SSIS Reviews

Our company sells contracts when you buy a car. We sell aftermarket insurance for the tyre, wheel, ding, dent, windshield, etc. When somebody buys a contract, we capture all of that data into a legacy database PostgreSQL, and my task is to incorporate that into our financial platform using T-SQL. So, I write queries, procedures, and views. I use SSIS, and I use SSRS. My job is to get the data into our financial system so that we can process claims, payments, cancellations, and refunds.

It's something I needed for bulk imports. I'm not a big fan of it, but I haven't seen anything better.

One of the problems I ran into was that the database that I had had a status. I couldn't always flip the status, so I didn't know what data I already had. I had to use SSIS to grab a bunch of data and check the database to see if I needed to insert it. It works okay, but as I plan better, I'm trying to weed it out. SSIS is a bit prickly because anytime you go and change something, it tends to break. That's because there is metadata behind the tool.

I have a tool called ZappySys. I need that tool to cut down on the complexity of SSIS. That tool really helps with a quick turnaround. I can do things quickly, and I can do things accurately. I can get better reporting on errors.

I'm not a fan of SSIS itself. I would rate out-of-the-box SSIS a four out of 10, but with the ZappySys tool, it is a pretty good solution, and then I would rate it an eight out of 10.

The solution is primarily used for the ETL process. Another use case is transforming data from one format to another format.

The solution is easy to use and developer friendly. Many customizations can be performed with a good grasp of the C# language.

There are a lot of connectors that are not available right now. Some third-party connectors and adapters are available, but not directly from Microsoft data, which is an issue. And in terms of maturity, it is a good product. But, again, the way the industry uses these ETL tools, SSIS is not preferred because of many factors. Microsoft is no longer promoting the tool itself and is more focused on its cloud framework. That could be one of the reasons, but a smaller company prefers to SSIS because it is usually free with the SQL Server.

There are a lot of things that Microsoft could improve in relation to SSIS. One major problem we faced was when attempting to move some Excel files to our SQL Server. The Excel provider has a limitation that prevents importing more than 255 columns from a particular Excel file to the database. This restriction posed a significant issue for us, and as a workaround, we had to convert the files to CSV format before importing them. While it involved some manual effort, it was not a big deal since it was a one-time task. These are some small areas of improvement. There's one tool, a very famous and popular tool among banking clients, that supports this kind of data load in SSIS. 

Moreover, in the case of a pivot, which is available in your Excel, there are a lot of ways an Excel file can be created, and you can have a favorite kind of data format in Excel. Importing data of that kind into SSIS can be problematic, and it cannot be done easily. It requires writing some sort of custom code. These basic issues need improvements. 

However, I don't think Microsoft would be willing to make any modifications to the existing capabilities provided by the tool. The reason is that there are already many third-party vendors offering similar functionality through their plugins. 

For example, you can install these plugins within your Visual Studio, and they provide an extra set of features integrated into Visual Studio and SSIS. Perhaps that's why Microsoft has stopped actively improving upon certain features. But, again, this introduces an overhead in terms of development cost. To access additional tools or features, I have to purchase them from another vendor and then implement them. 

Moreover, if something is not directly supported by Microsoft and relies on third-party tools, it can become a significant issue, as I'll have to depend on those vendors, which poses another challenge.

I have been using SSIS for more than 12 years.

The solution is pretty mature.

I rate the solution’s stability a nine out of ten.

We have never faced any significant issues as long as your underlying hardware has a good amount of resources.

Scalability depends on the kind of workload and implementation you are giving to SSIS.

It is best suited for small and medium. However, for enterprises, it depends on the specific implementation they require. Real-time scenarios might not be the best fit, but for batch processing, it can still be suitable.

I rate the solution’s scalability an eight out of ten. It essentially gives most of the small and medium use cases, you will be easily able to implement and scale SSIS.

It is very difficult to get support from Microsoft. They will support you till they're getting paid. Microsoft is not interested in support in case of a small issue or help. It is very difficult to get support directly from Microsoft.

When it comes to ease of use, SSIS has an advantage over a tool called Informatica, which is also an ETL tool I've worked with. SSIS is more developer-friendly, even though Informatica provides GUI support. However, SSIS has a wider range of connectors compared to Informatica, making it easier to perform various transformations within the server itself. 

On the other hand, Informatica's repository feature is quite robust. SSIS has a repository feature but doesn't have its own implementation. To use a repository feature like DFS, Azure DevOps, or SVN, you need to purchase extra licenses and integrate them into your solution.

The initial setup was pretty simple. To install the SQL Server, select the feature during installation on the same server. In the case of a separate server, opt for SSIS service installation instead of installing the SQL Server, and it will be pretty quick. You can have your server up and running within ten minutes.

The solution is economical. It comes free with the SQL Server. You don't have to worry about the pricing as long as you're installing both services on the same server.

Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten. There is room for improvement.

SSIS orchestrates data transformation in the environment, which includes Oracle and SQL Server databases.

The most valuable aspect of this solution is that it is simple to use and it offers a flexible custom script task.

Connectivity to databases other than Microsoft. This is the Achilles' heel.

Integration with other vendors' connectivity should be available as well as being able to read and write data to databases or data storage other than with Microsoft.

There is connectivity with other databases, however, this is the most significant issue that has to be addressed.

I have been using SSIS for five years, but I first used it in 2007.

SSIS is quite stable.

SSIS is moderately scalable.

The company is fairly substantial. They have approximately 400,000 people in the company, but I am not aware of how many are using this solution. It is quite a bit.

There are a lot of developers using it.

I am not aware if they plan to increase their usage, it is not within my decision.

In terms of my immediate surroundings, we intend to use cloud tools, Azure technologies, and Microsoft. First and foremost, Microsoft ADF. Azure Data Factory is the cloud's SSIS replacement.

For this particular product, we have not used technical support.

I started with SSIS but then switched to IBM Datastage.

That was where I worked, this was already in use at another organization. 

I recently moved jobs, and this is the platform of choice for ETL once again. Informatica data center was used in various other organizations. 

I was attending Informatica workshops. I wasn't Informatica actively, but I might in the future, perhaps soon.

The initial setup is straightforward.

It only took five minutes to deploy SSIS. 

For maintenance, we rely on our platform team.

We will probably need one person for maintenance. Let's say it's only one person. But I'm not speaking on behalf of the entire company; I'm speaking on behalf of a single team of perhaps 1,000 people.

We did not use a consultant or third-party vendor, everything was done in-house.

This is difficult since it is included in the SQL server license. 

Depending on the arrangement that a certain company has with Microsoft, it may supply the permanent license that is included in the SQL server license, or it may be a time-bound license if it is a partner license or other enterprise license. 

I am not sure what our relationship with Microsoft is like or what the program is, but I believe it's some sort of enterprise license.

In the past, I worked with permanent licenses.

I would recommend SSIS to others who would be interested in using it.

I would rate SSIS an eight out of ten.

This is an infrastructure tool and our primary use case is for data warehouse integration.

The solution has enabled us to perform tasks more quickly.

The UI is very user-friendly and I like that the solution has the ability to adapt to multiple data sources. 

I haven't found too many successful scaling options and that's something that could be improved.

I've been using this solution for over 10 years. 

The solution is stable. 

The solution could be more scalable. 

The initial setup is straightforward. The deployment took a day and we did it in-house. 

I rate this solution eight out of 10. 

SSIS integrates well with SQL servers and Microsoft products.

From a cost perspective, it's a cheaper option than other ETL tools.

Also, it has a lot of in-built transformation, and it's easy to learn.

I would like to see more features in terms of the integration with Azure Data Factory.

I've worked with this solution for about four years, on both the on-premises and cloud solutions. We had around 3000 plus users.

It's a stable solution.

Technical support is not efficient, and I've had to search on the web to solve the problems.

I worked on PowerCenter.

The initial setup is straightforward and is not complex. It took about a day to install.

You would need two to three technical staff for the deployment and maintenance of the solution.

We used an integrator for the deployment process.

SSIS is a cheaper option compared to the cost of other ETL tools.

SSIS is a cheaper solution, and I would recommend it.

On a scale from one to ten, I would rate it at seven.

We primarily use SSIS to collect data from one system and transfer it to another.

The Classical ETL processing of data.

It's a competent product. You can do a lot of things with it and learn how to use it. You can't do modern things with it, but you can do legacy things with it.

It is an out-of-date product, that we shouldn't be using anymore, as it no longer has many positive aspects.

It is an old tool. We make an effort not to use it. It's a legacy tool, that is nearing the end of its useful life. There could be some good things but we try not to get into that.

We have selected to go with another tool. SSIS should not be used whatsoever anymore. There are new versions, that are cloud-based, which are much more improved and much more feature complete.

We have been working with SSIS for 15 years.

We are working with the latest version. It hasn't been updated for many years.

I would say it's both reliable and stable. It's been on the market for 20 years, so it's a very mature product.

There are limitations. I wouldn't say that it is easy to scale. You can scale it, but I wouldn't say it can easily be done.

We have eight people who use this solution in our company.

Support is available, but it is no longer up to date. It needs to be improved.

We switched to Data Factory, which is the cloud version of SSIS and the primary reason for the switch.

Absolutely, the initial setup is a simple process. In my opinion, it's easy.

SSIS doesn't require any maintenance.

The deployment was completed internally.

It comes bundled with other solutions, which makes it difficult to get the price on the specific product.

It's actually a tool that we're attempting to eliminate. That should not be used. It's an old piece of equipment. That should not be used in any way.

If I was asked five or six years ago, I would recommend this solution, but not anymore.

I would rate SSIS an eight out of ten.

We are using SSIS for all of our relational database management systems (RDBMS) data.

The solution could improve by having quicker release updates.

I have been using SSIS for approximately 

The solution is stable.

The solution is scalable. With virtualization enabled we are able to scale horizontally.

We have approximately 2,000 users using this solution in our company.

The technical support is very good.

We have previously used Oracle.

We have approximately 12 administrators and managers that do the implementation and maintenance of the solution.

We have an enterprise license for this solution.

I would recommend this solution to others.

I rate SSIS a nine out of ten.