Comments for BI Monkey

Comment on Modifying an SSIS Package through code by MartinIsti

MartinIsti — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 23:04:10 +0000

Thanks James, it’s a very useful idea! I think everyone has stumbled to the need of modifying multiple SSIS packages in the same way. Especially when an implemented framework has to by altered. I had tried modifying the XML code directly but most of the times that’s really not the way to go so I gave up quite soon. But this could be a usable solution if one can master it
Good job!

Comment on Flat File Source Error: The column delimiter for column [ColumnName] was not found by SQL Server SSIS : Converting a Text Stream to a String | BI Monkey

SQL Server SSIS : Converting a Text Stream to a String | BI Monkey — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 00:59:22 +0000

[...] difficulty in handling complex or damaged text files. One approach to dealing with such files is to bring them all in as one wide text column and then split them using code. Sometimes, the file is too wide for that approach, so below is an extension of that method where [...]

Comment on Migrating from Cognos to Microsoft BI by BI Monkey

BI Monkey — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 00:33:06 +0000

DavidD – i’m happy to agree that Framework Manager is something that the MS Stack cannot match (for now). However I will maintain that the functionality provided is not required in many business cases, so its not a killer argument. I’ll take a peek at Actuate though.

I’m still not buying the “Cognos is superior” line though. As per the thrust of my original post, neither stack is perfect. MS has a couple of features that are better than Cognos, and vice versa. If Cognos is BMW, MS is Audi. Similar quality, different capabilities, does some things better and some things not so well.

Realistically – and this is something most big vendors haven’t fully realised – is that BI software is a commodity now. When you get to that position in a market, price matters far more than differences in capabilities.

Comment on Migrating from Cognos to Microsoft BI by DavidD

DavidD — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 17:07:47 +0000

BI Monkey – Ok, I will leave off the car analogy (italian cars tend to have problems So, I have used both stacks, BO, OBIEE, in addition to Tableau, and QlikView (QV has no competitor in my opinion for what it does). SSAS raises the bar in the MS stack up several notches. However, that aside, when sourcing from non-olap data sources, logical modeling within framework manager gives you a Swiss army knife of flexibility to “correct” a bad physical data model from the sources. You simply do not have that richness in MS BIDS when working with non-olap sources. That’s why Cognos, BO, and OBIEE costs so much. In addition, Framework Manager allows you to create inputs, filters, macros, model dimensionally on relational data to name just a few – cannot do that in MS BIDS. Ok, I am changing now to a BMW

No here’s one for you, and everyone out there – check out the new upcoming version 11 of the Actuate BI stack – major revision. It’s amazing, does all that I mentioned above, and at at a fraction of the cost of Cognos, BO, and OBIEE.

Comment on Migrating from Cognos to Microsoft BI by BI Monkey

BI Monkey — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 23:52:48 +0000

DavidD – thanks – I acknowledge that the modeling is a weakness in the MS Stack that is only partially addressed by DSV’s / SSAS. However I will also point out that the level of functionality that Framework Manager provides is often not called for. I guess one pointer I would make about your comment though is if you have the MS stack, you have SSAS – it’s bundled, as opposed to Framework Manager being a separate purchase in Cognos.

Thanks for mentioning 3rd party vendors though – there’s a blog post out there I need to make about this – you perceive it as a weakness – i.e. that the vendor doesn’t meet all business requirements. It can easily be viewed as a strength – i.e. that it is possible to extend the capabilities of the stack.

Your product / car analogy is a bit weak though (except on pricing, perhaps…) – realistically BI products are commodities now and the Cognos / MS differences aren’t that big when looked at as a whole (If you tried to sell me Data Manager as a Ferrari grade product i’d laugh!). Any business who thinks they need spend Ferrari money to do Ford work isn’t a smart one. Ultimately, TCO is where Microsoft has its killer argument.

Comment on Modifying an SSIS Package through code by Boyan Penev

Boyan Penev — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 23:19:41 +0000

Thanks I wish this was out a month ago before I changed manually 60+ packages to add a variable and set a property based on it..next time I’ll know better!

Comment on Migrating from Cognos to Microsoft BI by DavidD

DavidD — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 13:44:13 +0000

Whoa – Microsoft has nothing in their stack to address robust unified meta-data modeling (unless you are using SSAS – then forget the rest of this response, as SSAS is the crown jewel in the MS BI stack) . This is the power of Cognos Framework Manager. Comparing Microsoft’s Data Source View in BIDS to Cognos Framwork Manager is like comparing MS Access to Oracle 11g. Has anyone ever heard of “stitch queries”? You have if you work in the Business Intelligence world. They allow users to drill across multiple facts with the same dimensionality. Or model complex many to many relationships, in a logical layer? Only Cognos, BO, and OBIEE offer the ability to that (again, unless you are using SSAS). Drill across is crucial to analytics. This is all part of the sophistication built into Framework Manager meta-data modeler, and the other products I mentioned. Also, try building fully integrated dashboards in the Microsoft BI stack, where filters automatically replicate across components in the dashboard – cannot be done. That’s why 3rd part vendors like Tableau and QliqView are out there. I could go on and on Migrate from a Ferarri to a Chevy Cobalt? I don’t think so

Comment on BLOBTempStoragePath and BufferTempStoragePath by SQL Server SSIS : Modifying an SSIS Package through C# code | BI Monkey

SQL Server SSIS : Modifying an SSIS Package through C# code | BI Monkey — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 11:16:16 +0000

[...] Part of any SSIS development experience inevitably results in you discovering a minor mistake or something that was missed a long way into the development cycle – or even after, in testing (you do test your code, right?). Then you are faced with the tedious job of opening every single package, making a change in every one… and getting some serious mouse finger. Much like I once did when I learned about BufferTempStoragePath. [...]

Comment on Passed 70-448: SQL 2008 BI Developer by BI Monkey

BI Monkey — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 09:04:22 +0000

There doesn’t seem to be any indication that there will be any R2 exams. Given how slow the 2008 exams were in coming out i’d assume we won’t see new ones until 2011.

Comment on The Script Transformation part 1 – a simple Transformation by BI Monkey

BI Monkey — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 08:24:53 +0000

That sounds very odd indeed, and not behaviour i’ve ever seen. I hate to say it, but my first suspect would be the script. Some other common sense checks – is the data definitely getting into the component? Are the data sizes of the fields correct?