Miss 24 Hours of PASS ? No problem, all videos are online
All the videos for the sessions at 24 Hours of PASS are available for free. Check the session schedule for a complete list. Some great stuff!
Continue reading →James Serra
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.
Context-sensitive menus in PerformancePoint
Frequently I see a bit of confusion from business users when using an analytic grid on a dashboard in PerformancePoint. The confusion comes when you right-click on the analytic grid and see a context-sensitive menu. When you right-click on any … Continue reading →
Building a Visual Studio project from an existing SSAS database
Imagine you join a company, and there is an existing SSAS database that contains a few cubes that are working nicely. You are asked to add an enhancement to one of the cubes, so you poke around in source control for the … Continue reading →
Ways to save money on Microsoft Software
If you are a developer and are on your own, or working for a company that does not have an MSDN subscription and you are looking at using a bunch of Microsoft tools, you can wind up spending a ton of … Continue reading →
SQL Server 2012 (“Denali”): Installing on a Virtual Machine
With CTP3 for SQL Server 2012 (code name of “Denali”) available, a lot of us want to play with all the new cool features, as well as the new tools, such as Crescent and Juneau. The steps below are what I took to … Continue reading →
How to prevent blocking in your SQL Server database
As a SQL Server DBA, usually the largest databases in size and in number of users that I had to manage was an ERP database, such as Microsoft Dynamics AX. And because these types of database typically have a lot of users, database blocking … Continue reading →
Using a Display Folder for a SSAS calculation
I was having a problem getting the display folder to work for a calculation in SSAS. Turns out, it will only work if you select “Measures” as the Parent hierarchy: The display folder (“Acct Calc – Supply Chain”) shows up correctly … Continue reading →
Thinking about taking a contract position? Questions to ask
Over the years, I have accumulated a set of questions that I usually ask the placement firm about a contract or consulting position (W2 or 1099) that I am looking at taking. Many of these questions will also apply if … Continue reading →
System Center and Visual Studio Team Foundation Server 2010
Because the relationship between application development and the IT operations teams is critical, Microsoft has released a CTP of a new connector between System Center and Visual Studio Team Foundation Server (TFS) 2010 that helps the coordination between development and operations. The connector … Continue reading →
Preventing projects from deploying when debugging a SSIS package
This is a quick tip to help quickly solve a problem I run into sometimes, and now that I am writing a blog about it, will be able to solve it in no time (a big benefit of blogging is to never … Continue reading →
Receive error #13119 in toolbox instead of tools in Visual Studio 2008
A couple of times over the past few months, while in Visual Studio 2008 working on an SSIS package, I went to the toolbox and saw this message: There we no tools at all showing up. Apparently the toolbox became corrupted, but … Continue reading →
When to use T-SQL or SSIS for ETL
When doing ETL, you have the choice of using T-SQL or SSIS. What things should you consider when deciding which one to use? Here are some of the major design considerations to think about. These points were derived from Tim … Continue reading →
Microsoft SQL Server Parallel Data Warehouse (PDW) Explained
Microsoft SQL Server Parallel Data Warehouse (PDW), formally called by its code name “Project Madison”, is an edition of Microsoft’s SQL Server 2008 R2 that was released in December 2010. PDW is Microsoft’s reworking of the DatAllegro Inc. massive parallel processing (MPP) product … Continue reading →
Microsoft Small Basic
This is a bit off-topic, but I wanted to mention a great tool for beginners to learn how to program. This tool is especially ideal for those of us who have high schoolers who are interested in programming (this blog … Continue reading →
Tracking down KPI error in PerformancePoint
On a few occasions, I have opened up my PerformancePoint scorecard on SharePoint to see an error staring at me: So two of my KPI’s, which have been working fine for months, suddenly don’t work. Follow along and I will … Continue reading →
Methods for populating a data warehouse
Source tables change over time. A data mart or data warehouse that is based on those tables needs to reflect these changes. This blog post will explain different solutions for solving this problem. When moving data into a data warehouse, taking … Continue reading →
Microsoft SharePoint Online
Microsoft SharePoint Online is a cloud-based service that is part of the recently released Microsoft Office 365. For those of us who have installed SharePoint and maintained it, we know there is a lot of cost and overhead. Setting it all … Continue reading →
Using SSIS lookup transformation editor with millions of rows
If you are using a SSIS lookup transformation editor to determine whether to update/delete/insert records and the reference dataset is large (millions of rows) and you are using “Full cache” on the lookup transformation (the default), you might run into … Continue reading →
SSAS Maestro Program (or SQL BI MCM)
There is a very interesting new Microsoft program that started back in January, called the SSAS Maestro Program. It is a five-day, deep-dive course on Analysis Services 2008 R2 that gives architects and consultants the education and hands-on experience needed to deliver the … Continue reading →
Product Guide for SQL Server 2012 (“Denali”) released
Released today, the SQL Server 2012, code name ‘Denali’, Community Technical Preview 3 (CTP3) Product Guide download contains the latest datasheets, white papers, click-through and auto-running demonstrations, hands-on lab previews, technical presentations, and other useful links to help you evaluate the SQL … Continue reading →