• Midlands SQL Server User Group now a PASS chapter

    August 17th, 2011 in Blog, Community

    Back in September 2010 I spent another evening with the Cardiff SQL Server User Group, run by Adam Morton. Having got so much out of the Cardiff group since its inception, both as an attendee and as a regular speaker, it struck me as a shame that there wasn’t a group represting the SQL community in my area of the UK, the Midlands. Following a few conversations with Adam Morton, Tony Rogerson, Chris Testa-O’Neil and others, Hollie (my…

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  • Pattern matching in SSIS using Regular Expressions and the Script component

    July 8th, 2011 in .Net, Blog, Integration Services

    One of my favourite features of SSIS is the script component, and I know I’m not alone. Why? Because it brings the entire might of the .NET framework to SSIS, providing C# (in SQL 2008 onwards) and VB.NET extensibility for all those times where SSIS doesn’t quite have enough functionality out of the box. Such as? Well a problem I’ve come across a number of times is string parsing. Trying to search for and extract a specific pattern of…

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  • SQL User Groups and SQLBits

    June 22nd, 2011 in Blog, Business Intelligence, Community, SQL Server

    SQLBits 9 It only seems like yesterday since the SQLBits crew put on their awesome 8th conference in Brighton. The next conference has just been announced, SQLBits will move to Liverpool for SQLBits 9 – “Query Across The Mersey” (…Really?!) between September 29th and October 1st. Registration’s not yet open, but you can find out more at www.SQLBits.com I’ve already submitted two sessions to present, “PowerPivot & QlikView…

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  • Video: Automating SSAS OLAP Cube documentation

    May 26th, 2011 in Analysis Services, Blog, Business Intelligence, Reporting Services

    Automating OLAP cube documentation – SQLBits presentation For anyone that missed my presentation at SQLBits 8 in April, the video is now available here. In this 1 hour session I present a method of automating the creation of documentation for SSAS OLAP cubes by using DMVs (dynamic management views) and spatial data, querying the metadata of the cube in realtime. The results include the BUS matrix, star schemas, attribute lists, hierarchies…

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  • The Business Intelligence Semantic Model (BISM)

    May 18th, 2011 in Analysis Services, Blog, Business Intelligence, PowerPivot

    I’m a happy chap. Why? Because I read a blog post yesterday by T.K. Anand (SSAS Principal Group Program Manager) about the vision and roadmap of Analysis Services. There were slightly concerning questions last November (following the PASS conference) surounding the future of Analysis Services, or more specifically the UDM, the dimensional model that we all know and love in SSAS 2005 & 2008. The arrival of PowerPivot into the Microsoft…

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  • SQL Server Art using Spatial Data

    May 11th, 2011 in Blog, SQL Server

    This post follows on from an earlier post on drawing with SQL Server, and explains how to create much more complex drawings using a couple of neat tricks and SQL Server spatial data. Firstly, apologies to those at my session at SQL Bits to whom I promised this blog post, I did say I’d try and get it posted in a week, and it’s been a month – but it’s here now! So, what are we trying to do? In my earlier post I demonstrated…

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  • SQLBits 8 in Photos

    April 10th, 2011 in Blog, Other, SQL Server

    Well what a few days. Everyone I spoke to agreed that SQLBits 8 has been the best SQLBits conference yet. The organisers did a fantastic job, the whole event seemed to run incredibly smoothly and was very well received. I’m sure there’s a certain element of the swan effect, with frantic paddling behind the scenes, but they pulled it off very well indeed. A massive thanks for all of your effort. For me, this was the first SQLBits…

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  • Drawing a logo or diagram using SQL spatial data

    March 30th, 2011 in Blog, SQL Server

    I have to admit that I’m really excited about presenting a session at SQLBits 8 in Brighton next week. I’ve been an avid supporter of SQLBits since the first conference that I attended (SQLBits 2), and am thoroughly looking forward to finally getting a chance to be a part of the event and presenting my own session. If you’re going, I hope to see you there!   My session is about using SSRS, SQL spatial data and DMVs to visualise SSAS…

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  • SQL Server User Group – Birmingham

    March 3rd, 2011 in Blog, SQL Server

    It’s only a week to go until the first Midlands SQL Server User Group, being held on March 10th 2011 at the Old Joint Stock pub in Birmingham. We’ve got two of the best speakers in the UK lined up, Allan Mitchell and Neil Hambly, we’re putting food on for you (pork pies and chip butties!) and it’s being held in a pub so beer will also be involved. SQL Server, pork pies and beer – all in one place?! Go on, how can…

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  • Speed up SSIS by using a slower query

    February 17th, 2011 in Blog, Integration Services, SQL Server

    This isn’t a technical blog post of my own, but a shout out to Rob Farley and an excellent blog post explaining how to use SQL’s OPTION (FAST x) hint. He explains how you can speed up an SSIS data flow by slowing down the source query. It may seem illogical at first, but you’ll understand after you go and read Rob’s post! Read Rob’s post here: Speeding up SSIS using OPTION (FAST)

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