Is your IT department outdated? There's a prediction that they won't be around in five years. Steve Jones doesn't agree.  Read more...

Computer vision has been something that researchers have worked on for years. We have no shortage of cameras, and we are starting to see the computing systems behind these devices starting to actually understand what is being seen. That understanding is very valuable. Will we see something similar happening in our SQL Server technologies?  Read more...

SSAS Maestro, SQL Server MVP and Business Intelligence Architect Bill Pearson introduces three “major players” within the MDX “relative” functions. These basic, but highly employed, functions include the .CurrentMember, .PrevMember and .NextMember functions.  Read more...

SQL Server databases move around as an organisation’s data grows, applications are enhanced or new versions of the database software are released. If not anything else, servers become old and unreliable and databases eventually need to find a new home. Here's what to do when migrating your databases.  Read more...

SQL Server Performance Dashboard comprises a set of custom reports that give you nitty gritty details about the performance of your SQL Server instance.  Read more...

IBM's Watson project continues to grow and the latest implementation might be one that affects many of us in our daily lives.  Read more...

Continuing our discussion on how to leverage the capabilities of PowerShell to automate the most basic SSIS management tasks, this article will explore more complex topics by demonstrating the use of PowerShell in implementing and utilizing project environments.  Read more...

Read when you search for help on the internet. You might miss a very important part of what you must do.  Read more...

We've been working really hard on SQL Source Control, and need your input. We're currently working on suggestions from our user forum and on an updated migrations feature that supports all source control systems and works across branches. We'd love it if you could spare 10 minutes to complete this survey. If you complete the survey by Friday June 14, you could win a $100 Amazon voucher. There are two up for grabs!   Read more...

A previous tip, SQL Server DDL Triggers to Track All Database Changes, generated a lot of discussion involving ways to make the provided DDL trigger more useful. Check out this tip to expand your knowledge on DDL Triggers.  Read more...

Microsoft through its various GUIs tries hard to "protect" users from SQL, but Phil Factor argues that we don't need protection from code. We just need a better way to "document" the syntax.  Read more...

The next version of SQL Server was announced last week and Steve Jones is pleased with the name.  Read more...

Describes a design pattern for using CDC to power fast and efficient incremental data loads.  Read more...

When a disaster occurs, the response from your organization isn't always pre-determined. There are times when you might not want to failover to secondary systems, especially if you don't expect the disaster to last long. How do you decide when to fail over?  Read more...

Microsoft has introduced a new BI product that will help simplify the data discovery phase for Excel users. “Data Explorer” is an Excel add-in that enhances the self-service Business Intelligence experience in Excel by simplifying data discovery and access. Data Explorer is a preview product so these features may appear differently in the final release.  Read more...

This metric reports the number of connections that are currently blocked, divided by the total count of current connections. Most well-balanced SQL Servers will have some degree of blocking. This metric attempts to measure the impact of lead blocking queries against other queries. Higher values indicate that many connections are being blocked, and queries should be tuned to reduce the amount of contention.  Read more...

Freshly minted MCM Wayne Sheffield fills a log shipping crack that could otherwise cause you to re-initialize your log shipping.  Read more...

Moving data around can be a challenge as the sizes of our databases grow. Steve Jones talks about some of the challenges and some creative ways you might consider moving data.  Read more...

Once databases are placed in source control, it is possible to integrate them into the existing build automation process. This will ensure that the whole development project, including the database, can be integrated regularly and tested by an automated build system. This, in turn, leads to opportunities for more frequent, reliable deployments.  Read more...

Hadoop has been making a lot of noise in the Big Data world. Despite my lack of Linux experience I decided to take the plunge and this is what I found.  Read more...