October 16, 2016 at 7:28 am
Deleted.
October 16, 2016 at 8:13 am
chocthree (10/16/2016)
Hi all,A newbie here wishing to ask for advice on Microsoft Business Intelligence. Hoping this is the right forum to put my questions.
I would like to learn Business Intelligence and hope to gain employment within the area. I am have a number of questions that I hope you guys can answer to help put me on the right path.
1) Which type of BI will provide the most job security (i.e. MS, Hadoop, etc)? Not fussed about high salary but just the demand of jobs.
Obviously it depends on your current skillset. If you are comfortable writing intermediately difficult queries, then SSRS and SSIS are a good sweet spot. it's often a typical project to write an SSIS package that imports data from a flatfile(csv/xls/xlsx) into SQL table(s), and join that data on exisiting data, and produce an SSRS report related to that data. SSIS has a bit of a learning curve learning it's behaviour,a nd parameterizing and expressions, but once you have it, it's a huge advantage.
2) I feel learning T-SQL and SSIS/SSRS/SSAS is a good place to start. Would you agree?
[/quote
It goes back to your strengths. Are you comfortable with writing queries already? if you have some experience in that, then SSIS/SSRS, to start off with, then yes. SSAS has a steeper learning curve, i think.
3) To learn T-SQL and SSIS/SSRS/SSAS is there a particular version of SQL to install? Meaning, would I need to install SSMS and BIDS or is there a single software that I can install to use both?
all the dev software is free, so Your lab would need SQL server 2016 developer, VS2015 SSDT and VS2015 SSDT-BI, so three installs at a minimum. so you are looking at
3) Considering I'm starting out now would you suggest I learn the latest version which is 2016?
4) Is 2016 the latest big release or is it just a minor release?
always use the latest versions of the software, previous versions are so close to the latest, you'll be fine.
5) Any good methods to learn? I'm not really a book person and would much prefer training videos.
I'd appreciate any help you can provide me. Thanks.
labs and examples and real world problems are the ONLY way you will actually learn.
watching videos is only a guideline, it's not experience, you can never watch and then say "ok i saw it, now i can do it."
It's the practice, and tripping over ten different problems not in the video(due to your own lab/permissions/etc) ten times before it soaks in and you start getting it right.
it's the experience of DOING the work that gets you there, so find any examples and code you can get your hands on.
Lowell
October 16, 2016 at 9:18 am
Your lab would need SQL server 2016 developer, VS2015 SSDT and VS2015 SSDT-BI, so three installs at a minimum. ...
Actually, this bit is not quite correct. SSDT and SSDT-BI were unified in 2015: now there is only SSDT 2015 (and that's a very good thing!). So you are down to a minimum of two installs.
If you haven't even tried to resolve your issue, please don't expect the hard-working volunteers here to waste their time providing links to answers which you could easily have found yourself.
October 16, 2016 at 11:06 am
I might recommend you read these as well:
October 17, 2016 at 3:53 am
Phil Parkin (10/16/2016)
Your lab would need SQL server 2016 developer, VS2015 SSDT and VS2015 SSDT-BI, so three installs at a minimum. ...
Actually, this bit is not quite correct. SSDT and SSDT-BI were unified in 2015: now there is only SSDT 2015 (and that's a very good thing!). So you are down to a minimum of two installs.
Although SSMS is now a separate install 🙁
Thom~
Excuse my typos and sometimes awful grammar. My fingers work faster than my brain does.
Larnu.uk
October 17, 2016 at 4:57 am
SSAS will probably be useful for a few years to come, but R Services will become the main analysis tool of the future. I would not be surprised if SSAS is deprecated in the next version of SQL Server, but I expect it will remain part of the product for a few more years.
I suggest you learn what you can of both of these, as any organisation wanting to move big-time into R is likely to have a lot of legacy SSAS around.
Original author: https://github.com/SQL-FineBuild/Common/wiki/ 1-click install and best practice configuration of SQL Server 2019, 2017 2016, 2014, 2012, 2008 R2, 2008 and 2005.
When I give food to the poor they call me a saint. When I ask why they are poor they call me a communist - Archbishop Hélder Câmara
October 18, 2016 at 1:20 pm
Business Intelligence is a "tip of the spear" IT role. Not only does it requires someone who has several years of general IT experience in a corporate environment, but it also requires someone who is at least a SQL database generalist combined with a solid understanding of business processes and interpersonal communication skill. If you've got all that covered, then there are some good training videos series on how to use the SSIS/SSAS/SSRS stack of tools specifically. You can start on YouTube looking for a series that speaks to you, and then subscribe to the website for the complete set.
https://www.youtube.com/user/WiseOwlTutorials
However, if you've recently graduating from university, mostly held odd jobs in retail or food service up to this point, then it's going to be more of a multi-year journey than 2016 year-end goal. Start by getting an internship in a corporate IT shop.
"Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho
October 18, 2016 at 1:25 pm
Thom A (10/17/2016)
Phil Parkin (10/16/2016)
Your lab would need SQL server 2016 developer, VS2015 SSDT and VS2015 SSDT-BI, so three installs at a minimum. ...
Actually, this bit is not quite correct. SSDT and SSDT-BI were unified in 2015: now there is only SSDT 2015 (and that's a very good thing!). So you are down to a minimum of two installs.
Although SSMS is now a separate install 🙁
Well spotted. I actually thought of this afterwards, but decided to keep quiet :Whistling:
If you haven't even tried to resolve your issue, please don't expect the hard-working volunteers here to waste their time providing links to answers which you could easily have found yourself.
October 18, 2016 at 7:28 pm
Just to throw my opinion into the ring...
I've been tremendously successful and I barely know how to spell SSIS, SSDT, SSAS, SSRS, or any of the other 4 letter words in SQL Server. The key is to have a really good knowledge of how tables and indexes work and how to write some really good T-SQL especially in the form of stored procedures and the right kind of functions. Knowing how to write code in just a minute or so to generate a million row test table in just a couple of seconds has been the key to that key.
It is handy to know how to use the 4 letter words but you'll shine like the sun if you're really good at T-SQL because a lot of what those things do can be greatly improved and sometimes replaced by T-SQL.
You may have heard that the demand for people that know T-SQL isn't that great and that it might even becoming less of a demand. I can tell you from personal experience that I've been hearing the same thing for the last 20 years but have experienced quite the opposite.
Remember that everything comes back to where the data is stored... E-v-e-r-y-t-h-I-n-g.
--Jeff Moden
Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.
October 18, 2016 at 8:20 pm
chocthree (10/16/2016)
1) Which type of BI will provide the most job security (i.e. MS, Hadoop, etc)? Not fussed about high salary but just the demand of jobs.
SSAS, Hadoop and AWS are all very hot at the moment.
[Quote]
2) I feel learning T-SQL and SSIS/SSRS/SSAS is a good place to start. Would you agree?[/quote]
Learning T-SQL is vital, SSIS, SSRS and SSAS will be much easier once you have a solid understanding of T-SQL.
3) Considering I'm starting out now would you suggest I learn the latest version which is 2016?
Yep.
4) Is 2016 the latest big release or is it just a minor release?
2016 is extremely huge
Back to T-SQL... A huge part of my job involves SSRS, SSIS and a little SSAS. Each of these are much easier to work with when you are good with T-SQL. Bad SQL makes SSRS reports render slowly, SSIS packages run forever and SSAS cubes process much longer than you'd prefer.
-- Itzik Ben-Gan 2001
October 19, 2016 at 7:32 am
Jeff Moden (10/18/2016)
Just to throw my opinion into the ring...I've been tremendously successful and I barely know how to spell SSIS, SSDT, SSAS, SSRS, or any of the other 4 letter words in SQL Server. The key is to have a really good knowledge of how tables and indexes work and how to write some really good T-SQL especially in the form of stored procedures and the right kind of functions. Knowing how to write code in just a minute or so to generate a million row test table in just a couple of seconds has been the key to that key.
It is handy to know how to use the 4 letter words but you'll shine like the sun if you're really good at T-SQL because a lot of what those things do can be greatly improved and sometimes replaced by T-SQL.
You may have heard that the demand for people that know T-SQL isn't that great and that it might even becoming less of a demand. I can tell you from personal experience that I've been hearing the same thing for the last 20 years but have experienced quite the opposite.
Remember that everything comes back to where the data is stored... E-v-e-r-y-t-h-I-n-g.
There are IT organizations that get databases, and then there are organizations that simply don't get it. I've seen cases where folks are throwing millions of dollars in new hardware and scale-out solutions at applications suffering from rudimentary T-SQL coding issues and table design. Yeah, so if a daily ETL process is taking 24 hours to run, then they'll double down on hardware, splitting the load between two servers, to cut that down to 12 hours. No, in most cases the problem isn't the server, the network, the SAN, or limitations of relational database architecture :doze:. The problem is that you've got this SELECT statement that's performing remote joins across two or three different servers. Fix that, and the process runs within 20 minutes. That is, if the organization is open for taking advice rather than just throwing CapEx at the problem.
"Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho
October 19, 2016 at 8:02 am
Eric M Russell (10/19/2016)
Jeff Moden (10/18/2016)
Just to throw my opinion into the ring...I've been tremendously successful and I barely know how to spell SSIS, SSDT, SSAS, SSRS, or any of the other 4 letter words in SQL Server. The key is to have a really good knowledge of how tables and indexes work and how to write some really good T-SQL especially in the form of stored procedures and the right kind of functions. Knowing how to write code in just a minute or so to generate a million row test table in just a couple of seconds has been the key to that key.
It is handy to know how to use the 4 letter words but you'll shine like the sun if you're really good at T-SQL because a lot of what those things do can be greatly improved and sometimes replaced by T-SQL.
You may have heard that the demand for people that know T-SQL isn't that great and that it might even becoming less of a demand. I can tell you from personal experience that I've been hearing the same thing for the last 20 years but have experienced quite the opposite.
Remember that everything comes back to where the data is stored... E-v-e-r-y-t-h-I-n-g.
There are IT organizations that get databases, and then there are organizations that simply don't get it. I've seen cases where folks are throwing millions of dollars in new hardware and scale-out solutions at applications suffering from rudimentary T-SQL coding issues and table design. Yeah, so if a daily ETL process is taking 24 hours to run, then they'll double down on hardware, splitting the load between two servers, to cut that down to 12 hours. No, in most cases the problem isn't the server, the network, the SAN, or limitations of relational database architecture :doze:. The problem is that you've got this SELECT statement that's performing remote joins across two or three different servers. Fix that, and the process runs within 20 minutes. That is, if the organization is open for taking advice rather than just throwing CapEx at the problem.
Exactly. In fact, I've seen where double-downing on server hardware has actually made things run slower thanks to being paralyzed by head chatter on the common SAN due to head chatter.
And I agree... having good hardware is certainly necessary but doubling hardware, at best, will only get you twice the speed and that's if you're lucky. It usually doesn't take much to fix the rudimentary problems that folks have built into their T-SQL (whether it's in stored procedures or supposed "managed code") to easily realize between 60 and 100X improvements in Duration, CPU usage, Disk I/O, and memory usage. Put a little thought into it and 1,000X or more improvements can frequently be realized.
Let's see anyone buy a hardware stack that can do that! 😛 Even MPP systems typically only advertise 30X and that's with a rewrite of the code to be able to use the appliance correctly.
I've said it before... "Performance is in the code". If folks don't want to make that realization, then it won't be anywhere. :hehe:
--Jeff Moden
Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.
October 21, 2016 at 11:11 am
All, I thank you for each of your responses. Much appreciated.
Here is the deal. I'm not a total newbie but due to the time I've been out of SQL I will be starting afresh. I'm a little long in the tooth and have done some VB6/C# development ten years ago. I did work with SQL and SSIS/SSRS for a short time but then my company moved to SAP. For the past five years I've been on SAP BW and very much disliked it from the beginning. The problem is I feel I only know SAP now (drag and drop, segregation of duties) and have lost my other skills (SQL, stakeholder engagement). Why I haven't opted to leave before now - I don't know. I feel my old technical mind has disappeared and I'm now very much a SAP person:crying: I enjoy working with data (SQL, ETL tools) more so than using Java/C#. A thought is to train up again in SQL Development and seek to re-enter that area, considering it is on my CV I know what the job entails.
I am located in Southampton (UK) and am concerned about job security (and demand). Why? well SAP is not common place and I now have a mindset that there are no jobs out there, due to my experience with SAP.
I agree that understanding DB design, Indexes, SP etc.. is key. SSIS to me is a drag n drop/cofiguration way of producing code, with some extra functionality.
I have never heard that SQL is dying. You are the first I have heard say that. While there is RDBMS I would imagine SQL being around. I can't see RDBMS disappearing - right?
What I would like is job security in that I should always find work. SAP has scared me. The beauty of data development over programming is programming is usually a software house activity but data development/reporting can be any kind of company (ex SMEs and not necessary the IT dept either). Do you have any tips on what areas of data development will provide the most demand for my skills?
With the Big Data concept and the file system method of capturing it do you think traditional databases have had their day or do you feel that they will be around for the next 30+ years?
So I need to install:
SQL Server 2016 (which includes SSMS) - which edition?
VS2015 SSDT - which edition and is there a 2016 version?
Cheers guys,
Christopher.
October 21, 2016 at 11:37 am
chocthree (10/21/2016)
All, I thank you for each of your responses. Much appreciated.Ok, here is the deal. I'm a little long in the tooth and have done some VB6/C# development ten years ago. I did work with SQL and SSIS/SSRS for a short time but then my company moved to SAP. For the past five years I've been on SAP BW and very much disliked it from the beginning. The problem is I feel I only know SAP now (drag and drop, segregation of duties) and have lost my other skills (SQL, stakeholder engagement). Why I haven't opted to leave before now - I don't know. I feel my old technical mind has disappeared and I'm now very much a SAP person:crying: I enjoy working with data (SQL, ETL tools) more so than using Java/C#. A thought is to train up again in SQL Development and seek to re-enter that area, considering it is on my CV I know what the job entails.
I am located in Southampton (UK) and am concerned about job security (and demand). Why? well SAP is not common place and I now have a mindset that there are no jobs out there, due to my experience with SAP.
I agree that understanding DB design, Indexes, SP etc.. is key. SSIS to me is a drag n drop/cofiguration way of producing code, with some extra functionality.
I have never heard that SQL is dying. You are the first I have heard say that. While there is RDBMS I would imagine SQL being around. I can't see RDBMS disappearing - right?
What I would like is job security in that I should always find work. SAP has scared me. The beauty of data development over programming is programming is usually a software house activity but data development/reporting can be any kind of company (ex SMEs and not necessary the IT dept either). Do you have any tips on what areas of data development will provide the most demand for my skills?
With the Big Data concept and the file system method of capturing it do you think traditional databases have had their day or do you feel that they will be around for the next 30+ years?
So I need to install:
SQL Server 2016 (which includes SSMS) - which edition?
VS2015 SSDT - which edition and is there a 2016 version?
Cheers guys,
Christopher.
You need
SQL Server 2016 (Developer Edition)
SSMS 2016
SSDT 2015 (SSDT may as well be called 'Visual Studio for SQL Server Applications' – it is a cut-down version of Visual Studio. There is no 2016 version. The 2015 version is what you need to perform development for SQL Server 2016).
If you haven't even tried to resolve your issue, please don't expect the hard-working volunteers here to waste their time providing links to answers which you could easily have found yourself.
October 21, 2016 at 11:46 am
Phil Parkin (10/21/2016)
chocthree (10/21/2016)
All, I thank you for each of your responses. Much appreciated.Ok, here is the deal. I'm a little long in the tooth and have done some VB6/C# development ten years ago. I did work with SQL and SSIS/SSRS for a short time but then my company moved to SAP. For the past five years I've been on SAP BW and very much disliked it from the beginning. The problem is I feel I only know SAP now (drag and drop, segregation of duties) and have lost my other skills (SQL, stakeholder engagement). Why I haven't opted to leave before now - I don't know. I feel my old technical mind has disappeared and I'm now very much a SAP person:crying: I enjoy working with data (SQL, ETL tools) more so than using Java/C#. A thought is to train up again in SQL Development and seek to re-enter that area, considering it is on my CV I know what the job entails.
I am located in Southampton (UK) and am concerned about job security (and demand). Why? well SAP is not common place and I now have a mindset that there are no jobs out there, due to my experience with SAP.
I agree that understanding DB design, Indexes, SP etc.. is key. SSIS to me is a drag n drop/cofiguration way of producing code, with some extra functionality.
I have never heard that SQL is dying. You are the first I have heard say that. While there is RDBMS I would imagine SQL being around. I can't see RDBMS disappearing - right?
What I would like is job security in that I should always find work. SAP has scared me. The beauty of data development over programming is programming is usually a software house activity but data development/reporting can be any kind of company (ex SMEs and not necessary the IT dept either). Do you have any tips on what areas of data development will provide the most demand for my skills?
With the Big Data concept and the file system method of capturing it do you think traditional databases have had their day or do you feel that they will be around for the next 30+ years?
So I need to install:
SQL Server 2016 (which includes SSMS) - which edition?
VS2015 SSDT - which edition and is there a 2016 version?
Cheers guys,
Christopher.
You need
SQL Server 2016 (Developer Edition)
SSMS 2016
SSDT 2015 (SSDT may as well be called 'Visual Studio for SQL Server Applications' – it is a cut-down version of Visual Studio. There is no 2016 version. The 2015 version is what you need to perform development for SQL Server 2016).
I believe it was Ed Vassie that said he wouldn't be surprised if SSAS becomes deprecated in the next version, which I would find surprising. I don't think SQL is going away any time soon.
SQL 2016 Developer Edition is free and functions like Enterprise Edition. There's plenty of fun you can have playing right there.
I have to agree that no matter what toys and tools you're playing with, it all comes down to the database. I'd say to learn T-SQL and learn it well.
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