The following is a brief generalized overview of a framework I developed on one of my projects for ETL processing using SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS). It is meant to provide an organized, consistent, centrally configured and managed, and disaster-recovery and audit friendly environment in which SSIS ETL processes can be developed and executed. This …
When do my jobs run? How long are my jobs taking to complete? It’s often helpful to visualize what’s going on with your scheduled SQL Agent jobs to answer these types of questions. SQLjobvis from SQLsoft is a tool I like to keep handy to help me answer some of these questions. SQLjobvis is a …
Continue reading ‘Use SQLjobvis to Help Optimize SQL Agent Jobs and Schedules’ »
Do you use source control? Whether it’s TFS or another of the many good source control options available, there are likely times you have needed to compare or merge code within your source control system. Sometimes I’m reviewing something my team is getting ready to release to production. Other times I have a local copy …
Continue reading ‘Tools to Compare and Merge Code Better in TFS Source Control’ »
Many of the tables in your databases contain dimensional data – descriptive information about objects that can be grouped and organized at a higher level than an individual transaction. And most of these dimension tables are sure to fit one of the definitions of a slowly changing dimension. When loading data into these tables using …
Continue reading ‘SSIS – Faster, Simpler Alternatives to the SCD Transform’ »
Dates are likely the interactive parameters that are included most often in SSRS reports. What’s happening now? How does that compare to what happened then? These are some of the questions we ask, and date parameters help us to answer them. Often I see date parameters being used in a way that works, but does …
Continue reading ‘SSRS – Tame Your Report Date Selection Parameters’ »
There comes a time in every man’s life when he must cross the boundaries of common sense, when he must go against society’s norms to accomplish something great, when he must… run sql code in Sql Server Management Studio (SSMS) directly against a production server. We all do it. We all have valid reasons to …
Continue reading ‘SSMS – Distinguish Your Dev Environments With a Little Color’ »
The Scenario – Why Migrate TFS? The officially recommended and supported way to move from an older version of TFS to a newer one is to do an in-place upgrade of your existing installation. There are many reasons, however, why you may prefer an option to migrate your existing TFS data to a new server. …
Continue reading ‘Migrate TFS to a New Server – This Update Path IS Possible’ »
When I first begain working in SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) 2012, I noticed one thing right away – intellisense seems to be much less reliable than it was in SSMS 2008. It doesn’t seem to “intellisense” anything most of the time. So off I go to search google, looking into what might be wrong. …
Continue reading ‘SSMS 2012 Feeling Intellisense-less? dbForge Can Help’ »
Everyone likes code that’s easy to read. NOT everyone writes code that’s easy to read. That’s why, for my SQL work, I like to keep the Poor Man’s T-SQL Formatter handy. Poor Man’s T-SQL Formatter is an open source tool created by Tao Klerks that, as it’s name implies, formats SQL code. Formatting code with …
Continue reading ‘Dirty SQL? Clean It Up With Poor Man’s T-SQL Formatter’ »
How many application windows do you have open on your computer right now? If you’re a developer, it’s likely more than enough to fill up your windows taskbar. Do you ever have to go hunt to find that window you know you have open somewhere? Do you wish that there was a way to organize …
Continue reading ‘Virtual Window Managers (VWM) – Multiply Your Monitor’ »