SQL Server Integration Services, with the acronym SSIS, is a comprehensive ETL tool that made its debut with SQL Server 2005. It is a tool tightly integrated with Visual Studio 2005, having all the functionalities that its forerunner DTS (Data Transformation Services) had in SQL Server 2000. This does not mean that it is just an improvement over DTS, but a product that is totally different with a vastly improved interface; an extensible architecture; an enlarged tool set; ease of integration with other SQL Server Tools such as Analysis Services; capable of supporting connectivity with third party databases, and bringing into a central location many database management tasks.
Beginners Guide to SQL Server Integration Services Using Visual Studio 2005 provides you with the basic knowledge that you should have before you move onto more advanced ETL (Extraction, Transformation, and Loading). This step-by-step, hands-on guide will take you right into the Visual Studio 2005 Integrated Development Interface, making you appreciate and understand how Business Intelligence Projects and Packages are created using the Visual Studio designer. The book will also provide you with a comprehensive description of die many designer windows that you may encounter while working with the designer. This guide provides the building blocks, describing each block by way of an example, as well as describing the nuts and bolts that bind the blocks. You start building packages right from Chapter 2 and continue onto Chapter 20, gathering and building upon yoiu* knowledge in each step.