Learn how to dynamically load data from ETL load files using SSIS as a shell. The code downloads files from FTP, parses them and loads them into the database.  Read more...

In the second part of this series, Leo Peysakhovich provides a mechanism for tracking real time data changes.  Read more...

I’ve fielded a number of requests recently asking how to interrogate a file within SSIS and change the processing rules...  Read more...

A Technique to deal with moving data from multiple schemas into one table  Read more...

Extract-load-transform integration can offer performance and cost advantages over ETL. Here's how to pick the right approach.   Read more...

The staging area tends to be one of the more overlooked components of a data warehouse architecture, and yet it is an integral part of the ETL component design. Learn why it is best to design the staging layer right the first time, enabling support of various ETL processes and related methodology, recoverability and scalability.   Read more...

Speeding up incremental ETL processes in SSIS by tracking changes to records in an MD5 Hash  Read more...

In this article, Zach Mattson shows us how you can set up SSIS to handle multiple application environments and easily move packages from development to QA to production.  Read more...

Why neglecting slowly changing dimensions, failing to capture metadata and overlooking scope creep can be the undoing of a dimensional data warehousing initiative.  Read more...

Importing Excel Spreadsheets is something that we often do with SQL Server. However it's not as easy as you would like as we move to the 64 bit platform. Peter He brings us a method that will work on all platforms.  Read more...

A cursor-free way of normalizing data from a denormalized data source into a database which uses "surrogate" IDs.  Read more...

In February 2008, Microsoft announced a record-breaking data load using Microsoft® SQL Server® Integration Services (SSIS): 1 TB of data in less than 30 minutes. That data load, using SQL Server Integration Services, was 30% faster than the previous best time using a commercial ETL tool. This paper outlines what it took: the software, hardware, and configuration used. We will describe what we did to achieve that result, and offer suggestions for how to relate these techniques to typical scenarios. Even for customers who don't have needs quite like this benchmark, such efforts can teach a lot about getting optimal performance.  Read more...

More and more data is being stored or transmitted in an XML format. New author Nasir Mirza brings us an article that examines how to transform a number of XML structures into different relational formats for storage in SQL Server.  Read more...

Importing data into SQL Server is one of the strengths of the platform. However it can require a bit of work for a DBA to make this an automated process. New author David Jansen brings us a technique for importing Sharepoint and IIS logs into SQL Server for later analysis.  Read more...

When you need to insert a large set of data using T-SQL, what can you do? New author Melinda Sansone brings us a best practice when using T-SQL to load data for data marts, or warehouses.  Read more...

A webinar from MVP Brian Knight and Pragmatic Works this week will help you learn how to clean up data and apply business rules in your data flows.  Read more...

Best-practice advice on software vs. coding, where to integrate, how to capture changed data, when to stage data, where to correct data and what latency levels to shoot for.  Read more...

A webinar from MVP Brian Knight and Pragmatic Works this week will help you learn how to clean up data and apply business rules in your data flows.  Read more...

A webinar from MVP Brian Knight and Pragmatic Works this week will help you learn how to clean up data and apply business rules in your data flows.  Read more...

This article will show how to use SSIS to capture the file name during the load process and later remove bad data from your warehouse. New Author J.D. Gonzalez has an interesting approach that you might find useful.  Read more...