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Azure Data Architect | DBA

Greetings,

My career in Information Technology started with teaching Graduate Teaching Assistants how to build websites for their classes in 1995. Since then, I have built large corporate intranets using Oracle, ColdFusion, JavaScript and PHP; worked on migrations from Oracle to SQL Server, upgrades from Oracle EBS 11i to R12; and performed SQL Server upgrades ranging from SQL Server 2000 to 2017 including SSRS, SSIS and SSAS.

Today, I use an array of tools and technologies to design and implement a corporate business intelligence architecture in Azure for an international manufacturing and services company with over $3 billion in annual sales. Working with Microsoft, our in-house Business Intelligence team and offshore partners, I automated the development and deployment of Azure Data Factory V1 components which extract data from on-premise data sources including Oracle, SQL Server and DB2 and load the data into Azure SQL Databases and Azure Data Lake Store. The pipelines then submit U-SQL scripts to Azure Data Lake Analytics to transform the raw data into staging and curated zones as well as load data into Azure SQL Data Warehouse tables. I have also developed Azure Logic Apps to extract data from zip files attached to emails in an Office 365 inbox. Azure Automation Account runbooks are used to perform daily maintenance such as scaling Azure Analysis Services and to orchestrate Azure Data Factory pipelines based on webhooks triggered by on-premise scheduling systems. Architecture metrics from Azure Log Analytics drive Power BI reports and dashboard to provide auditing and system health to developers, engineers and business process owners.

As a database professional, I offer a wealth of knowledge and experience. As a developer, I offer creative solutions to critical problems. For more information, code snippets and links to Twitter and LinkedIn, please visit https://mark.the-fennells.org.

Sincerely,

Mark Fennell


Career Highlights

Insight, Solutions Architect

December 2018 – Present Helping clients realize the potential of their data through database upgrades and migrations, constructing new data warehouses and implementing solutions based on Azure Business Intelligence tools.

Highlights:

  • Automated SQL Server install and restore using PowerShell and Desired State Configuration
  • Enabled Column Encryption and Dynamic Data Masking
  • Created analytics solutions using Azure Data Factory, Azure Databricks and Azure Synapse Analytics
  • Enabled Azure SQL Database management with Elastic Agent Jobs
  • Used Kusto to create operational dashboards in the Azure Portal

Acuity Brands, Inc. Business Intelligence Lead

July 2017 – December 2018  Responsible for designing and implementing Business Intelligence architecture in Azure using Data Factory, SQL DB, SQL Data Warehouse, Data Lake Store, Data Lake Analytics, Analysis Services, Log Analytics, Automation Account, Power BI and Logic Apps.

Highlights:

  • Automated processes to create Data Factory components using T-SQL and PowerShell
  • Created Logic App to import data from Outlook
  • Used Log Analytics and Power BI to create service metrics dashboards
  • Implemented Automation Account Runbooks for scheduled maintenance tasks
  • Developed documentation and training for business and technical users

Acuity Brands, Inc. DBA Lead

November 2012 – July 2017 Oracle and SQL Server DBA team member with experience in backup and recovery, performance tuning, security, upgrades and migrations.

Highlights:

  • Migration from Oracle 10g database to SQL Server 2012 database
  • Upgrade from Oracle 11i EBS to Oracle R12 EBS
  • SQL Server upgrades ranging from 2008 to 2017 including SSIS, SSRS and SSAS
  • Developed proof-of-concept systems for HDInsight, Redis Cache and MongoDB
  • Prototyped real-time and historical reporting using Node.js and Cosmos DB

Athens Regional Medical Center Senior Web Engineer

January 1999 – November 2012 Designed and developed intranet for regional health system with 3,000 users featuring 30 distinct applications using Oracle, ColdFusion, Javascript and PHP on a Linux platform.

Highlights:

  • Outpatient management system for scheduling, tracking and reporting for 500 patients
  • Job description management including annual reviews and job postings and applications
  • Employee survey, testing and assessment tools with reporting
  • Reporting interface for legacy DB2, Oracle and SQL Server systems