BI Deployment Experiences

I'm trying to get some info on how other companies are handling BI
implementations. We have a data warehouse project that we expect will have
continuos changes. That is, new data sources coming in, more reports, etc.
That implies new Integration Services packages, new Reporting Services
reports, changes in tables, view, stored procedures, etc. We also have a 3
environment installation: Development, QA, Production.
I would appreciate any info on how other people are handling this. Can you
manage with only Visual Studio? Is there any third vendor tool anybody would
recommend? The issue is that we could potentially have the 3 environments
with different versions and we might want to move objects from development t
o
QA, for example, without just duplicating the 2 environments (we could have
different stages of development and only want to move finished objects).
Any help is appreciated,
Carmen.We have pretty much the exact same setup you do. We use Visual Studio and
Visual Source Safe to manage all our code. Using the new features for
managing environments within Visual Studio - makes promoting SSIS packages a
snap. Using DTS was more challenging when you for example moved from DEV to
TEST you had to change all your data sources to point to new places - but
SSIS makes that part easy.
If you tie your solutions into VSS and have your coders do all their work
inside of VSS - that will ensure it's managed correctly. Where I work won't
spring for the new Visual Studio Team Edition for DB Professionals - but
that def makes things easier in managing your DB code within the same
solution as your SSIS packages. You can still add the DB into your
solution, but not have ALL the cool features Team Edition offers.
So our developers, by using the VSS integration inside VS, it auto checks
out all the code, whether it be packages or stored procedures. Your
promoting to new environments from Visual Source Safe will endure you are
promoting the right stuff.
It's not that hard - once you get it sorted out and documented and follow
the process - you will be good.
"Carmen" <Carmen@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:B9EAA9CD-B73C-43D3-A314-5E99EE3DC694@.microsoft.com...
> I'm trying to get some info on how other companies are handling BI
> implementations. We have a data warehouse project that we expect will have
> continuos changes. That is, new data sources coming in, more reports, etc.
> That implies new Integration Services packages, new Reporting Services
> reports, changes in tables, view, stored procedures, etc. We also have a 3
> environment installation: Development, QA, Production.
> I would appreciate any info on how other people are handling this. Can you
> manage with only Visual Studio? Is there any third vendor tool anybody
> would
> recommend? The issue is that we could potentially have the 3 environments
> with different versions and we might want to move objects from development
> to
> QA, for example, without just duplicating the 2 environments (we could
> have
> different stages of development and only want to move finished objects).
> Any help is appreciated,
> Carmen.|||Our approach is to use XMLA scripts (using ascmd utility from SP1) and the
AS syncronize feature (again via XMLA scripts). Works fine - and no
Integration Services required.
Chris
www.activeinterface.com
"Carmen" <Carmen@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:B9EAA9CD-B73C-43D3-A314-5E99EE3DC694@.microsoft.com...
> I'm trying to get some info on how other companies are handling BI
> implementations. We have a data warehouse project that we expect will have
> continuos changes. That is, new data sources coming in, more reports, etc.
> That implies new Integration Services packages, new Reporting Services
> reports, changes in tables, view, stored procedures, etc. We also have a 3
> environment installation: Development, QA, Production.
> I would appreciate any info on how other people are handling this. Can you
> manage with only Visual Studio? Is there any third vendor tool anybody
> would
> recommend? The issue is that we could potentially have the 3 environments
> with different versions and we might want to move objects from development
> to
> QA, for example, without just duplicating the 2 environments (we could
> have
> different stages of development and only want to move finished objects).
> Any help is appreciated,
> Carmen.|||Chris,
Thanks for the info!
Carmen.
"ChrisHarrington" wrote:

> Our approach is to use XMLA scripts (using ascmd utility from SP1) and the
> AS syncronize feature (again via XMLA scripts). Works fine - and no
> Integration Services required.
> Chris
> www.activeinterface.com
> "Carmen" <Carmen@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:B9EAA9CD-B73C-43D3-A314-5E99EE3DC694@.microsoft.com...
>
>|||Joe,
Thanks for the info. I'll definitely investigate the options you mentioned.
Carmen.
"Joe" wrote:

> We have pretty much the exact same setup you do. We use Visual Studio and
> Visual Source Safe to manage all our code. Using the new features for
> managing environments within Visual Studio - makes promoting SSIS packages
a
> snap. Using DTS was more challenging when you for example moved from DEV
to
> TEST you had to change all your data sources to point to new places - but
> SSIS makes that part easy.
> If you tie your solutions into VSS and have your coders do all their work
> inside of VSS - that will ensure it's managed correctly. Where I work won
't
> spring for the new Visual Studio Team Edition for DB Professionals - but
> that def makes things easier in managing your DB code within the same
> solution as your SSIS packages. You can still add the DB into your
> solution, but not have ALL the cool features Team Edition offers.
> So our developers, by using the VSS integration inside VS, it auto checks
> out all the code, whether it be packages or stored procedures. Your
> promoting to new environments from Visual Source Safe will endure you are
> promoting the right stuff.
> It's not that hard - once you get it sorted out and documented and follow
> the process - you will be good.
> "Carmen" <Carmen@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:B9EAA9CD-B73C-43D3-A314-5E99EE3DC694@.microsoft.com...
>