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April is turning out to be a busy month for me. Apart from taking the beta SQL Server 2012 certification exams and some reviews, I am also speaking at the Charlotte SSUG and at SQL Saturday #118 (Madison) and #130 (Jacksonville). I have also submitted at a couple of other SQL Saturdays, so if you do...
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How fast time flies! Another new version of SQL Server has been launched and it seems like it was only a few days ago that SQL Server 2008 was released. Those days, I was mainly focussing on SSRS, and I can’t express in words how happy I was when I saw all the new features in SSRS 2008 and 2008 R2. Today...
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I have always been inspired by a particular quote from Arthur C Clarke - “ The only way of finding the limits of the possible is by going beyond them into the impossible ”. The more you think of it, the more you make sense out of it. If you decide in your mind that something is impossible, you will never...
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In SQL Server 2008, if you wanted to run Reporting Services in SharePoint integrated mode, these where the steps you took (see How to: Install and Configure SharePoint Integration on a Stand-alone Server ): Install SQL Server 2008 and on the on the Feature Selection page select the Database Engine Services...
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One of my first blogs here was based on the Rich Text functionality in SSRS 2008 . However I found very little use of that in my projects and did not explore that area much. However a recent question in the forums made me rethink on the way I thought about the rich text functionality. The question was...
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SQL Server 2012 contains six new features for SSRS: Excel Renderer for Microsoft Excel 2003, 2007 & 2010 - Excel renderer will support the Excel 2007 XLSX format. To enable this feature, Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint must be installed. This extension renders...
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I love working with map reports and I don’t miss a chance to fiddle around with it. In fact, I am such a big fan that I think there would be very few sessions (in English, of course!) involving SSRS and maps that I would have missed, both online and live. Also, this is one of those topics that can make...
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Given two types of underlying data sources (a data warehouse and a OLAP cube built from the data warehouse) there are many different possible presentation layers (client tools) that serve different user communities with varying usage profiles. There is a lot of confusion on what is the best tool to use...
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As a BI consultant specializing in SSRS, I have had lots of frustrations and hard times because of Excel. Every now and then, I have some or other business user coming up to me and asking for some feature which is there in Excel but not in SSRS. If you have been following my blog, you would already know...
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A recent questions about how to add SSRS named instances, couldn't find any that talks about SQL server 2008, anyway I decided to help by creating some screen shots. The installation is straightforward, you just pop the SQL server 2008 installation DVD , run the installer, select Reporting services...
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While using a cube in SSAS is usually a great source for reporting, it is not always the best choice. Sometimes it is better to report off of the data warehouse that the cube is built from. For example, say you want to create a P&L statement using a financial cube. You want it to look like a normal...
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I don’t know about you guys, but I am really petrified of public speaking. So I always try to read about it and it really gives me some comfort to know that I am not alone. In fact, if your fear of public speaking is between mild anxiety and complete terror, you are said to be well within the normal...
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Christmas time is one of my most favourite times of the year – the time when you can just lay back, relax, enjoy some quality time with your family and catch up with your old friends. While this Christmas time has been a little hectic for me considering that I changed my base from London, UK to Charlotte...
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This is usually the time of the year when I get to my laziest best. The cold weather and the approaching holiday season brings out the sloth in me and I have a huge backlog of articles I need to read as well as tend to. But somehow I have pulled up my socks and managed to come up with this article...
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All right, I know most of you Microsoft BI fans would be gushing over the new announcements made in PASS Summit 2011 last week. Now onwards, Project Crescent will be officially known as Power View, SQL Server Denali as SQL Server 2012, Juneau as SQL Server Data Tools and finally, we have a mobile BI...