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Adam Aspin

Adam Aspin

Adam Aspin is an independent Business Intelligence consultant based in the United Kingdom. He has worked with SQL Server for seventeen years. During this time, he has developed several dozen reporting and analytical systems based on the Microsoft BI product suite.

A graduate of Oxford University, Adam began his career in publishing before moving into IT. Databases soon became a passion, and his experience in this arena ranges from dBase to Oracle, and Access to MySQL, with occasional sorties into the world of DB2. He is, however, most at home in the Microsoft Business Intelligence universe when using SQL Server Analysis Services, SQL Server Reporting Services, SQL Server Integration Services and SharePoint.

A fluent French speaker, Adam has worked in France and Switzerland for many years. He is the author of “SQL Server Data Integration Recipes” – Apress, November 2012, and High Impact Data Visualization with Power View, Power Map, and Power BI– Apress, June 2014 and Business Intelligence with SQL Server Reporting Services – Apress, March 2015.
Adam Aspin
16 September 2016
Adam Aspin
16 September 2016

Power BI for Data Modelling

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Power BI has a lot of uses, but one of the most interesting of them is to model and shape data to make it easier for self-service BI. Power BI is a full-stack solution that includes data loading, data modelling, metrics, reporting and distribution. It can take the source data, and perform in-process data modelling relatively easily as well a providing an easy to use and powerful user interface for analytics and reporting.… Read more
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Adam Aspin
10 August 2016
Adam Aspin
10 August 2016

Direct Query with Power BI

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Power BI allows you to connect directly to the data just as if it were a “standard” connection, and modify and extend the data to support analytics. By using DirectQuery, you can build reports based on extremely large datasets where re-importing data not a practical solution. It also allows you to do data aggregations on the server. There are, of course, restrictions as well but it is nevertheless a worthwhile technique to use where appropriate. Adam Aspin explains all. … Read more
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Adam Aspin
25 September 2015
Adam Aspin
25 September 2015

SQLXML Bulk Loader: The Sequel

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SQLXML isn't exactly new technology, and parts of it aren't pretty, but if you need to heave vast quantities of XML data into a SQL Server database then you may come to appreciate the raw speed of which it's capable. Adam Aspin shows how to configure the SQL XML Bulk Loader tool for optimal data loading performance.… Read more
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Adam Aspin
02 June 2015
Adam Aspin
02 June 2015

SQLXML Bulk Loader Basics

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SQLXML isn't exactly new technology, but like the even more venerable BCP, it remains the quickest and most reliable way of heaving large quantities of data into SQL Server databases. SQLXML is very versatile, and once set up is wonderfully reliable ETL system, but isn't trivial to learn. Adam Aspin comes to the rescue with a simple guide.… Read more
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