Life Healthcare required changes to its admissions data warehouse, aiming to conform to new data warehouse processes and standards. The existing ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) processes were inconsistent and non-standard, making troubleshooting challenging. The project needed to ensure that the updates requested by the business analysis team were complete and compliant with the new data warehouse architecture.
The solution involved defining a standardised process flow for each ETL process, utilising BIML (Business Intelligence Markup Language) to automatically generate SSIS (SQL Server Integration Services) packages and load procedures. This approach allowed for easier maintenance, bulk updates (such as adding new logging functionality), and ensured that all ETL processes adhered to the new standards. By centralising the business logic within extract queries and transform procedures, the solution simplified troubleshooting and reduced the need for developers to navigate complex SSIS packages or varied stored procedures.
Outcome: The project streamlined ETL processes, improved system performance, and reduced complexity in maintenance and troubleshooting. The introduction of standardised, automatically generated packages made development more efficient and reduced the risk of errors. This foundation not only enhanced current operations but also made future cloud migration more straightforward, ensuring scalability and long-term sustainability.
Tech:
- SQL Server Integration Services
- SQL Server Stored Procedures
- Business Intelligence Markup Language (BIML)
