SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) can be a handy platform for developing and implementing Extract, Transform, and Load (ETL) solutions.

SSIS is part of the BI (Business Intelligence) suite as it’s a kind of a shortcut from the business logic to codifying a solution, without the help of the hardcore programmers.

SSIS offers a visual way – as flow chart – for running any kind of codes from multiple sources and help generate simple to complex process flow using visual studio for orchestrating the whole process.

SSIS is easy to Understand and Manage:

Understand: Tasks are simple to understand as a building stone: can be used for various actions – just drag, drop, configure and place in the flow.

Some Task categories for example (see more in MSDN):

Data Flow Task: The task that runs data flows to extract data, apply column-level transformations, and load data.

which represent:

– Data Preparation Tasks – Copy files and directories; download files and data; run Web methods; apply operations to XML documents; and profile data for cleansing.

and more examples:

– Workflow Tasks – The tasks that communicate with other processes to run packages, run programs or batch files, send and receive messages between packages, send e-mail messages, read Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) data, and watch for WMI events.

Some more examples:

– SQL Server Tasks – The tasks that access, copy, insert, delete, and modify SQL Server objects and data.

Manage:

SSIS provides color codification and real-time monitoring, allows handling heterogeneous data sources and structured exception handling. It also provides a sophisticated structured error handling system as well as multiple options for logging and auditing. Deploying is also simple as it is integrated with SQL environment.

Real-time monitoring:

Success run vs. failure:

Heterogeneous data sources:

All you need to program your needs into an SSIS package is:

– Environment: SQL with Integration services service install, Visual studio with SSDT

– A Programmer that understand Logic, some extend T-SQL and a good knowledge of SSIS

.. And for good SSIS knowledge, you can start with exploring all the goodies in the web. Enjoy, as it can be a real empowering platform for an organization.