SQL Server Integration Services Reviews and Ratings

Rating: 6.6 out of 10

Score

6.6 out of 10

Community insights

TrustRadius Insights for SQL Server Integration Services are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, third party data sources.

Pros

Efficient Data Synchronization: Users have consistently praised SSIS for its ability to efficiently manage small-scale data synchronization tasks, enhancing productivity in data workflows. The tool's streamlined approach to syncing data has been noted as a time-saving benefit by many reviewers.

Rapid Data Transfer to SQL Server: Several reviewers have highlighted the tool's swift data transfer capabilities to SQL Server, particularly emphasizing its efficient handling of batch processes. This quick data movement feature not only accelerates tasks but also contributes to smoother operations within databases.

Real-Time Message-Based Functionality: Users highly value SSIS for its real-time message-based features and seamless integration with SQL Server and Visual Studio, facilitating agile data processing. The system's agility in handling real-time messages has been commended for improving responsiveness and connectivity across platforms.

Reviews

54 Reviews

SSIS had its day, but in the big leagues it can no longer play

Rating: 5 out of 10

Incentivized

June 29, 2022

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

SSIS pulls data from various locations (mostly SQL Server instances but also some flat files and SFTP), mainly for transforming the data and putting it in the data warehouse.

Pros

SSIS is good for small, simple data syncs.
SSIS is good for moving data quickly into SQL Server (good batch performance).

Cons

Very hard to diff for code review when changes are made.
Very buggy IDE (freezes in Visual Studio, doesn't always show what's in the underlying XML properly)
Lacking lots of features or more modern tools, like ability to monitor for changes to the source schema and apply them to the target.

Likelihood to Recommend

If you already have licenses for SQL Server and need to get data from A to B, especially if A and/or B is SQL Server, then SSIS could be a reasonable choice, especially if you can't use a cloud tool like Fivetran due to security concerns.

Alex Bransky

Principal Data Engineer in Engineering at Ad Hoc LLC (201-500 employees)

Vetted Review

17 years of experience

View profile

SSIS, the must have extension for SSMS

Rating: 8 out of 10

Incentivized

June 28, 2022

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

SQL Server Integration Service (SSIS) is a component of the Microsoft SQL Server database software that we use to execute a wide range of data migration tasks. SSIS is a fast & flexible data warehousing tool used for data extraction, loading, and transformation like cleaning, aggregating, merging data, etc. It makes it easy to move data from one database to another database. SSIS can extract data from a wide variety of sources like SQL Server databases, Excel files, Oracle and DB2 databases, etc.

Pros

Offers real-time, message-based capabilities
Tight integration with SQL Server and visual studio
Ease and speed of implementation
Standardized data integration

Cons

Sometimes create issues in non-windows environments.
SSIS lacks support for alternative data integration styles.
Problematic integration with other products.

Likelihood to Recommend

<ul><li>SSIS is an in-memory pipeline. That’s why it’s important to make sure that all transformations occur in memory</li><li>Try to minimize logged operations</li><li>Plan for capacity by understanding resource utilization</li><li>Optimize the SQL lookup transformation, data source, and destination</li><li>Schedule and distribute it correctly</li></ul>

Verified User

Analyst in Corporate (1001-5000 employees)

Vetted Review

2 years of experience

Rapid and low cost integration with various sources for a DW

Rating: 8 out of 10

Incentivized

June 25, 2022

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) as part of our on-premise Data Warehouse architecture. We have an ELT pattern and SSIS is used almost exclusively for the Extract and Load steps. Almost all packages are generated using BIML (Business Intelligence Markup Language) as a means of templating and then scripting them.

Pros

Easily connect with a wide variety of sources.
Provide control and flow to job execution order.
Able to extend functionality through scripting tasks.

Cons

Not flexible when source/target tables and file formats change.
Inflexible with regards to varying data types when Excel spreadsheets are used as a source or columns are added (as per previous item).
Occasional issues around mixed development and production x86/x64 run times can be frustrating.

Likelihood to Recommend

I do not think that SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) is great for complex dependency management and scheduling for an entire DW load. However, it is great for smaller units of work and particularly where moving data between systems is required due to its extensive and extensible connectivity options. That said, it is obviously focused on traditional on-premise systems and cloud-based environments are likely to prefer using the next-generation version of SSIS being Azure Data Factory (ADF).

Verified User

Professional in Information Technology (201-500 employees)

Vetted Review

20 years of experience

One of the best on-premise ETL tools

Rating: 6 out of 10

Incentivized

June 25, 2022

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

SSIS is an on-premise data transformation tool and the first major ETL tool we have used. We use it to ETL data from Workday, and other internal applications/databases to our internal databases. The product addresses the issue of getting data from CSV files from our SFTP and performing update/insert/delete operations on the data in our internal databases.

Pros

Connect to various sources
Basic transformations are included
Connect to various destinations

Cons

We still need plugins to connect to SFTP and other sources. Many vendors in the market give this by default
It's an ETL tool and the ability to do ELT or ETLTL means spinning up more pipelines and packages
It still has compatibility issues in Visual Studio 2017

Likelihood to Recommend

SQL Server Integration Services is well suited for anyone beginning to learn ETL. It's a great tool, to understand the nuances of setting data integrations and transformations. SQL Server Integration Services is not meant for ELT or ETLTL operations, natively. The workaround would be to have multiple packages/pipelines where one package performs the EL and the other package performs the T.

Verified User

Manager in Information Technology (5001-10,000 employees)

Vetted Review

6 years of experience

Amazing data warehousing tool

Rating: 8 out of 10

Incentivized

June 24, 2022

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We are currently using SQL Server as our central relational database. Getting data from multiple sources to our data depository is smooth. We use SQL Server Integration Services to copy and download large files as well as to draw out and modify data from several sources of data like XML data files, DB2 databases, and relational data sources and then load the data into a single destination.

Pros

I am able to use the GIS tools to easily generate solutions without coding.
Built in tasks that speed up web developing.
SSIS enables automated data preparations.
Amazing integration with Microsoft tools.
Creation of ETL mapping.

Cons

It depends so much on the Microsoft environment and has integration issues with other formats like JSON and Excel.
Error messages are unclear, this makes us spend a lot of time figuring out what has gone wrong making the debugging process hectic.

Likelihood to Recommend

We have used SSIS to perform extensive data migration tasks from various sources like DB2 databases, SQL server databases... It works speedily making it easy for us to move data from one database to the other. It also has a GUI that helps us extract, transform, and clean data easily without writing code. It works well except for the error messages.

Robbie Scott

Security Software Engineer in Information Technology at Tata Consultancy Services (10,001+ employees)

Vetted Review

4 years of experience

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Good for startups or companies with limited data variability, Big data companies will need better tools

Rating: 8 out of 10

Incentivized

June 24, 2022

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

SQL Server is the legacy Database and Data Warehouse in the company. SSIS is used for most ETLs where the data is sourced from / put into SQL Server, depending on the use case. It is an MS native and easy-to-use ETL tool that comes with the SQL Server Data Tools suite. I use the tool personally to deploy ETLs for business stakeholders as a request arises.

Pros

Standard ETL use cases for daily loads
Loading incoming data from Vendors which is placed on FTP and adding them to the SQL Warehouse
Creating outgoing data files and writing them to Vendor FTPs
Easy Active Directory integration for seamless connections to SQL Server
CI/CD by hosting the code on visualstudio.com

Cons

API connections are not a native functionality. We use Zappysys extensions but they work only in certain cases.
Dependency executions - no simple way to create a hierarchy/chain of executions. Ex: Define if the execution of the child process should be stopped if a parent fails or a certain condition is triggered in the parent process and then redirect to a different part of the chain (think like a flowchart for executions).

Likelihood to Recommend

Ideal for daily standard ETL use cases whether the data is sourced from / transferred to the native connectors (like SQL Server) or FTP. Best if the company uses MS suite of tools. There are better options in the market for chaining tasks where you want a custom flow of executions depending on the outcome of each process or if you want advanced functionality like API connections, etc.

Vishal Shah

Data Engineer, Product Analytics in Product Management at Carvana (5001-10,000 employees)

Vetted Review

3 years of experience

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Data integration and migration are made easier with this tool.

Rating: 9 out of 10

Incentivized

June 24, 2022

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

A good tool for SQL server query and data migration. The way it stores data and makes it easier for the user to write queries over the server. Compatibility with different BI tools is awesome as it is easy to integrate Microsoft SQL servers with different BI tools like google data studio and PowerBI.

Pros

Assists in connecting to several data sources and loading the resulting data.
Less expensive than other ETL tools of same stature.
Does away with the requirement for coding scripts.

Cons

There isn't a lot of room for building user-required automation.
Some activities need manual labour, such as exporting multiple tables in CSV format one at a time.

Likelihood to Recommend

1. Combining and integrating data from a variety of sources.

2.There is no additional necessity to learn anything other than SQL.

3. Assists in the analysis of client data by bringing it all together in one place.

4. Data leaks of clients' personal information are avoided. It is HIPAA compliant and it has very secure server.

Shubham Rawat

Data Analyst in Research & Development at DayToDay Health (201-500 employees)

Vetted Review

2 years of experience

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Trust Microsoft to vanish your data integration troubles

Rating: 9 out of 10

Incentivized

June 24, 2022

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Microsoft's SQL Server Integration helps in keeping a track of our data dump in a suitable & orderly manner. The service not only helps in making sure the data is readily available but it also helps in bifurcating the data according to our needs & requirements. The data is quickly available when needed & helps in our workings on a daily basis.

Pros

Data Mapping & Integration
Maintaining data sources as per needs
Keeping track of all activities pertaining to data sources

Cons

Speed at which data is retrieved from the data sources
Ease of connecting to various data sources
Integration with other cloud services

Likelihood to Recommend

The service is very well suited if you want to integrate various data sources spread across the cloud & compile all that data in one place effectively & quickly. The service can use a little work in connecting to multiple data sources over the cloud at one go & struggles if too many data connections are used together.

Verified User

Analyst in Sales (10,001+ employees)

Vetted Review

4 years of experience

Tool for data integration and migration

Rating: 8 out of 10

Incentivized

June 24, 2022

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

In our organization, we have two Microsoft windows servers. We integrate their data sync via SQL Server Integration Services. It's easy for us to migrate our data from one server to another server. The debugging capabilities are great, particularly during data flow execution. We can look into the data and see what's going on in the pipeline.

Pros

Encrypt files with SSIS and send them to various network locations this way we solve complex business problems.
We can migrate DTS packages to SSIS while choosing to run DTS packages using DTS runtime or incorporate DTS packages into SSIS this way we migrate DTS packages to SQL Server Integration Services.
We can transform data to make sure it complies with the rules of the database they are migrating to other servers with Integrations Services.

Cons

User-required automation needs much more scope.
Exporting numerous tables in CSV format has to be done one by one by manual.

Likelihood to Recommend

Helpful in connecting to various data sources and loading the combined data. More cost-efficient than other ETL tools of the same stature. Reduces the need for coding scripts.

Rao Tahir

DotNet Project Manager in Engineering at BookingWhizz (201-500 employees)

Vetted Review

10 years of experience

View profile

SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) is a winner and helps solve many business problems effectively.

Rating: 10 out of 10

Incentivized

June 23, 2022

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We used Integration Services to extract and transform data from a wide variety of sources such as XML data files, flat files, and relational data sources, and then load the data into one or more destinations. We also used the graphical Integration Services tools to create business solutions for the firm.

Pros

Create Packages in SQL Server Data Tools
Reuse Control Flow across Packages by Using Control Flow Package Parts
Build Integration Services User Interface

Cons

We can improve Integration Services error messages, including a list of most Integration Services errors and their description.
Improvement to create custom event handlers for these events to extend package functionality.
Better support for tools and wizards helping with Legacy Package Deployment.

Likelihood to Recommend

Integration Services is very helpful to solve complex business problems by copying or downloading files, loading data warehouses, cleaning and mining data, and managing SQL Server objects and data. It provides Graphical tools for building packages. Also, it helps with the SSIS Catalog database to store, run, and manage packages for business solutions.

Verified User

Director in Sales (5001-10,000 employees)

Vetted Review

3 years of experience

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