Sometimes it happens. SQL Server Data Tools crashes and burns. (It’s also known as Visual Studio or SSDT but I don’t know how to pronounce that…) Was it something I said? I’m currently building a small data warehouse and building out a lot of packages in a fairly short period of time, so maybe I [...]

The upcoming release of SQL Server 2012 includes a major overhaul for Integration Services (SSIS). I write about the changes in SSIS, big and small, in Introducing Microsoft SQL Server 2012 (Microsoft Press, 2012) which will be available in March as a free download. Meanwhile, if you really can’t wait that long, you can get [...]

Yesterday, Denny Cherry (blog|twitter) and I co-presented a 24HOP session for the Fall 2011 lineup, “So How Does the BI Workload Impact the Database Engine?” 24HOP stands for 24 Hours of PASS and is a semiannual roundup of speakers from the SQL Server community. Initially, this event consisted of 24 consecutive sessions, each lasting an [...]

Last week I presented a Webcast, sponsored by Idera, that received some favorable feedback, plus some requests for my sample files. To recap, my focus was on the process of building the data mart, rather than trying to explain (in 45 minutes!) all the things that you can do with Integration Services. In some cases, [...]

TechNet is publishing a series of four articles introducing readers to business intelligence. I have written two of these articles while a friend of mine, Derek Comingore of BI Voyage, has written one of them. The fourth article is not yet written, but I’ll post a link here when it becomes available. A lot of [...]