BI Thoughts and Theories

I've recently gotten started on a project using Microsoft's new PerformancePoint Server (PPS) Plan software. I'm actually writing this on a flight back from Seattle after meeting with the PPS team. It was a valuable trip, and I learned a lot about the Read More...

One of the staples in agile (and many other methodologies) development is the idea of iterative development. That's the idea that, rather than doing an entire project in one big pass, it is broken up into smaller iterations. Each iteration ideally consists Read More...

This is a Random Bits post - not on my normal BI related topics, but something I found useful and wanted to record somewhere in case it could help someone else. I recently upgraded to a new laptop running Vista 64-bit. It's been a bit of an adventure Read More...

I'd put in a request for additional support for unit testing in Integration Services on Connect ( https://connect.microsoft.com/SQLServer/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=276292 ). Unfortunately, it doesn't look like it will make the cut for SQL Read More...

It's been tough finding time to write any content recently, but this was a scenario that came up recently both at work and on the forums, so I decided to write it up. It's another variation on processing flat files (they seem to be endless). This scenario Read More...

In my last post, I talked about using the new MERGE statement in SQL Server 2008. It allows you to merge the data in a result set with a table, based on a join condition that you specify. This is a common scenario in data warehousing, where you often Read More...