The GROUP BY clause has some powerful capabilities. Most of us know that it allows and performs aggregate functions for each unique group returned from the GROUP BY definition. You can do things like Average, Min, Max, Count, or even write your own CLR aggregate function. I like to use my own Median CRS aggregate function for example. However, the […]

All this sharing of data is moving ahead at such an incredible pace… but I have to wonder, are we missing a piece? I’ve been thinking a lot more about sharing data (as in preventing it unless it’s something you’re supposed to be doing) and then… it got me thinking. What would it take for someone to seed incorrect information? […]

Recently I have been looking into the integration of Dot Net to Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services. There are a number of different ways Reporting Services can integrate or take advantage of Dot Net capabilities You can actually use a Dot Net object and or collection as a data source. A collection can return multiple objects of the same type, […]

SSIS (SQL Server Integration Services) is a really great platform for ETL processes. Most of you have used it at one time or another. It has some really amazing capabilities such as the ability to use fuzzy logic for comparisons when your data isn’t highly standardized. For example, the English names Robert, Rob, Robby, Bob, Bobby are all interchangeable to […]

Yesterday we did a review on Temporal tables. In short, a temporal table has two new columns added to it that are maintained by the database engine, instead of by the queries you write yourself. It maintains time segment columns with a beginning date/time and an ending Date/Time. You could add these columns yourself and maintain them. The difference here […]

I’ve wondered about this for awhile now. You may recall the early massive data losses at major retailers, online services and the like – there was significant uproar over lapsed security and insufficient steps that had been taken to protect information on the systems. In some cases, new best practices were conceived out of the mess. In some cases stock […]

One of the coolest things about the latest versions of SQL Server is the ability to have concurrent versions of the same row of data in a table, and know what version is appropriate for each connection. This results in less blocking for a very active database with many concurrent users. Think of this kind of table as being three […]

Do you think all of the “aaS” elements change the architecture of solutions built for on-premise systems too? I’ve been reading and hearing more and more that the on-premise architecture bits are expected to take into account cloud bits and pieces too. With things like “database stretch” with SQL Server and all of the functions and services and so-on that […]