So after having been down at a client site where they were using Microsoft Azure to host their database servers, I was inspired to learn more about this Azure thingy (ooh shiny).  So I thought lets try and set up a collection of blogs about travels through the Azure...

So there we were, Client site and they wanted a large load of tables brought over from a bunch of different source systems.  They had Microsoft SQL Server (well Azure in the cloud <hand waving>) and so we needed to use Integration Services (SSIS to be precise -...

When learning Git for the first time, all the terminology can get confusing pretty quickly. Thankfully, not all of it is necessary in order to have a solid understanding of Git. There is this 80/20 relationship when it comes to git, you only need to know 20% of Git,...

In the previous blog Why you should look into Attunity Compose I discussed the possible potential in the Attunity Compose product. Since then I have had an opportunity to install the Compose product and run series of tests to see how well it performs in a series of...

When using Qlik, you may need to profile or categorize your numerical data. This makes it easy to convert continuous data into discrete data. With Qlik, this can be easily accomplished during data load using the Qlik Buckets card. Simply select the table with the data...

This week we released version 5 of our Optimal Data Engine. Follow the link to download it from the GitHub. Optimal Data Engine (ODE) is an open source Data Warehouse automation tool. It is a config-driven engine that builds and manages your Data Vault. ODE works on...

Code style is a lot like fashion style. The content of what’s inside it may not be affected by it, but it’ll affect how people interact with you. I take style very seriously. Not the kind you show off with a new outfit (I’m a developer, so I only have about two sets...

Here at OptimalBI, we’ve recently switched from using DynamoDB to MongoDB. However, we still use Amazon’s EC2 service to manage our servers. Because MongoDB isn’t an Amazon Web Service like DynamoDB is, installing Mongo on one of these servers isn’t the most obvious...

When we deploy and run applications on AWS (or anywhere really) most times we need to configure that application so that it can find the other services and applications it needs to run correctly. Today I will look at a the simple way of using config files deployed to...

Once you get going with Qlik Sense you will quickly end up with many visualizations across multiple pages, displaying connected data. To avoid redundant effort for the user, Qlik has implemented persistent filters. This means when you apply a filter anywhere in your...

Capturing and storing data of one thing changing over time is called time series data. When we capture time series data we are more interested in trends and change than the current state of a 'thing'. Storing and querying this type of data can present...

There are  two major components when it comes to Qlik; Finding insights, and sharing insights. In this Qlik Basics blog, we I will talk about the latter and how easy it is with Qlik Sense Enterprise. For sharing insights, Qlik has stories. Stories allow users to...

One of the things I admire the Data Vault modelling approach for is the modular structure being represented by sets of hubs, links and satellites. From a developer’s perspective it provides enough flexibility and power to automate various tasks easily, such as...

For a little bit of context, I have been rebuilding a website lately. I started off with some sketches and wireframes for how I wanted the website and its pages to look. Once that was checked off, I began my search for a template that could fulfil my needs. Now...

I'm not a lawyer and this is not legal advice. For legal advice on copyright contact a lawyer who specialises in copyright. Finding images for your blog Right, now I have that clear let's talk about images on blogs. We all know images on blogs are important we get...

Intro Through experience, I have learned to avoid using triggers in my development projects where possible. Focusing on their disadvantages rather than benefits coming from their careful use. Mainly because triggers are always hidden from developer's sight, sometimes...

If you haven't seen it do take the "Is it Pokemon or Big Data?" Quiz. Not new but always cracks me up and a great party game. Do the quiz now before you read this blog though or you won't find it quite as hilarious.   It's been a while since I first took this...

Robots could threaten up to half of New Zealand's jobs in the next 20 years  - WOW! the media has really bought into the concept we will become redundant and it will be very soon "How long will it take for your job to be automated" and "Is your job about to...