Azure Case Studies Microsoft Excel
Who wants even MORE FREE EBOOKS and resources this year? If so, you’ve come to the right place as I’m once again kicking off my annual FREEMICROSOFT EBOOK GIVEAWAY extravaganza!
If you have been a follower of mine in the past, you know that several years ago I tried a simple concept: Let’s try giving away a bunch of free eBooks, reference guides, Step-By-Step Guides, and other informational resources to our customers and partners around the world. Needless to say, the concept was extremely the first year (over 1,000,000 FREE eBooks downloaded), and it has grown and grown over the past few years (over 3.5 Million downloaded two years ago and we surpassed that last year!) So, haw many FREE eBooks can we give away this year? Well, that’s completely up to you.
Before we get to this year’s list of FREE eBooks, a few answers to common questions I receive during my FREE EBOOK GIVEAWAY:
- How many can you download?
- ANSWER: As many as you want! This is a FREE eBook giveaway, so please download as many as interest you.
- Wow, there are a LOT listed here. Is there a way to download all of them at once?
- ANSWER: Yes, please see the note below on how to do this.
- Can I share a link to your post to let others know about this giveaway?
- ANSWER: Yes, please do share the good news with anyone you feel could benefit from this.
- I know you said they are “Free,” but what’s the catch?
- ANSWER: There is no catch. They really are FREE. This consider it a, “Thank you,” for being a reader of my blog and a customer or partner of Microsoft.
- Ok, so if they are free and you’re encouraging us to share this with others, can I post a link to your post here on sites like Reddit, FatWallet, and other deal share sites to let them know, or is that asking too much?
- ANSWER: Please do. In fact, I would encourage you to share a link to this post on any deal site you feel their users could benefit from the FREE eBooks and resources included below. Again, I WANT to give away MILLIONS of FREE eBooks!
- Are these “time-bombed” versions of the eBooks that stop working after a certain amount of time or reads?
- ANSWER: No, these are the full resources for you to use.
Ok, ready for some FREE eBooks? Below is the collection I am posting this year (which includes a ton of new eBooks & resources, as well as some of the favorites from last year):
Jan 22, 2015 Here’ are some Microsoft Azure case studies, this is for Gary that asked for this! There are some great ones listed below. You can also get this on the. Building intelligent solutions for Asset-intensive & Field-force driven Enterprises leveraging Azure as a platform to enhance business value. Read Azure case studies.
– How to enable “Download All” for the list of FREE eBooks below and other FAQs
Windows | |||
Deploying Windows 10: Automating deployment by using System Center Configuration Manager EPUB | Introducing Windows 10 for IT Professionals EPUB | Windows 10 IT Pro Essentials Top 10 Tools |
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Microsoft Platform and Tools for Mobile App Development EPUB | Exploring Windows 10 PDF |
| Upgrading to Windows 10: A simple hands-on guide for everyone |
PDF | Windows 10 & Azure AD: Better Together for Work or School | Windows 10 & EMS: Better Together | Windows 10 Shortcut Keys |
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| Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2013 |
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Windows 8 Accessibility | Introducing Windows 8: An Overview for IT Professionals | Introducing Windows 8.1 for IT Professionals |
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Power BI | |||
Introducing Microsoft Power BI |
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| Power BI Technical GuidesZIP |
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Azure | |||
Microsoft Azure Essentials Migrating SQL Server Databases to Azure | Microsoft Azure Essentials Fundamentals of Azure | Microsoft Azure Essentials Azure Machine Learning | Microsoft Azure Essentials Azure Automation |
Taking the cloud to your datacenter – Microsoft Azure Stack | Building Cloud Apps with Microsoft Azure™: Best practices for DevOps, data storage, high availability, and more | Microsoft Azure Essentials Azure Web Apps for Developers | Introducing Microsoft Azure™ HDInsight™ |
Introducing Windows Azure™ for IT Professionals | Rethinking Enterprise Storage: A Hybrid Cloud Model | Azure AD & Windows 10: Better Together for Work or School | Overview of Azure Active Directory |
Overview of Azure Active Directory B2C | Automated Disaster Recovery Solution Using Azure Site Recovery for File Shares Hosted on StoreSimple | Security and Azure SQL Database | Azure Managed Services Playbook for CSP Partners |
DevOps On Azure Technical Guides ZIP | Hybrid IaaS Technical GuidesZIP | Getting started with Azure in Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) | Building An On Demand Video Service with Microsoft Azure Media Services |
Continuous deployment using Microsoft Azure Web Sites | |||
Office | |||
Use Office 365 on Your iPhone or iPad | Set up and Use Office 365 on your Android phone | Set Up and Use Office 365 on Your Windows Phone | Information Protection for Office 365 |
Word 2016 Quick Start Guide | Excel 2016 Quick Start Guide | PowerPoint 2016 Quick Start Guide | Outlook 2016 Quick Start Guide |
OneNote 2016 Quick Start Guide | Word Mobile Quick Start Guide | Excel Mobile Quick Start Guide | PowerPoint Mobile Quick Start Guide |
OneNote Mobile Quick Start Guide | Word 2016 for Mac Quick Start Guide | Excel 2016 for Mac Quick Start Guide | PowerPoint 2016 for Mac Quick Start Guide |
OneNote 2016 for Mac Quick Start Guide | Outlook 2016 for Mac Quick Start Guide | Outlook 2016 training | Word 2016 training |
Outlook 2016 Tips & Tricks | Monitoring and protecting sensitive data in Office 365 | Get started with OneDrive | Microsoft Cloud Services and Platform Options |
Create your first workbook using Excel 2016 | Welcome to Excel: A tour of powerful, time-saving features | Google Apps To Office 365 | Skype for Business – Meetings |
Skype for Business – Sharing and Collaboration | Skype for Business – Video | Skype for Business – Audio Setup and Making Calls | Skype for Business – Contacts Presence and IM |
Skype for Business Mobile for Windows Phone | Office 365 on Open | OneNote 2016 Tips & Tricks | Excel 2010 to Office 365 for Business |
Store and Share Docs in O365 | Get started with the Internet of Things in your organization | Outlook 2013 Quick Start Guide | Excel 2013 Quick Start Guide |
Powerpoint 2013 Quick Start Guide | Access 2013 Quick Start Guide | Word 2013 Quick Start Guide | Publisher 2013 Quick Start Guide |
Project 2013 Quick Start Guide | OneNote 2013 Quick Guide | How To Recover That Un-Saved Office Document | Word 2013 Keyboard Shortcuts |
Excel 2013 Keyboard Shortcuts | OneNote 2013 Keyboard Shortcuts | Access 2013 Keyboard Shortcuts | InfoPath 2013 Keyboard Shortcuts |
Outlook 2013 Keyboard Shortcuts | Project 2013 Keyboard Shortcuts | Customize Word 2013 Keyboard Shortcuts | Publisher 2013 Keyboard Shortcuts |
SharePoint Products Keyboard Shortcuts | Visio 2013 Keyboard Shortcuts | Microsoft® Office 365: Connect and Collaborate Virtually Anywhere, Anytime | Microsoft Lync Server 2013 Step By Step for Anyone |
Office 2010 User Resources | Upgrade to Skype for Business Server 2015 Step by Step | Skype for Business Server 2015 Step by Step for Anyone | Skype for Business User Tips & Tricks for Anyone |
Windows Server | |||
Introducing Windows Server 2016 Technical Preview | Introducing Windows Server 2012 R2 | Introducing Windows Server 2012 | Introducing Windows Server® 2012 R2 Preview Release |
Introducing Windows Server 2008 R2 | Windows Server 2012 R2 Remote Desktop Services Licensing Data Sheet | Administrating Skype for Business Server 2015 Step by Step for Anyone | |
SharePoint | |||
Configuring Microsoft SharePoint Hybrid Capabilities PDF | Planning and Preparing for Microsoft SharePoint Hybrid | SharePoint Server 2016 Reviewer’s Guide | SharePoint Server 2016 Quick Start Guide for Single Server Farms |
Explore SharePoint 2013 | Deployment guide for SharePoint 2013 | SharePoint Lists Quick Start Guide | Create A Team Site – Quick Start Guide |
The WikiNinjas Guide to SharePoint 2013 | The WikiNinjas Guide to SharePoint – Part II | SharePoint Adoption Guide | SharePoint 2013 Adoption Kit |
Refreshing Excel workbooks with embedded PowerPivot models from SharePoint Online | Test Lab Guide: eBook for SharePoint Server 2013 Intranet and Team | ||
Exchange Server | |||
Exchange 2016 Step by Step for anyone | Step by Step Guide for Exchange Server 2016 | Install Microsoft Exchange server 2013 step by step with DAG | Best Practices for Virtualizing & Managing Exchange 2013 |
Microsoft Exchange 2013 Platform Options | |||
System Center | |||
Microsoft System Center Data Protection for the Hybrid Cloud | Microsoft System Center Operations Manager Field Experience | Microsoft System Center Building a Virtualized Network Solution, Second Edition | Microsoft System Center Extending Operations Manager Reporting |
Microsoft System Center: Configuration Manager Field Experience | Microsoft System Center Introduction to Microsoft Automation Solutions | Microsoft System Center Software Update Management Field Experience |
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Microsoft System Center Deploying Hyper-V with Software-Defined Storage & Networking | Microsoft System Center: Network Virtualization and Cloud Computing | Microsoft System Center: Integrated Cloud Platform | Microsoft System Center: Designing Orchestrator Runbooks |
Microsoft System Center: Optimizing Service Manager | Microsoft System Center: Building a Virtualized Network Solution | Microsoft System Center: Cloud Management with App Controller | Introducing Microsoft System Center 2012 R2 |
Dynamics | |||
Administration Guide for Dynamics CRM 2016 | Deploying and Administering Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online and Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2016 | Reporting Guide for Microsoft Dynamics CRM | Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online and Office 365 Integration Guide |
Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online SMB FAQ | Setup Guide: Server-side synchronization for CRM Online and Exchange Server | Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2015 and Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2016 Performance and Scalability | Setup Guide: Server-side synchronization for CRM Online and Exchange Server |
ModernBiz for Dynamics ERP Mobile Productivity | ModernBiz for Dynamics ERP Insights In The Cloud | Dynamics CRM 2015 User Guide | Dynamics CRM eBook & Quick Card Collection |
SQL Server | |||
Introducing Microsoft SQL Server 2016: Mission-Critical Applications, Deeper Insights, Hyperscale Cloud, Preview 2 | Introducing Microsoft SQL Server 2014 | Introducing Microsoft SQL Server 2012 | Introducing Microsoft® SQL Server® 2008 R2 |
Troubleshooting SQL Server AlwaysOn | 5 Tips for a Smooth SSIS Upgrade to SQL Server 2012 | A Hitchiker’s Guide to Microsoft StreamInsight Queries | Data Mining Extensions (DMX) Reference |
Data Quality Services | High Availability Solutions | Master Data Services | Monitor and Tune for Performance |
Multidimensional Expressions (MDX) Reference | SQL Server Distributed Replay | Transact-SQL Data Definition Language (DDL) Reference | XQuery Language Reference |
Extracting and Loading SharePoint Data in SQL Server Integration Services | Integration Services: Extending Packages with Scripting | Multidimensional Model Programming | Optimized Bulk Loading of Data into Oracle |
Planning Disaster Recovery for Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services in SharePoint Integrated Mode | SQL Server 2012 Tutorials: Reporting Services | SQL Server 2012 Tutorials: Writing Transact-SQL Statements | SQL Server Community FAQs Manual |
SQL Server 2012 Tutorials: Analysis Services – Tabular Modeling | Microsoft SQL Server AlwaysOn Solutions Guide for High Availability and Disaster Recovery | Transact-SQL Data Manipulation Language (DML) Reference | QuickStart: Learn DAX Basics in 30 Minutes |
SQL Server 2012 Tutorials: Analysis Services – Data Mining | Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services Multidimensional Performance and Operations Guide | Data Analysis Expressions (DAX) Reference | SQL Server 2012 Upgrade Technical Guide |
Backup and Restore of SQL Server Databases | SQL Server 2012 Tutorials: Analysis Services – Multidimensional Modeling | Master Data Services Capacity Guidelines | Microsoft® SQL Server® 2014 Product Guide |
SQL Server 2014 Licensing Guide | SQL Server 2014 In-Memory OLTP Internals Overview | Microsoft SQL Server 2014 Virtualization Licensing Guide | Microsoft SQL Server 2014 Database Backup Encryption |
Microsoft System Center Operations Manager Guide for System Center Monitoring Pack for Microsoft SQL Server 2014 | Determining SQL Server 2014 Core Licensing Requirements at SA Renewal | Mission Critical Performance and Scale with SQL Server and Windows Server Technical White Paper | Migrating from Oracle to SQL Server 2014 and Azure SQL Database |
Microsoft SQL Server to SQL Server PDW Migration Guide | SQL Server 2012 Migrating Content Between Report Servers | Best Practices for Virtualizing and Managing SQL Server | Windows Server 2012 R2 Server Virtualization Technical Overview |
Why Hyper-V? Competitive Advantages of Windows Server 2012 R2 Hyper-V over VMware vSphere 5.5 | Guide to Migrating from MySQL to SQL Server 2014 and Azure SQL DB | ||
PowerShell | |||
Windows Powershell 4.0 Examples Quick Guide | Windows PowerShell Web Access | WINDOWS POWERSHELL INTEGRATED SCRIPTING ENVIRONMENT 4.0 | WINDOWS POWERSHELL 4.0 LANGUAGE QUICK REFERENCE |
Windows PowerShell Desired State Configuration Overview | WMI in Windows PowerShell 4.0 | Windows PowerShell: Elements of Windows Management Infrastructure (WMI) | |
Other | |||
Engineering Software for Accessibility | Managing Agile Open-Source Software Projects with Microsoft Visual Studio Online | Enterprise Cloud Strategy | Programming Windows 8 Apps with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript |
Creating Mobile Apps with Xamarin.Forms: Cross-platform C# programming for iOS, Android, and Windows | Programming Windows Store Apps with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, Second Edition | License access to Windows on a per user basis |
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Licensing Microsoft server products for use in virtual environments | Multiplexing – Client Access License (CAL) Requirements | Introduction to Per Core Licensing and Basic Definitions | Downgrade rights for Microsoft Volume Licensing, OEM, and full packaged product licenses |
Quick Start Guide – How to give your students access to e-Learning Courses |
| Understanding Microsoft Virtualizaton R2 Solutions | Moving to Microsoft® Visual Studio® 2010 |
Surface Pro 4 User Guide | Surface Book User Guide | Own Your Future: Update Your Skills with Resources and Career Ideas from Microsoft® |
Thank you again for being a reader of my Blog and I hope you find this year’s collection of FREE eBooks and other resources to be very helpful to you, your colleagues, friends, or family.
Thank you and have a wonderful day,
Eric Ligman – Follow me on TWITTER, LinkedIn, and Facebook
Director – Sales Excellence
Microsoft Corporation
This posting is provided “AS IS” with no warranties, and confers no rights
Having recently written two articles about the theory of applying Machine Learning in Education – “Two ways to use Azure Machine Learning in education” and “Making machine learning in education easier for every day users” – I think it’s time to dive into a specific example of machine learning in education where it is being used to support education outcomes in schools. The story comes from my colleagues on the Machine Learning blog.
The example is from Washington State, in the US, where Tacoma Public Schools has been using it as part of their ongoing initiative to prevent student dropout for school students. The district has delivered a dramatic turnaround – eight years ago five of the high schools were described as “dropout factories”, and five years ago just 55% of students graduated on time, compared to 81% nationally. But last year that had been boosted to 78%, ensuring that the district is recognised nationally for its educational achievements. The district is now developing the next level of bgcolor='#dbeef4'>We now have this world-class data system for teachers to use. They want to know what is going on in their classrooms.
Getting predictive
It is only recently that the board have been able to apply Azure Machine Learning to predict future dropout risks – turning historical data into an engine for predicting future success. As Shaun Taylor, the district’s CIO said:
| By using predictive analytics, we thought we would be able to intervene earlier and work closely with those at-risk students. Then we would be able to reach our ultimate goal: getting that graduation number close to 100 percent. When we saw Azure Machine Learning, we started to see how it could be possible for us to realize our vision |
The Microsoft team worked with the district to create a proof of concept, using Azure Machine Learning to create a model using five years of demographic, academic and student performance information to predict whether there was a risk of a student dropping out in the next semester. Using the Azure data services in the cloud, and going through a number of iterations of creating a predictive model (what’s key to this is understanding what factors might influence student dropout, and making that historical data available for the analysis) they were able to give a dashboard to board members to see the details of students at-risk of dropping out. Christopher Baidoo-Essien, at the school district summarised their journey:
| When we started this POC, we didn’t know if any predictive analytics would be attainable. As we progressed and used more historical data, the model proved to be almost 90 percent accurate.” |
Turning conventions upside down
As well as working on developing more real-time, or near-time, data sources for the analysis (using data that’s a month old risks missing key signals) and providing more regular analysis and reports, there is a focus on changing traditional, but incorrect, perceptions about the reasons for students’ struggles. As Christopher says:
| Often, students are seen as fitting certain profiles that indicate a potential lack of success, but none of those profiles are supported by analytical data. We wanted to use data to change that perception. And eventually, we want to predict what the key indicators are for kids disengaging. |
There’s plenty of work still to be done, but the journey so far has proven that there is significant value in both the data dashboards, as well as the predictive analytics.
Applying machine learning in education in Australia
Azure Case Studies Microsoft Excel 2013
We will soon start to see examples within Australia of using Azure Machine Learning in education, as similar work is starting here. One of the data science teams behind this work in the US is working with S1 Consulting in Australia to fine tune a model for student dropout from universities, using the Azure Machine Learning service, and there’s another team at Literatu working on predicting opportunities for support and intervention for high school students, based on their performance in school assessments, as well as external assessments, such as NAPLAN and PAT assessments.