The Data Model Matters
Is a data model important in modern software? Steve thinks it is and gives a few reasons why we might want to spend a little time on ensuring we have good models as we build software.
2026-06-05
182 reads
Database modelling
Is Data Modeling Common?
Today Steve tasks data modeling and wonders how many people still build and maintain models.
2025-11-24
163 reads
Being Mindful of Design Time
Do you take the time to model and design your database? Steve thinks this is important, even while trying to make changes quicker to adapt to changing requirements.
2025-11-14
165 reads
Dimensional Modeling Case Study Part 3 - Dynamic Days Dimension
In this next installment of the date dimension series, learn how to create a table that supports different types of banding.
2025-06-13
2,136 reads
Department of Redundancy Department
Ever wonder all the reasons that we use databases instead of file systems? While we don’t think of it too much anymore, the first reason that databases came into existence was to remove redundancies.
2024-04-12
Dimensional Modeling Case Study Part 2 - Days Dimension
Learn how you can model days in a dimension that might need to be aggregated in different ways for your data warehouse operations.
2024-02-07
2,308 reads
Dimensional Modelling Case Study Part 1 - Age Group
Learn how you can handle dimensional modeling in a data warehouse when your data uses different categorization for ages.
2024-01-12
3,070 reads
Having Data Modeling Standards
Today Steve talks about data modeling and how standards can transfer knowledge between developers.
2023-11-22
520 reads
Cone of Uncertainty
Our design and modeling is often done with some level of uncertainty. Steve has a few guidelines today.
2022-10-26
200 reads
2020-09-15
210 reads
Blogs
The flight recorder: Replaying what an AI agent did on my SQL Server
By Arun Sirpal
“What exactly did it do on my server?” is the first question a DBA...
Announcements from the Microsoft Fabric Community Conference — Barcelona 2026
By James Serra
Microsoft shared a broad set of Fabric, Power BI, and SQL updates at FabCon...
Au Revoir for now
By Steve Jones
No, I’m not quitting or retiring. Just going on vacation, but I leave tonight...
Forums
Let's Talk Certifications
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Let's Talk Certifications, which is...
The Hidden Security Risks of Role Combination in SSAS Tabular
Comments posted to this topic are about the item The Hidden Security Risks of...
The Empty Aggregate
Comments posted to this topic are about the item The Empty Aggregate
Question of the Day
The Empty Aggregate
I have this table in a SQL Server 2025 database:
CREATE TABLE [dbo].[CustomerOrder] ( [OrderID] [int] NULL, [CustomerID] [int] NULL, [total] [money] NULL ) ON [PRIMARY] GOWhat is returned from this code? (answers are for the sum and then the count)
SELECT SUM(total) AS sum,
COUNT(total) AS count
FROM dbo.CustomerOrder;
See possible answers