Stairway Series

Stairway Step

Business Intelligence Architect, Data Analyst, CPA, and author Bill Pearson continues a subseries surrounding the DAX Text Functions, and breaks out the next operational group within Text functions, the “Combine and Aggregate Functions” group, including the CONCATENATE(), CONCATENATEX, and COMBINEVALUES() functions as the focus of this Level. He identifies and examines each functional member of this “Combine and Aggregate” group, discussing for each its respective syntax, uses, and operation, while providing hands-on exposure to it in Power BI.

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2026-10-28

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Preparing for Production Deployment: Stairway to Reliable Database Deployments Level 4

by Massimo Preitano

SQLServerCentral

Stairway Step

This level examines how a rehearsed changeset is transformed into production-ready deployment artifacts. By consolidating scripts into controlled execution units and validating the resulting artifacts, the approach ensures that production deployment remains predictable and aligned with what was proven during rehearsal.

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2026-06-10

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Rehearsing Changesets Across Environments: Stairway to Reliable Database Deployment Level 3

by Massimo Preitano

SQLServerCentral

Stairway Step

After defining the deployment contract in the previous level, this article focuses on validating a changeset before it reaches production. Rehearsal across environments ensures that execution order, rollback behavior, and baseline alignment all behave exactly as expected.

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2026-05-20

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Restoring Azure Key Vault Keys and Validating SQL Server TDE Recovery: Level 7 of the Stairway to TDE

by Vishnu Gupthan

SQLServerCentral

Stairway Step

Learn about restoring your keys from an Azure Key Vault in the event of a DR situation.

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2026-05-13

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Defining the Deployment Contract: Stairway to Reliable Database Deployments Level 2

by Massimo Preitano

SQLServerCentral

Stairway Step

Level 2 formalizes the behavioral guarantees that a changeset must provide in order to be safely deployed and rolled back. It introduces the deployment contract, checkpoint semantics, and the structural scope of Create and Rollback scripts. Data changes are addressed through a dedicated Update mechanism, with clear boundaries and limitations. By the end of this level, a changeset becomes a predictable and well-defined unit that can be reasoned about independently of execution context.

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2026-05-06

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Backing Up Azure Key Vault EKM Key: Stairway to TDE Level 6

by Vishnu Gupthan

SQLServerCentral

Stairway Step

In this level we learn how to ensure our keys are backed up to the Azure Key Vault for safekeeping.

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2026-04-22

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Stairway to Reliable Database Deployments

by Massimo Preitano

SQLServerCentral

Stairway

This stairway addresses many of the issues that come about with ad hoc database deployment processes in many organizations. You will learn how to better architect and structure your processes to ensure a reliable database deployment for your applications.

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2026-04-15

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Designing Database Changes Before Deployment: Stairway to Reliable Database Deployments Level 1

by Massimo Preitano

SQLServerCentral

Stairway Step

Stairway to Reliable Database Deployments introduces a progressive approach to managing database changes with clear intent, predictable rollback, and explicit behavioral guarantees. Starting from change design and moving toward execution and coordination in complex environments, the Stairway provides a conceptual framework for deploying database changes safely and consistently, independent of specific tools or automation platforms.