app that uses AI to help you find information, create content, and get things done faster (see What Is Copilot? Microsoft’s AI Assistant Explained).  Copilot is...

2024-07-17 (first published: )

489 reads

Blogs

Are you getting value from your reporting?

By

Do you spend so long manipulating your data into something vaguely useful that you...

The Book of Redgate: SQL Server Central

By

It was neat to stumble on this in the book, a piece by me,...

Git forked

By

Forgive me for the title. Mentally I’m 12. When I started my current day...

Read the latest Blogs

Forums

Microsoft Security Changes and SQL Server

By Steve Jones - SSC Editor

Comments posted to this topic are about the item Microsoft Security Changes and SQL...

Expanding into Print

By Steve Jones - SSC Editor

Comments posted to this topic are about the item Expanding into Print

Downtime Caused by the Postgres Transaction ID Wraparound Problem

By Chandan Shukla

Comments posted to this topic are about the item Downtime Caused by the Postgres...

Visit the forum

Question of the Day

The String Distance I

In SQL Server 2025, what is returned by this code:

SELECT EDIT_DISTANCE('Steve', 'Stan')
Assume preview features are enabled.

See possible answers