I like visualisations, particularly map-based ones. Done well, it’s as if they give you superpowers or a microscope or telescope – you can see something that normally is hidden from you. They help you to understand something, and in business that often means they help you to make a decision. Below is a visualisation that … Continue reading How far away from here is the most distant bit of the UK?
Category: Data processing
From Excel to SSIS, Part 5: Joining streams of data
This article is part of a series: From Excel to SSIS Getting started File Save As (a kind of Hello, World! program for SSIS) Filtering rows Grouping and calculating Joining streams of data 0. Introduction This article will cover another very useful chunk of SSIS - joining streams of data together. Often the value of two bits … Continue reading From Excel to SSIS, Part 5: Joining streams of data
From Excel to SSIS, Part 4: Grouping and calculating
This article is part of a series: From Excel to SSIS Getting started File Save As (a kind of Hello, World! program for SSIS) Filtering rows Grouping and calculating Joining streams of data 0. Introduction Over the articles in the series, we have been gradually working our way towards useful and interesting SSIS code. So far we … Continue reading From Excel to SSIS, Part 4: Grouping and calculating
From Excel to SSIS, Part 3: Filtering rows
This article is part of a series: From Excel to SSIS Getting started File Save As (a kind of Hello, World! program for SSIS) Filtering rows Gouping and calculating Joining streams of data 0. Introduction This is the first article in the series where we will do something with the data as it flows through SSIS, rather … Continue reading From Excel to SSIS, Part 3: Filtering rows
From Excel to SSIS, Part 2: Hello, World!
This article is part of a series: From Excel to SSIS Getting started File Save As (a kind of Hello, World! program for SSIS) Filtering rows Gouping and calculating Joining streams of data 0. Introduction In the previous post I introduced SSIS and how to install it. In this post I will take you through … Continue reading From Excel to SSIS, Part 2: Hello, World!
From Excel to SSIS, Part 1: Getting started
This is the first in a series of posts introducing SSIS by showing how you can get it to do things that you probably already know how to do in Excel. Getting started File Save As (a kind of Hello, World! program for SSIS) Filtering rows Gouping and calculating Joining streams of data I won't … Continue reading From Excel to SSIS, Part 1: Getting started
Analysing a pack of Top Trumps
This is a bit of detail behind my previous post - Visualising a pack of Top Trumps. It has the Excel stuff behind the main graph, so if Excel isn't your thing I suggest you skip this and look at something else. Step 0 - data entry The first step was just creating a sheet … Continue reading Analysing a pack of Top Trumps
Visualising a pack of Top Trumps
Introduction In this post I analyse a pack of Top Trumps. I've long had an itch in my brain that it would be interesting to do this. Playing with several different packs as child, I built up an impression that there was a general pattern in the packs, and I wanted to see if this … Continue reading Visualising a pack of Top Trumps
An introduction to integers and floating point numbers
Integers on a computer are simple and behave in predictable ways. Floating point numbers are not and don’t always respectively – I’ll explain what they are and why below. Working with floating point numbers is also slightly like cleaning up after my dogs, which I will also explain below. Integers Integers are a bit like … Continue reading An introduction to integers and floating point numbers
Testing data preparation for a BI database
Introduction Before we can get into testing, first I will explain the BI database and how it’s created. BI is short for Business Intelligence. It can mean different things to different people, but the definition I’m going to use is some form of storing data in a way that helps people to make decisions. It … Continue reading Testing data preparation for a BI database
