If the title isn’t obvious enough, this blog post is about the new function GREATEST, and it’s sibling LEAST. But wait, how come there’s a new T-SQL function? There isn’t a new release of SQL Server! That’s right, those two new functions are released in Azure SQL DB, Azure SQL Managed Instance and Azure Synapse […]
Speaking about Snowflake at Techorama 2021
I’m delighted to announce I’m selected to give an introduction to Snowflake on Azure at the virtual Techorama event. You can find more info about the session here. The agenda of the event looks very promising. There are many great sessions related to the Microsoft Data Platform, but the other categories are great as well. […]
Book review: Calling Bullshit – The Art of Skepticism in a Data-Driven World
I recently finished the book Calling Bullshit – The Art of Skepticism in a Data-Driven World by Carl T. Bergstrom & Jevin D. West. I found it a very entertaining read, and especially useful in this day and age of social media, fake news and deep fakes. Calling out bullshit has been necessary for a […]
#TSQL2sday 136 – Your Favorite Data Type
It’s T-SQL Tuesday time again, and this month’s honor to host the blog party goes to Brent Ozar. The topic is data types: Mad about money? Feverish about float? Tell us what you use your favorite data type for, and what people need to know before they get started using it. Data types have so many interesting […]
SSIS and the “ORA-00907: missing right parenthesis” error
I had the extreme pleasure recently to extract some data out of an Oracle database. I wrote the source query in Toad, where it executed successfully. I created my SSIS package, added the dataflow and an OLE DB Source component. I copy pasted the query into the editor and tested it using the preview. Which […]
STAR SCHEMA ALL THE THINGS
The title says it all, but I’ll explain it anyway. When building a data model that will be used for analysis by human beings, always create a star schemas. Or multiple star schemas connected with conformed dimensions. Why? Because it’s the most intuitive and user-friendly interface. Because remember, your data model is the user interface […]
Small Multiples in Power BI
In the December 2020 release of Power BI Desktop, a long-awaited feature was added as a preview: small multiples (also known as trellis chart). A feature request for this chart type has been made since 2015! Small multiple charts are a set of charts of the same type on a grid, allowing you to easily […]
Unable to validate source query in Tabular Editor
When you have a very large fact table in Analysis Services Tabular, you most likely have it partitioned. Suppose you are making some changes to the underlying source of the table and you hit “refresh table metadata” to add some new columns for example. What happens behind the scenes is that Tabular Editor will run […]
Upcoming Webinar- Introduction to SSIS
At February 25th March the 4th 2021 I’ll be giving a webinar on the MSSQLTips.com website. The topic is Integration Services. This webinar is meant as an introduction for beginners. The abstract: For years, Microsoft SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) has been the tool in the data platform stack to integrate, move and transform your […]
MSSQLTips Author of the Year 2020
At least there’s one consistency in the year 2020: every day amazing articles are published on the MSSQLTips.com. And the author of the year contest at the end of the year! I’ve been nominated again for the author of the year award, and you can vote here. There are many excellent authors nominated as well, […]