An expert view on agile Data Warehousing
Remarks, expressions and thoughts. And everything that does not fit in the other categories :)
After a bit of a pause in working on the weblog and technology (caused by an extended period of high pressure in the day job) I am once again working on some changes in the various concepts I’m writing about on this site. Recently I was made aware of this great little tool that supports easy creation and sharing of simple data models: Quick Database Diagrams (‘QuickDBD’). The tool is 100% online and can be...
When changes are just too many When you construct a Point-In-Time (PIT) table or Dimension from your Data Vault model, do you sometimes find yourself in the situation where there are too many change records present? This is because, in the standard Data Vault design, tiny variations when loading data may result in the creation of very small time slices when the various historised data sets (e.g. Satellites) are combined. There is such a thing as too...
On the 12th-14th of June I will be delivering the newly styled and updated Data Vault implementation and automation training together with Doerffler & Partner. I am really looking forward to continue the collaboration after last year’s awesome Data Vault Day (organised by Doerffler as well). Working really hard to wrap up the next layer of virtualisation to discuss there and I’m really excited about it: imagine having multiple versions of not only the Data...
When it comes to record condensing, DISTINCT just doesn’t cut it. I’ve been meaning to post about this for ages as the earliest templates (as also posted on this site) were not flexible enough to work in all cases (which is what we strive for). Record condensing Record condensing is making sure that the data delta (differential) you process is a true delta for the specific scope. It’s about making sure no redundant records are processed into...
I am still working towards capturing the generation (using BIML in SSIS) and virtualisation (using views / SQL) of the Presentation Layer (in a Dimensional Model). But before we get there, some topics need to be addressed first. One of these is the requirement to have ‘unknown’ keys available in the Hubs. Thankfully, this is one of the easiest concepts to implement. The basic idea is that you create a dummy record in the Hub which...
I’m catching up on old drafts within WordPress, and in the spirit of being complete on the older SSIS series felt I should pick this one up and complete it. While most of my focus is on developing the virtualisation concepts I still work a lot with more traditional ETL tools, one of which is Microsoft SSIS. Recently I merged the metadata models that underpin the virtualisation and SSIS automation and I am retesting everything...
Sharing is caring, so today’s post covers some technical details for the Microsoft world: implementing Data Vault models on the SQL Server database and corresponding ETL using SSIS and technologies such as BIML. This is based on experiences gained developing many Data Warehouses (both Data Vault based as well as using other methodologies). Physical modelling (for Data Vault-based Integration Layers): Don’t use clustered indexes on Primary Keys! This is the single biggest tip to be aware of...
Warning – this is another post in the ‘options and considerations’ context, meaning that some people will probably disagree with this based on their personal convictions or ideas! One or two Satellites? The case in question is how to handle complexities that may arise if you want to simplify loading by joining tables in the Staging Layer. You may want to do this depending on the design choices made for the source system your are...
I’ve completed a fairly large body of work that I’ve been meaning to do for a long time: how to automatically version the Data Warehouse data model in sync with the version of the ETL automation metadata. Although versioning models and code is relevant (but rarely implemented) in the traditional ETL area, this requirement to becomes very real when moving to a virtualised Data Warehouse / integrated model approach (Data Vault 2.0 in my case)....
Lately I have had a bit more head space to work on some ideas I find interesting, and these are now intended to culminate into ‘version 1.2’ of the Virtual EDW tool I have been developing. I’ve been using this tool extensively for various Data Warehouses and am generally very happy with it as a quick prototyping tool. But what really starts to play up is the requirement for a physical Data Vault (Integration Layer), as...
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