BIDS Helper
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| Developer(s) | Darren Gosbell, Greg Galloway, John Welch, Darren Green, Scott Currie |
|---|---|
| Initial release | May 27, 2007 |
| Stable release |
1.7.0 / March 17, 2015
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| Written in | C# |
| Operating system | Microsoft Windows |
| Available in | English |
| Type | Integrated Development Environment |
| License | Shared Source Permissive License (SS-PL) |
| Website | bidshelper |
BIDS Helper is a Visual Studio open source extension with multiple features that extend and enhance business intelligence development functionality in all editions of Microsoft's SQL Server 2005, 2008, 2008 R2 and 2012. BIDS Helper improves the development environment for integration, analysis and reporting services. BIDS Helper is hosted on Microsoft's open source project hosting website CodePlex.
BIDS Helper was initially released on May 27, 2007. Its most recent version, BIDS Helper 1.7.0 was released on March 17, 2015.
In Version 1.5, released on June 7, 2011, Varigence contributed key portions of the Biml engine, including dynamic package generation to BIDS Helper.Business Intelligence Markup Language (Biml) is an XML-based language that allows you to describe your BI solution in a declarative fashion, similarly to using HTML to describe how a web page should appear. Version 1.5 also had the Expression Editor contributed by Konesans.
BIDS Helper has dozens of features that improve the functionality of BIDS, SSIS and SSAS. They are classified into one of five categories listed below based on where they increase functionality in SQL Server:
Aggregation Manager - an advanced interface for manually editing aggregations
Calculation Helpers - enhances the Calculations tab of the cube editor
Column Usage Reports - lets you open two reports about column usage: Unused Columns Report + Used Columns Report
Delete Unused Aggregations - automates the process of detecting which aggregations are unused and deleting them
Deploy Aggregation Designs - deploys just the aggregation designs in a cube. It does not change which aggregation design is assigned to each partition
Deploy MDX Script - allows you to right click on a cube in an Analysis Services solution and deploy just the calculation script
Dimension Data Type Discrepancy Check - allows you to check that DSV data types match the data types on the KeyColumns and NameColumn of dimension attributes. It displays any discrepancies and lets you fix them with the click of a button.
Dimension Health Check - allows you to check various indications of dimension health
Dimension Optimization Report - This report lists all dimension attributes and hierarchies on rows. On columns, it lists various properties which can be used to optimize dimensions.
Duplicate Role - allows you to copy a role with all of the associated settings and permissions
Many-to-Many Matrix Compression - Analyzing the data in a m2m relationship to determine whether it can be compressed significantly requires building a complex SQL query. This feature automates this process and returns a report showing how much each m2m relationship can be compressed.
Measure Group Health Check - allows you to check various indications of measure group health.
Non-Default Properties Report - will let you see on one screen all properties which have been changed from their defaults.
Parent-Child Dimension Naturalizer - aids in converting parent-child dimensions into natural hierarchies.
Printer Friendly Aggregations - allows you print or export to PDF a report that lists every aggregation in a cube.
Printer Friendly Dimension Usage - allows you to view and print a report encompassing all the information from the Dimension Usage tab.
Roles Report - recursively list the members of the role and the members of groups so that you can easily determine which members actually have access via each role
Similar Aggregations - allows you to view a report that lists any aggregations which are very similar to each other.
Smart Diff - lets you compare versions of a SSAS, SSIS, and SSRS files. BIDS Helper preprocesses XML files so that the diff versus source control is more meaningful.
Show Extra Properties - exposes hidden properties on several Analysis Services objects. It also provides a better UI for editing descriptions on Analysis Services objects.
Sync Descriptions - if you have spent considerable time entering descriptions for relational tables and columns (for example, using the Kimball Dimensional Modeling Spreadsheet)it can help you import those descriptions to the dimension in Analysis Services.
Test Aggregation Performance - test the performance of your aggregations
Tri-State Perspectives - this feature operates in the Perspectives tab of the cube designer. It highlights any measure groups or dimensions in which not all visible children are part of the perspective
Update Estimated Counts - allows you to update the EstimatedCount property of every dimension attribute and every partition with exact counts
Validate Aggregations - allows you to quickly check whether any aggregations violate restrictions or best practices
Visualize Attribute Lattice - allows you to visually see the attribute relationships you have defined for a dimension in an Analysis Services solution
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