http://blogs.msdn.com/b/microsoft_business_intelligence1/archive/2012/07/06/my-top-5-bi-features-in-sql-server-2012.aspxToday we are excited to feature a guest post from Mike Davis, MCITP, who is the Managing Project Lead at Pragmatic Works. &#160; He is an author of several Business intelligence books. &#160; Mike is an experienced speaker and has presented at many eventsen-USTelligent Evolution Platform Developer Build (Build: 5.6.50428.7875)http://blogs.msdn.com/b/microsoft_business_intelligence1/archive/2012/07/06/my-top-5-bi-features-in-sql-server-2012.aspx#10351880Fri, 21 Sep 2012 09:38:44 GMT91d46819-8472-40ad-a661-2c78acb4018c:10351880Basit Farooq<p>Thanks, very useful information. </p> <div style="clear:both;"></div><img src="http://blogs.msdn.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=10351880" width="1" height="1">http://blogs.msdn.com/b/microsoft_business_intelligence1/archive/2012/07/06/my-top-5-bi-features-in-sql-server-2012.aspx#10335634Wed, 01 Aug 2012 14:59:19 GMT91d46819-8472-40ad-a661-2c78acb4018c:10335634Zoltán Horváth<p>If it would be a survey, I would put these features in a 5, 3, 4, 2, 1 order (descending importance):</p> <p>#5: Undo/Redo is essential in any editor.</p> <p>#3: Environments make the life of an SSIS developer easier.</p> <p>#4: The Tabular Model is fine. It has its pros and cons compared to the MD Model. I&#39;m still a fan of the MD model as it can have more complex designs. However the underlying data source can be reused for a TM solution, I have concerns regarding the pain of implementing complex calculations.</p> <p>#2: create_execution, start_execution and the rest of the SSISDB features are OK, as we only had workarounds to call SSIS from T-SQL. However I think in the majority of the cases, the ETL process can be scheduled in a comfortable way and does not need T-SQL coding at all.</p> <p>#1: The Power View is impressive! When I saw it first on a MS demo, I thought yes, this is an easy-to-use, professional reporting tool (at last). But I would put it to the last place because (1) its functionality is expected to be available in Excel 2013 as well, so I would not invest into Sharepoint if not necessary. (2) Its data source cannot be a MD model - this is not a good point as there are many MD solutions exist already, and there are many SSAS 2008 developers everywhere (including me, sorry :)), so Power View cannot be deployed instantly, just after some work on creating a TM.</p> <div style="clear:both;"></div><img src="http://blogs.msdn.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=10335634" width="1" height="1">http://blogs.msdn.com/b/microsoft_business_intelligence1/archive/2012/07/06/my-top-5-bi-features-in-sql-server-2012.aspx#10333854Thu, 26 Jul 2012 18:44:02 GMT91d46819-8472-40ad-a661-2c78acb4018c:10333854Gopi Muluka<p>Certainly SSIS Undo/Redo is a must to have feature. I see #2 has a great potential, it is a great way to tightly integrate all code components (T-SQL, SSIS, SQL Jobs) related to a business solution.</p> <p>I like the Flat File enhancements too, for the developers working with Flat Files it will be close competitior to #1 slot:-)</p> <div style="clear:both;"></div><img src="http://blogs.msdn.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=10333854" width="1" height="1">http://blogs.msdn.com/b/microsoft_business_intelligence1/archive/2012/07/06/my-top-5-bi-features-in-sql-server-2012.aspx#10332538Mon, 23 Jul 2012 12:21:27 GMT91d46819-8472-40ad-a661-2c78acb4018c:10332538Amit Chauhan<p>As an experienced SSIS developer, #5 is my #1 too :D, wish we could compare DTSX in TFS visually!</p> <div style="clear:both;"></div><img src="http://blogs.msdn.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=10332538" width="1" height="1">http://blogs.msdn.com/b/microsoft_business_intelligence1/archive/2012/07/06/my-top-5-bi-features-in-sql-server-2012.aspx#10328002Mon, 09 Jul 2012 12:52:13 GMT91d46819-8472-40ad-a661-2c78acb4018c:10328002Koen Verbeeck<p>As an experienced SSIS developer, #5 is my #1 :D</p> <p>But Tabular and Power View make a very close #2.</p> <div style="clear:both;"></div><img src="http://blogs.msdn.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=10328002" width="1" height="1">