Featured Article(s)
Doing More with Less Money on Your Disks
I just received an email not too long ago where a DBA was being forced into a situation where he was going to have to order equipment to upgrade his SQL Server but with the kind of budget is used to buy a couple of desktops.
Converting from DTS to SSIS?
If so, use the right tools, save loads of time and have better results getting those packages converted. It’s no secret that converting DTS packages can be very challenging. Instead of manually converting, recoding, rebuilding and testing the packages, check out DTS xChange. It’s a great tool for automating the process and applying best practices at the same time. Get more information here.
Working with Clients
Chris Shaw has been commenting in his blog about some experiences with clients, things with SQL Server that happen and so-on. In his latest post, he’s talking about how to work with tough customers that are slow pays (at best) or that abuse the consulting relationship. Take a look at the posting here.
It’s a common dilemma because of the fine line you have to walk between really making a customer angry, and coming to the realization that the customer/consultant relationship isn’t working as designed nor treating one party as well as the other. I’m curious – what are your thoughts on this?
The overall issue revolves around when you draw the line with a tough-pay customer. When do you stop work and, in some cases, walk away, because of payment issues. I’ve been in this situation before (I presume most people have that are doing consulting/small business development work, etc.), and we’ve gone just about every direction to work it out that you can imagine. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn’t
Mind Your Business
As more DBAs make the decision to take on consulting gigs, start new businesses and such, we’ve been considering a fairly regular series on running your business, best practices, how-to information understanding the business side of things, etc. Is this of interest? The goal of this would be more about running your business and less about SQL Server tips, but it would be oriented toward running a business that addresses providing SQL Server services to others. Our sense from emails and discussions here at the office is that many more people are finding themselves independent "out there" and we’d love to be able to help out.
Featured White Paper(s)
Protecting SharePoint for Windows 5.0
As the distributed workforce grows, the need for online collaboration and document management grows with it. MSFT SharePoint®… (read more)