Moving and transforming data can be a difficult job. Connecting to various endpoints, applying complex transformations, performing validation checks, creating an appropriate audit trail, and other tasks can make the ETL developer feel like he/she is spinning plates. Even with powerful tools such SQL Server Integration Services, designing and maintaining a proper and well-performing extraction/transformation/loading (ETL) infrastructure is a significant undertaking.

In this full-day preconference seminar, we'll explore some common (and a few uncommon) challenges facing ETL developers, followed by practical solutions and recommended practices from the field using SQL Server Integration Services. Presented by business intelligence consultant and SQL Server MVP Tim Mitchell, this preconference seminar brings together his 9 years of professional data management experience into 7+ hours of condensed real-world approaches to ETL challenges. Though we'll spend some time covering the academic portion of the concepts presented, most of our time will be spent in demos to give you more than just a theoretical exploration of these methods.

The following is a partial list of the topics we'll cover:

· Data cleansing using SSIS, T-SQL, and DQS

· More than just a green box: validating the results

· Managing variables, parameters, expressions, and scripts

· Handling warnings, errors, and other bad stuff

· Identifying and resolving performance bottlenecks

· Defining and maintaining an ETL framework

· Evaluating the new features of SSIS 2012

· Choosing and using the right package deployment model

· When SSIS might *not* be the best choice

Attendee information:This preconference seminar is ideal for those with beginner to intermediate skills in ETL. The ideal attendee will have at least some exposure to SQL Server Integration Services along with an overall understanding of its purpose.

Tim Mitchell is a business intelligence consultant, database developer, speaker, and trainer. He has been working with SQL Server for over 9 years, working primarily in business intelligence, ETL/SSIS, database development, and reporting. He has earned a number of industry certifications and holds a Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science from Texas A&M at Commerce, and is a Microsoft SQL Server MVP. Tim is a business intelligence consultant for Artis Consulting in the Dallas, Texas area.

As an active member of the community, Tim has spoken at national, regional, and local venues including the SQL PASS summit, SQL Connections, numerous SQL Saturday events, and various user groups and PASS virtual chapters. He is a board member and speaker at the North Texas SQL Server User Group in Dallas, serves as the co-chair of the PASS BI Virtual Chapter, and is an active volunteer for PASS. Tim is an author and forum contributor on SQLServerCentral.com and has published dozens of SQL Server training videos on SQLShare.com.

Tim is a contributing author on the charity book project MVP Deep Dives 2, and is coauthoring SSIS Design Patterns (available July 16th).

You can visit his website and blog at TimMitchell.net or follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/Tim_Mitchell.