Suggested Training Materials for a DB/Tess Manager

Hi Christopher,

I was actually in that situation about 2 years ago! I had a lot of SQL and server experience, but no experience with Tessitura. I don’t have any formal agenda to share, but can share what I found to be helpful:

1.       You mentioned training the person on the ticketing side, which is a great idea. It is also a good idea to have the person observe people actually using the system – like the box office, for example. That can help put the pieces of the puzzle together, so to speak, and can reveal interesting nuisances  that you don’t get from a training session.  I spent a lot of time doing this when I first started, and the only regret I have is that I didn’t have even more time to spend observing, asking questions, etc.

2.       Review the documentation that exists, in particular the technical documentation – all can be found on the Tessitura site. There are a number of good conference presentations that have valuable information as well.  Here are some specific ones that would be helpful:

a.       Tessitura Database Naming Conventions

b.      Constituent Tables and SQL Tips

c.       Ticketing Tables and More SQL Tips

d.      List and Extraction Administration – this contains useful info as to how these work, but also goes over database tables involved.

e.      Tessitura Database Utilities

f.        Tessitura Screens Table Reference

g.       Tessitura Table Structures V12 (there is also a v11 version of this)

h.      Control Groups (if applicable)

3.       SQL Profiler will be his or her best friend. That’s a great way to see what is actually going on behind the scenes at the database level when trying things out on the test side.

4.       Tip: Don’t assume you can understand all table relationships through referential integrity. There are a number of situations where tables have a relationship, but no foreign key exists.

5.       Reviewing stored procedure code is a great way to gain an understanding of the relationships within the database.

6.       I found that learning while working on real tasks was very helpful. Shortly after I started, I wrote code to actually dump a subset of the database for one of our resident companies that touched on almost every major area of the system even though I was still “in training,” so to speak. It took longer because I was new to Tessitura, but I learned a lot through that process.

7.       Reviewing the API documentation is a good idea, even if the person isn’t going to use it. Having an understanding of how the API works and how it interacts with the database is helpful.

8.       Going through some of Tessitura’s hosted trainings is helpful too. I went through a number of the ticketing, development, and list/extraction modules when I started just so I could understand how Tessitura works and what it is capable of.

9.       Using the Tessitura network forums to ask questions is very helpful, as well as searching for past posts that are relevant.

I hope this helps!

Thanks,

David

From: Tessitura Technical Forum [mailto:forums-technical@tessituranetwork.com] On Behalf Of Christopher Short
Sent: Thursday, January 16, 2014 1:48 PM
To: David Frederick
Subject: [Tessitura Technical Forum] Suggested Training Materials for a DB/Tess Manager

Good afternoon Tessiturians!

We've recently hired a Database/Tessitura/SQL Manager who knows SQL and it's related systems but is not familiar with Tessitura.  We were wondering if anyone had any Suggested Training Materials or Agendas that they might be willing to share?

I can train on the Ticketing Side of Tessitura, but when it comes to the back end, or the SQL side of things I'm at a loss.  

We are a 3 Organization Consortium with myriad presenting partners.  Any advice or help would be greatly appreciated.  We expect to spend some time utilizing Tessitura Consulting to cover some training, but are receptive to suggestions and knowledge gained by practical experience. :)

Thanks!
Short 

This message was sent automatically to you by www.tessituranetwork.com because you subscribed to the Tessitura Technical Forum. You may reply to this message to post to the Technical forum or visit the site to search, read and post to the forums. In the interest of keeping the forum posts from becoming cluttered, we encourage you to delete previous message text from your reply before sending. Thank you!

Hi Christopher,

I was actually in that situation about 2 years ago! I had a lot of SQL and server experience, but no experience with Tessitura. I don’t have any formal agenda to share, but can share what I found to be helpful:

1.       You mentioned training the person on the ticketing side, which is a great idea. It is also a good idea to have the person observe people actually using the system – like the box office, for example. That can help put the pieces of the puzzle together, so to speak, and can reveal interesting nuisances  that you don’t get from a training session.  I spent a lot of time doing this when I first started, and the only regret I have is that I didn’t have even more time to spend observing, asking questions, etc.

2.       Review the documentation that exists, in particular the technical documentation – all can be found on the Tessitura site. There are a number of good conference presentations that have valuable information as well.  Here are some specific ones that would be helpful:

a.       Tessitura Database Naming Conventions

b.      Constituent Tables and SQL Tips

c.       Ticketing Tables and More SQL Tips

d.      List and Extraction Administration – this contains useful info as to how these work, but also goes over database tables involved.

e.      Tessitura Database Utilities

f.        Tessitura Screens Table Reference

g.       Tessitura Table Structures V12 (there is also a v11 version of this)

h.      Control Groups (if applicable)

3.       SQL Profiler will be his or her best friend. That’s a great way to see what is actually going on behind the scenes at the database level when trying things out on the test side.

4.       Tip: Don’t assume you can understand all table relationships through referential integrity. There are a number of situations where tables have a relationship, but no foreign key exists.

5.       Reviewing stored procedure code is a great way to gain an understanding of the relationships within the database.

6.       I found that learning while working on real tasks was very helpful. Shortly after I started, I wrote code to actually dump a subset of the database for one of our resident companies that touched on almost every major area of the system even though I was still “in training,” so to speak. It took longer because I was new to Tessitura, but I learned a lot through that process.

7.       Reviewing the API documentation is a good idea, even if the person isn’t going to use it. Having an understanding of how the API works and how it interacts with the database is helpful.

8.       Going through some of Tessitura’s hosted trainings is helpful too. I went through a number of the ticketing, development, and list/extraction modules when I started just so I could understand how Tessitura works and what it is capable of.

9.       Using the Tessitura network forums to ask questions is very helpful, as well as searching for past posts that are relevant.

I hope this helps!

Thanks,

David

From: Tessitura Technical Forum [mailto:forums-technical@tessituranetwork.com] On Behalf Of Christopher Short
Sent: Thursday, January 16, 2014 1:48 PM
To: David Frederick
Subject: [Tessitura Technical Forum] Suggested Training Materials for a DB/Tess Manager

Good afternoon Tessiturians!

We've recently hired a Database/Tessitura/SQL Manager who knows SQL and it's related systems but is not familiar with Tessitura.  We were wondering if anyone had any Suggested Training Materials or Agendas that they might be willing to share?

I can train on the Ticketing Side of Tessitura, but when it comes to the back end, or the SQL side of things I'm at a loss.  

We are a 3 Organization Consortium with myriad presenting partners.  Any advice or help would be greatly appreciated.  We expect to spend some time utilizing Tessitura Consulting to cover some training, but are receptive to suggestions and knowledge gained by practical experience. :)

Thanks!
Short 

This message was sent automatically to you by www.tessituranetwork.com because you subscribed to the Tessitura Technical Forum. You may reply to this message to post to the Technical forum or visit the site to search, read and post to the forums. In the interest of keeping the forum posts from becoming cluttered, we encourage you to delete previous message text from your reply before sending. Thank you!