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SSIS - Convert various String date formats to DateTime with the Script Task
The script below is really nice if you need to convert String dates that come in different (unexpected) formats. Just copy and paste the code in your Script Task (paste the function outside Main()) and...
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SSIS - Decrease your fact table loading time up to 40%
Replace the multiple "Lookup Error Output" Derived Columns and Union All's with a single Derived Column and get a performance boost...Almost every BI developer needs to perform lookups while loading...
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Start / Stop SQL Server, SSIS, SSAS, SSRS and SQL Server Agent at once with a...
A lot of developers have SQL Server and its different services running on their PC or notebook to develop or test BI solutions. Unfortunately this slows down your system quite a lot. To speed things up...
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SSAS - Clear SSAS cache with an SSIS package
Often I see developers on different forums asking how they can clear the SSAS cache. You can achieve this by restarting SSAS, which is done quite often. Restarting is not necessary though, it's...
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SSIS - Lookup is case sensitive
A while ago I figured out that the lookup transformation is case sensitive. I used a lookup to find dimension table members in for my fact table records. This was done on a String business key like...
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SSIS – Unpack a ZIP file with the Script Task
A while ago I needed to unpack a couple of zip files from SSIS. There is no Microsoft SSIS task that contains this functionality so I searched the Internet. It seems that there are quite some third...
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SSIS - Let the Excel connection manager pick the right column data types from...
The excel connection manager scans every first 8 rows to determine the data type for a column in your SSIS source component. So if an Excel sheet column has integers on the first 8 rows and a string...
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SSIS - Blowing-out the grain of your fact table
Recently I had to create a fact table with a lower grain than the source database. My source database contained order lines with a start- and end date and monthly revenue amounts. To create reports...
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SSIS – Package design pattern for loading a data warehouse
I recently had a chat with some BI developers about the design patterns they’re using in SSIS when building an ETL system. We all agreed in creating multiple packages for the dimensions and fact tables...
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SSIS - Package design pattern for loading a data warehouse - Part 2
Since my last blog post about a SSIS package design pattern I’ve received quite some positive reactions and feedback. Microsoft also added a link to the post on the SSIS portal which made it clear to...
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The next version of SSIS is coming!
The latest releases of SQL Server contained (almost) no new SSIS features. With the release of SSIS 2008 the ability to use C# scripts, the improved data flow and the cached lookup were most thrilling...
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SSIS Denali as part of “Enterprise Information Management”
When watching the SQL PASS session “What’s Coming Next in SSIS?” of Steve Swartz, the Group Program Manager for the SSIS team, an interesting question came up:Why is SSIS thought of to be BI, when we...
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Replication Services as ETL extraction tool
In my last blog post I explained the principles of Replication Services and the possibilities it offers in a BI environment. One of the possibilities I described was the use of snapshot replication as...
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SSIS Denali CTP3 – What’s new?
Last week Microsoft released CTP3 of SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS), code name: Denali. In this blog post I will look into the new key features and some of the minor improvements in SSIS...
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BI on your terms with SQL Server 2016
The last few years Microsoft's strategy was all about cloud first (or cloud only?), releasing new BI products and updates to existing products to the cloud in high pace without almost any investments...
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