James works at Microsoft as a big data and data warehousing solution architect where he has been for most of the last ten years. Before that 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. Check out his book Deciphering Data Architectures: Choosing Between a Modern Data Warehouse, Data Fabric, Data Lakehouse, and Data Mesh.
The script task in SSIS 2012 is a great tool when you need to use C# or VB code to perform a function that is not possible with the other SSIS built-in tasks. It uses Visual Studio Tools for Applications … Continue reading →
SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT) that was released with SQL Server 2012 obviously works with the BI stack (SSIS/SSAS/SSRS) for 2012. But does it also work with the BI stack from SQL Server 2008 R2? Can you use it with … Continue reading →
SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT) has a new update: VS 2010: new version 10.3.21101.1, September version: 10.3.20905.0, initial version: 10.3.20225.0 VS 2012: new version: 11.1.21101.1, September version: 11.1.20905.0, version shipped with VS 2012: 11.1.20627, initial version: 11.1.20225.0 Download it here. Also updated is … Continue reading →
Microsoft has made a big push the last few years to have all its end-user BI tools integrate with SharePoint, which is great if your company is using SharePoint. Not so great if your company is not using SharePoint or … Continue reading →
Microsoft introduced an interactive data exploration, visualization and presentation experience called Power View with SQL Server 2012. Power View can only consume data from tabular models. At the PASS Summit (see PASS 2012 Announcements) it was revealed that you would soon be able to … Continue reading →
As exciting as SQL Server 2012 is, with its multitude of new features, it’s not always possible to upgrade right away. Here are some reasons that may cause you to delay your upgrade: Training – Your developers and dba’s will … Continue reading →
The following is a guest post by Tim Morgan from Sullexis in response to a resent blog of mine: Thanks for letting me reply to your last post, “Should a placement firm tell you what they are billing the client?”. This … Continue reading →
In Master Data Services (MDS), I received an error when using C# code in the script task in SSIS 2012 to call the MDS web services API: To fix this, I had to edit the web.config in C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL … Continue reading →
Some announcements and notes from the SQL PASS Summit 2012 last week (If you don’t know what PASS is, check out What is SQL PASS?): PASS Summit 2012 had 3,894 delegates – up 13% from last year’s previous record attendance – and 1,717 pre-conference … Continue reading →
Thanks to everyone who attended my “Data Warehouse Architecture” presentation to the South Florida PASS chapter. Here is the PowerPoint presentation: Data Warehouse Architecture Data Warehouse Architecture – comparing Kimball and Inmon methodologies You’re a DBA and your boss asks you to … Continue reading →
As a follow-up to my blog Dell Quickstart Data Warehouse Appliance for SQL Server 2012, Dell announced the availability of the second appliance in the Quickstart family: the Quickstart Data Warehouse Appliance 2000 (QSDW2000). This is a pre-built appliance for data warehouses … Continue reading →
I will be presenting the session “Data Warehouse Architecture” to the South Florida PASS chapter on Wednesday, Nov 14th, at 5:30PM CST. Below is the abstract. It will be a remote presentation that you can join online. Details at South … Continue reading →
In SSIS there are two tasks than can be used to execute SQL statements: Execute T-SQL Statement and Execute SQL. What is the difference between the two? The Execute T-SQL Statement task tasks less memory, parse time, and CPU time … Continue reading →
I thought I would write a quick blog on a problem I see frequently: You try to copy a large file, such as the iso image of SQL Server, to a USB flash drive, and get the error message “There … Continue reading →
Being a long-time SSIS 2008 developer, I have been working with SSIS 2012 for the past few months, and I wanted to jot down a quick guide for those of you also making the jump from SSIS 2008 to SSIS … Continue reading →
SQL Server 2012 has many new Business Intelligence (BI) features and enhancements. Here are my top 12, in order of importance: Power View. A fun, visual, and powerful drag-and-drop ad-hoc reporting tool. It is a web-based end-user BI tool based … Continue reading →
PerformancePoint (PPS) is typically used against multidimensional data sources (i.e. Analysis Services), but it does have the ability, albeit limited, to work against tabular data sources such as SQL Server tables, SharePoint Lists, Excel Services, Import From Excel Workbooks, and even PowerPivot (with … Continue reading →
I have come across a number of tips while using MDS. These are tips not big enough for their own blog post, so I list them all here: To “hide” an attribute in the MDS Excel add-in, set the pixel … Continue reading →
As a 1099 consultant, I usually use a placement firm to find a contract job. I always ask the placement firm what rate they are billing the client. They usually tell me. When they don’t, it’s a sure sign that … Continue reading →
Having recently completed a model in Master Data Services (MDS), I needed to move the model from a development environment to a QA environment. Below is some helpful tips if you need to do the same, along with details on … Continue reading →