5/9/2015

MSBIInterviewQuestions|SSIS|SSAS|SSRS|InterviewQuestions

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SSISSQLServerIntegrationServices
Q:WhatisSSIS?HowitisrelatedwithSQLServer.
SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) is a component of SQL Server which can be used to perform a wide range of Data Migration and ETL
operations.SSISisacomponentinMSBIprocessofSQLServer.
ThisisaplatformforIntegrationandWorkflowapplications.ItisknownforafastandflexibleOLTPandOLAPextensionsusedfordataextraction,
transformation,andloading(ETL).ThetoolmayalsobeusedtoautomatemaintenanceofSQLServerdatabasesandmultidimensionaldatasets.
Q:WhatarethetoolsassociatedwithSSIS?
WeuseBusinessIntelligenceDevelopmentStudio(BIDS)andSQLServerManagementStudio(SSMS)toworkwithDevelopmentofSSISProjects.
WeuseSSMStomanagetheSSISPackagesandProjects.
Q:WhatarethedifferencesbetweenDTSandSSIS
DataTransformationServices

SQLServerIntegrationServices

LimitedErrorHandling

ComplexandpowerfulErrorHandling

MessageBoxesinActiveXScripts

MessageBoxesin.NETScripting

NoDeploymentWizard

InteractiveDeploymentWizard

LimitedSetofTransformation

GoodnumberofTransformations

NOBIfunctionality

CompleteBIIntegration

Q:WhatisaworkflowinSSIS2014?
WorkflowisasetofinstructionsontospecifytheProgramExecutoronhowtoexecutetasksandcontainerswithinSSISPackages.

Q:Whatisthecontrolflow?
Acontrolflowconsistsofoneormoretasksandcontainersthatexecutewhenthepackageruns.Tocontrolorderordefinetheconditionsforrunning
thenexttaskorcontainerinthepackagecontrolflow,weuseprecedenceconstraintstoconnectthetasksandcontainersinapackage.Asubsetof
tasks and containers can also be grouped and run repeatedly as a unit within the package control flow. SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS)
provides three different types of control flow elements: Containers that provide structures in packages, Tasks that provide functionality, and
PrecedenceConstraintsthatconnecttheexecutables,containers,andtasksintoanorderedcontrolflow.
Q:Whatisthedataflow?
Dataflowconsistsofthesourcesanddestinationsthatextractandloaddata,thetransformationsthatmodifyandextenddata,andthepathsthat
linksources,transformations,anddestinationsTheDataFlowtaskistheexecutablewithintheSSISpackagethatcreates,orders,andrunsthedata
flow. A separate instance of the data flow engine is opened for each Data Flow task in a package. Data Sources, Transformations, and Data
DestinationsarethethreeimportantcategoriesintheDataFlow.
Q:HowdoesErrorHandlingworkinSSIS
Whenadataflowcomponentappliesatransformationtocolumndata,extractsdatafromsources,orloadsdataintodestinations,errorscanoccur.
Errorsfrequentlyoccurbecauseofunexpecteddatavalues.
TypeoftypicalErrorsinSSIS:
Data Connection Errors, which occur incase the connection manager cannot be initialized with the connection string. This applies to both Data
SourcesandDataDestinationsalongwithControlFlowsthatusetheConnectionStrings.
DataTransformationErrors,whichoccurwhiledataisbeingtransformedoveraDataPipelinefromSourcetoDestination.
ExpressionEvaluationerrors,whichoccurifexpressionsthatareevaluatedatruntimeperforminvalid
Q:WhatisenvironmentvariableinSSIS?
Anenvironmentvariableconfigurationsetsapackagepropertyequaltothevalueinanenvironmentvariable.
Environmentalconfigurationsareusefulforconfiguringpropertiesthataredependentonthecomputerthatisexecutingthepackage.
Q:WhataretheTransformationsavailableinSSIS?
AGGREGATEItappliesaggregatefunctionstoRecordSetstoproducenewoutputrecordsfromaggregatedvalues.
AUDITAddsPackageandTasklevelMetadatasuchasMachineName,ExecutionInstance,PackageName,PackageID,etc..
CHARACTERMAPPerformsSQLServercolumnlevelstringoperationssuchaschangingdatafromlowercasetouppercase.
CONDITIONALSPLITSeparatesavailableinputintoseparateoutputpipelinesbasedonBooleanExpressionsconfiguredforeachoutput.
COPYCOLUMNAddacopyofcolumntotheoutputwecanlatertransformthecopykeepingtheoriginalforauditing.
DATACONVERSIONConvertscolumnsdatatypesfromonetoanothertype.ItstandsforExplicitColumnConversion.
DATAMININGQUERYUsedtoperformdataminingqueryagainstanalysisservicesandmanagePredictionsGraphsandControls.
DERIVEDCOLUMNCreateanew(computed)columnfromgivenexpressions.
EXPORTCOLUMNUsedtoexportaImagespecificcolumnfromthedatabasetoaflatfile.
FUZZYGROUPINGUsedfordatacleansingbyfindingrowsthatarelikelyduplicates.
FUZZYLOOKUPUsedforPatternMatchingandRankingbasedonfuzzylogic.
IMPORTCOLUMNReadsimagespecificcolumnfromdatabaseontoaflatfile.

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LOOKUPPerformsthelookup(searching)ofagivenreferenceobjectsetagainstadatasource.Itisusedforexactmatchesonly.
MERGEMergestwosorteddatasetsintoasingledatasetintoasingledataflow.
MERGEJOINMergestwodatasetsintoasingledatasetusingajoinjunction.
MULTICASTSendsacopyofsuppliedDataSourceontomultipleDestinations.
ROWCOUNTStorestheresultingrowcountfromthedataflow/transformationintoavariable.
ROWSAMPLINGCapturessampledatabyusingarowcountofthetotalrowsindataflowspecifiedbyrowsorpercentage.
UNIONALLMergemultipledatasetsintoasingledataset.
PIVOTUsedforNormalizationofdatasourcestoreduceanalomoliesbyconvertingrowsintocolumns
UNPIVOTUsedfordenormalizingthedatastructurebyconvertscolumnsintorowsincaseofbuildingDataWarehouses.
Q:HowtologSSISExecutions?
SSISincludesloggingfeaturesthatwritelogentrieswhenruntimeeventsoccurandcanalsowritecustommessages.Thisisnotenabledbydefault.
Integration Services supports a diverse set of log providers, and gives you the ability to create custom log providers. The Integration Services log
providerscanwritelogentriestotextfiles,SQLServerProfiler,SQLServer,WindowsEventLog,orXMLfiles.Logsareassociatedwithpackagesand
areconfiguredatthepackagelevel.Eachtaskorcontainerinapackagecanloginformationtoanypackagelog.Thetasksandcontainersinapackage
canbeenabledforloggingevenifthepackageitselfisnot.
Q:HowdoyoudeploySSISpackages?
SSISProjectBUILDprovidesaDeploymentManifestFile.WeneedtorunthemanifestfileanddecidewhethertodeploythisontoFileSystemor
ontoSQLServer[msdb].SQLServerDeploymentisveryfasterandmoresecurethenFileSystemDeployment.Alternatively,wecanalsoimportthe
packagefromSSMSfromFileSystemorSQLServer.
Q:Whatarevariablesandwhatisvariablescope?
VariablesstorevaluesthataSSISpackageanditscontainers,tasks,andeventhandlerscanuseatruntime.ThescriptsintheScripttaskandthe
Scriptcomponentcanalsousevariables.Theprecedenceconstraintsthatsequencetasksandcontainersintoaworkflowcanusevariableswhentheir
constraint definitions include expressions. Integration Services supports two types of variables: userdefined variables and system variables. User
definedvariablesaredefinedbypackagedevelopers,andsystemvariablesaredefinedbyIntegrationServices.Youcancreateasmanyuserdefined
variablesasapackagerequires,butyoucannotcreateadditionalsystemvariables.
Q:CanyounamefiveofthePerfmoncountersforSSISandthevaluetheyprovide?
SQLServer:SSISService
SSISPackageInstances
SQLServer:SSISPipeline
BLOBbytesread
BLOBbyteswritten
BLOBfilesinuse
Buffermemory
Buffersinuse
Buffersspooled
Flatbuffermemory
Flatbuffersinuse
Privatebuffermemory
Privatebuffersinuse
Rowsread
Rowswritten

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DataQualityServices(DQS)
TobelaunchedfromJan.,2015

MicrosoftAzure/SQLCloud
TobelaunchedfromJan.,2015

MasterDataServices
TobelaunchedfromJan.,2015

SSASSQLServerAnalysisServices
Q:WhatisAnalysisServices?Listoutthefeatures?
MicrosoftSQLServer2014AnalysisServices(SSAS)deliversonlineanalyticalprocessing(OLAP)anddataminingfunctionalityforbusinessintelligence

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applications.AnalysisServicessupportsOLAPbylettingusdesign,create,andmanagemultidimensionalstructuresthatcontaindataaggregatedfrom
other data sources, such as relational databases. For data mining applications, Analysis Services lets we design, create, and visualize data mining
modelsthatareconstructedfromotherdatasourcesbyusingawidevarietyofindustrystandarddataminingalgorithms.
AnalysisServicesisamiddletierserverforanalyticalprocessing,OLAP,andDatamining.Itmanagesmultidimensionalcubesofdataandprovides
accesstoheapsofinformationincludingaggregationofdata.OnecancreatedataminingmodelsfromdatasourcesanduseitforBusinessIntelligence
alsoincludingreportingfeatures.
AnalysisserviceprovidesacombinedviewofthedatausedinOLAPorDatamining.ServiceshererefertoOLAP,Datamining.Analysisservicesassists
in creating, designing and managing multidimensional structures containing data from varied sources. It provides a wide array of data mining
algorithmsforspecifictrendsandneeds.
Someofthekeyfeaturesare:
Easeofusewithalotofwizardsanddesigners.
Flexibledatamodelcreationandmanagement
ScalablearchitecturetohandleOLAP
Providesintegrationofadministrationtools,datasources,security,caching,andreportingetc.
Providesextensivesupportforcustomapplications
Q:WhatisUDM?ItssignificanceinSSAS?
TheroleofaUnifiedDimensionalModel(UDM)istoprovideabridgebetweentheuserandthedatasources.AUDMisconstructedoveroneormore
physical data sources, and then the end user issues queries against the UDM using one of a variety of client tools, such as Microsoft Excel. At a
minimum, when the UDM is constructed merely as a thin layer over the data source, the advantages to the end user are a simpler, more readily
understood model of the data, isolation from heterogeneous backend data sources, and improved performance for summary type queries. In some
scenarios a simple UDM like this is constructed totally automatically. With greater investment in the construction of the UDM, additional benefits
accruefromtherichnessofmetadatathatthemodelcanprovide.
TheUDMprovidesthefollowingbenefits:
Allowstheusermodeltobegreatlyenriched.
Provideshighperformancequeriessupportinginteractiveanalysis,evenoverhugedatavolumes.
Allowsbusinessrulestobecapturedinthemodeltosupportricheranalysis.
Q:WhatistheneedforSSAScomponent?
AnalysisServicesistheonlycomponentinSQLServerusingwhichwecanperformAnalysisandForecastoperations.
SSASisveryeasytouseandinteractive.
FasterAnalysisandTroubleshooting.
AbilitytocreateandmanageDatawarehouses.
ApplyefficientSecurityPrinciples.
Q:ExplaintheTWOTierArchitectureofSSAS?
SSASusesbothserverandclientcomponentstosupplyOLAPanddataminingfunctionalityBIApplications.
TheservercomponentisimplementedasaMicrosoftWindowsservice.EachinstanceofAnalysisServicesimplementedasaseparateinstanceof
theWindowsservice.
ClientscommunicatewithAnalysisServicesusingthestandardXMLA(XMLForAnalysis),protocolforissuingcommandsandreceivingresponses,
exposedasawebservice.
Q:WhatarethecomponentsofSSAS?
AnOLAPEngineisusedforenablingfastadhocqueriesbyendusers.Ausercaninteractivelyexploredatabydrilling,slicingorpivoting.
Drillingreferstotheprocessofexploringdetailsofthedata.
Slicingreferstotheprocessofplacingdatainrowsandcolumns.
Pivotingreferstoswitchingcategoriesofdatabetweenrowsandcolumns.
InOLAP,wewillbeusingwhatarecalledasDimensionalDatabases.
Q:WhatisFASMI?
AdatabaseiscalledanOLAPDatabaseifthedatabasesatisfiestheFASMIrules:
FastAnalysisisdefinedintheOLAPscenarioinfivesecondsorless.
SharedMustsupportaccesstodatabymanyusersinthefactorsofSensitivityandWriteBacks.
MultidimensionalThedatainsidetheOLAPDatabasemustbemultidimensionalinstructure.
InformationTheOLAPdatabaseMustsupportlargevolumesofdata..
Q:WhatlanguagesareusedinSSAS?
StructuredQueryLanguage(SQL)
MultidimensionalExpressions(MDX)anindustrystandardquerylanguageorientatedtowardsanalysis
DataMiningExtensions(DMX)anindustrystandardquerylanguageorientedtowarddatamining.
AnalysisServicesScriptingLanguage(ASSL)usedtomanageAnalysisServicesdatabaseobjects.
Q:HowCubesareimplementedinSSAS?
Cubesaremultidimensionalmodelsthatstoredatafromoneormoresources.
Cubescanalsostoreaggregations
SSASCubesarecreatedusingtheCubeWizard.
WealsobuildDimensionswhencreatingCubes.
CubescanseeonlytheDSV(logicalView).
Q:Whatisthedifferencebetweenaderivedmeasureandacalculatedmeasure?
The difference between a derived measure and a calculated measure is when the calculation is performed. A derived measure is calculated before
aggregations are created, and the values of the derived measure are stored in the cube. A calculated measure is calculated after aggregations are
created, and the values of a calculated measure arent stored in the cube. The primary criterion for choosing between a derived measure and a
calculatedmeasureisnotefficiency,butaccuracy.
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Q:Whatisapartition?
ApartitioninAnalysisServicesisthephysicallocationofstoredcubedata.Everycubehasatleastonepartitionbydefault.Eachtimewecreatea
measuregroup,anotherpartitioniscreated.QueriesrunfasteragainstapartitionedcubebecauseAnalysisServicesonlyneedstoreaddatafromthe
partitions that contain the answers to the queries. Queries run even faster when partition also stores aggregations, the pre calculated totals for

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additivemeasures.Partitionsareapowerfulandflexiblemeansofmanagingcubes,especiallylargecubes.
Q:Whilecreatinganewcalculatedmemberinacubewhatistheuseofproperty
callednonemptybehavior?
Nonemptybehaviorisimportantpropertyforratiocalculations.IfthedenominatorIsempty,anMDXexpressionwillreturnanerrorjustasitwouldif
thedenominatorWereequaltozero.ByselectingoneormoremeasuresfortheNonEmptyBehaviorproperty,weareestablishingarequirementthat
eachselectedmeasurefirstbeevaluatedbeforethecalculationexpressionisevaluated.Ifeachselectedmeasureisempty,thenTheexpressionisalso
treatedasemptyandnoerrorisreturned.
Q:WhatisaRAGGEDhierarchy?
Undernormalcircumstances,eachlevelinahierarchyinMicrosoftSQLServerAnalysisServices(SSAS)hasthesamenumberofmembersaboveitas
anyothermemberatthesamelevel.Inaraggedhierarchy,thelogicalparentmemberofatleastonememberisnotinthelevelimmediatelyabove
the member. When this occurs, the hierarchy descends to different levels for different drilldown paths. Expanding through every level for every
drilldownpathisthenunnecessarilycomplicated.
Q:WhataretherolesofanAnalysisServicesInformationWorker?
TheroleofanAnalysisServicesinformationworkeristhetraditional"domainexpert"roleinbusinessintelligence(BI)someonewhounderstandsthe
dataemployedbyasolutionandisabletotranslatethedataintobusinessinformation.TheroleofanAnalysisServicesinformationworkeroftenhas
oneofthefollowingjobtitles:BusinessAnalyst(ReportConsumer),Manager(ReportConsumer),TechnicalTrainer,HelpDesk/Operation,orNetwork
Administrator.
Q:WhatarethedifferentwaysofcreatingAggregations?
We can create aggregations for faster MDX statements using Aggregation Wizard or thru UBO Usage Based Optimizations. Always, prefer UBO
methodinrealtimeperformancetroubleshooting.
Q:WhatisWriteBack?Whatarethepreconditions?
TheEnable/DisableWriteback dialog box enables or disables writeback for a measure group in a cube. Enabling writeback on a measure group
definesawritebackpartitionandcreatesawritebacktableforthatmeasuregroup.Disablingwritebackonameasuregroupremovesthewriteback
partitionbutdoesnotdeletethewritebacktable,toavoidunanticipateddataloss.
Q:Whatisprocessing?
Processing is a critical and resource intensive operation in the data warehouse lifecycle and needs to be carefully optimized and executed. Analysis
Servicesoffersahighperformanceandscalableprocessingarchitecturewithacomprehensivesetofcontrolsfordatabaseadministrators.
WecanprocessanOLAPdatabase,individualcube,DimensionoraspecificPartitioninacube.
Q:NamefewBusinessAnalysisEnhancementsforSSAS?
ThefollowingtableliststhebusinessintelligenceenhancementsthatareavailableinMicrosoftSQLServerAnalysisServices(SSAS).Thetablealso
showsthecubeordimensiontowhicheachbusinessintelligenceenhancementapplies,andindicateswhetheranenhancementcanbeappliedtoan
objectthatwascreatedwithoutusingadatasourceandforwhichnoschemahasbeengenerated.
Enhancement
TimeIntelligence
AccountIntelligence
DimensionIntelligence
CustomAggregation
SemiadditiveBehavior
CustomMemberFormula
CustomSortingandUniquenessSettings
DimensionWriteback

Type
Cube
Dimension
Dimension
Dimension
Cube
Dimension
Dimension
Dimension

Appliedto
Cube
Dimensionorcube
Dimensionorcube
Dimension(unaryoperator)orcube
Cube
Dimensionorcube
Dimensionorcube
Dimensionorcube

Nodatasource
No
No
Yes
No
Yes
No
Yes
Yes

Q:WhatMDXfunctionsdoyoumostcommonlyuse?
Thisisagreatquestionbecauseyouonlyknowthisanswerbyexperience.Ifyouaskmethisquestion,theanswerpracticallyrushesoutofme.
CrossJoin,Descendants,andNonEmpty,inadditiontoSum,Count,andAggregate.MypersonalfavoriteisCrossJoinbecauseitallowsmeidentify
noncontiguousslicesofthecubeandaggregateeventhoughthosecubecellsdontrolluptoanaturalancestor.Indeed,CrossJoinhaseasilybeen
mybreadandbutter.
Q:Wheredoyouputcalculatedmembers?
ThereflexiveanswerisintheMeasuresdimensionbutthisistheobviousanswer.SoIalwaysfollowupwithanotherquestion.Ifyouwantto
createacalculatedmemberthatintersectsallmeasures,wheredoyouputit?Ahighpercentageofcandidatescantanswerthisquestion,andthe
answer is In a dimension other than Measures. If they can answer it, I immediately ask them why. The answer is Because a member in a
dimensioncannotintersectitsownrelativesinthatdimension.
Q:HowdoIfindthebottom10customerswiththelowestsalesin2003thatwerenotnull?
A:Simplyusingbottomcountwillreturncustomerswithnullsales.YouwillhavetocombineitwithNONEMPTYorFILTER.
SELECT{[Measures].[InternetSalesAmount]}ONCOLUMNS,
BOTTOMCOUNT(
NONEMPTY(DESCENDANTS([Customer].[CustomerGeography].[AllCustomers]
,[Customer].[CustomerGeography].[Customer])
,([Measures].[InternetSalesAmount]))
,10
,([Measures].[InternetSalesAmount])
)ONROWS
FROM[AdventureWorks]
WHERE([Date].[Calendar].[CalendarYear].&[2003])
Q:HowinMDXquerycanIgettop3salesyearsbasedonorderquantity?
BydefaultAnalysisServicesreturnsmembersinanorderspecifiedduringattributedesign.Attributepropertiesthatdefineorderingare"OrderBy"and
"OrderByAttribute".Letssaywewanttoseeordercountsforeachyear.InAdventureWorksMDXquerywouldbe:
SELECT{[Measures].[ResellerOrderQuantity]}ON0
,[Date].[Calendar].[CalendarYear].MembersON1
FROM[AdventureWorks]

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SamequeryusingTopCount:
SELECT
{[Measures].[ResellerOrderQuantity]}ON0,
TopCount([Date].[Calendar].[CalendarYear].Members,3,[Measures].[ResellerOrderQuantity])ON1
FROM[AdventureWorks]
Q:Howdoyouextractfirsttuplefromtheset?
UsecouldusefunctionSet.Item(0)
Example:
SELECT{{[Date].[Calendar].[CalendarYear].Members
}.Item(0)}
ON0
FROM[AdventureWorks]
Q:HowcanIsetupdefaultdimensionmemberinCalculationscript?
YoucanuseALTERCUBEstatement.Syntax:
ALTERCUBECurrentCube|YourCubeNameUPDATEDIMENSION,DEFAULT_MEMBER=''

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SSRSSQLServerReportingServices
Q:WhatisSSRS?
SQLServerReportingServiceisoneoftheserverbasedsoftwaresystemsthatgeneratereportsdevelopedbyMicrosoft.Itisusedforpreparingand
deliveringinteractiveandvarietyofprintedreports.Itisadministeredthroughaninterfacethatiswebbased.Reportingservicesutilizesawebservice
interfaceforsupportinganddevelopingofcustomizedreportingapplicatons.ItcanbecompetedwithCrystalReportsandotherbusinessintelligence
tools.
Q:ExplainSSRSArchitecture?
Reporting services architecture comprises of integrated components. It is a multitiered, included with application, server and data layers. This
architecture is scalable and modular. A single installation can be used across multiple computers. It includes the following components: Report
Manager, Reporting Designer, Browser Types Supported by Reporting services, Report server, Report server command line utilities, Report Server
Database,ReportingServicesExtensibility,DatasourcesthatissupportedbyReportingServices.
Q:ExplainReportingLifeCycle?
TheReportingLifecycleincludesReportdesigningThedesigningisdoneinVisualStudioReportDesigner.Itgeneratesaclasswhichembodiesthe
ReportDefinition.ReportprocessingTheprocessingincludesbingingthereportdefinitionwithdatafromthereportdatasource.Itperformsonall
grouping,sortingandfilteringcalculations.Theexpressionsareevaluatedexceptthepageheader,footerandsectionitems.LateritfirestheBinding
eventandBoundevent.Asaresultoftheprocessing,itproducesReportInstance.Reportinstancemaybepersistedandstoredwhichcanberendered
atalaterpointoftime.ReportRendering:ReportrenderingstartsbypassingtheReportInstancetoaspecificrenderingextension(HTMLorPDF
formats).Theinstanceofreportsispagedifpagingsupportedbyoutputformat.Theexpressionsofitemsareevaluatedinthepageheaderandfooter
sectionsforeverypage.Asafinalstep,thereportisrenderedtothespecificoutputdocument.
Q:HowtofinetuneReports?
To tuneup the Reporting Services, follow the below mentioned ways: Expand the Server or utilizing the reporting services of another database
server.Forbetterembeddingofreportcontents,reportapplicationslogicandcharacteristicscanhaveaduplicatecopyofdata.Replicationofdata
continuously.Usingnolock,theissuesoflockingcanwellberesolvedandtheperformanceofthequerycanbeimproved.Thiscanbedonebyusing
dirtyreadatthetimeofduplicatingthedataisunavailable.
Q:WhatareDataDrivenSubscriptions?
ReportingServicesprovidesdatadrivensubscriptionssothatyoucancustomizethedistributionofareportbasedondynamicsubscriberdata.Data

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driven subscriptions are intended for the following kinds of scenarios: Distributing reports to a large recipient pool whose membership may change
fromonedistributiontothenext.Forexampledistributeamonthlyreporttoallcurrentcustomers.Distributingreportstoaspecificgroupofrecipients
basedonpredefinedcriteria.Forexamplesendasalesperformancereporttothetoptensalesmanagersinanorganization.
Q:WhatisLinkedReport?
Q:WhataredifferenttypesofrolesprovidedbySSRS?
Q:DifferencebetweenLogicalPageanPhysicalPageinSSRS.
Logicalpagebreaksarepagebreaksthatyouinsertbeforeorafterreportitemsorgroups.Pagebreakshelptodeterminehowthecontentisfittedtoa
reportpageforoptimalviewingwhenrenderingorexportingthereport.Thefollowingrulesapplywhenrenderinglogicalpagebreaks:Logicalpage
breaksareignoredforreportitemsthatareconstantlyhiddenandforreportitemswherethevisibilityiscontrolledbyclickinganotherreportitem.
Logicalpagebreaksareappliedonconditionallyvisibleitemsiftheyarecurrentlyvisibleatthetimethereportisrendered.Spaceispreservedbetween
thereportitemwiththelogicalpagebreakanditspeerreportitems.Logicalpagebreaksthatareinsertedbeforeareportitempushthereportitem
downtothenextpage.Thereportitemisrenderedatthetopofthenextpage.Logicalpagebreaksdefinedonitemsintableormatrixcellsarenot
kept.Thisdoesnotapplytoitemsinlists.
Q:UserwantonlytodisplayonlypdfasexportoptioninreportManager.Howtoacheivethis?
Q:NameandDescribefewconsoleutilitiesforSSRS?
Q:NamefewEndpointsexposedbySSRS2012?
Q:DescribedifferentProcessingModesofferedbySSRS?
Q:WhentoUseNullDatadrivenSubscription?
CreateadatadrivensubscriptionthatusestheNullDeliveryProvider.WhenyouspecifytheNullDeliveryProviderasthemethodofdeliveryinthe
subscription,thereportservertargetsthereportserverdatabaseasthedeliverydestinationandusesaspecializedrenderingextensioncalledthenull
rendering extension. In contrast with other delivery extensions, the Null Delivery Provider does not have delivery settings that you can configure
throughasubscriptiondefinition.
Q:HowcanyoumonitorthereportUsage?
Q:HowdoesthereportmanagerworkinSSRS?
Reportmanagerisawebapplication.InSSRSitisaccessedbyaURL.TheinterfaceofthisReportmanagerdependsonthepermissionsoftheuser.
Thismeanstoaccessanyfunctionalityorperformanytask,theusermustbeassignedarole.Auserwitharoleoffullpermissionscanentireallthe
featuresandmenusofthereport.Toconfigurethereportmanager,aURLneedstobedefined.
Q:WhataretheReportingServicescomponents?
Reporting services components assist in development. These processing components include some tools that are used to create, manage and view
reports.Areportdesignerisusedtocreatethereports.areportseverisusedtoexecuteanddistributereports.areportmanagerisusedtomanage
thereportserver.
Q:SQLServerReportingServicesvsCrystalReports.
CrystalreportsareprocessedbyIISwhileSSRShaveareportserver.CachinginCrystalreportsisavailablethroughcacheserver.Ontheotherhand,
cachinginSSRSisavailableforReporthistorysnapshots.Crystalreportshavestandardsanduserdefinedfieldlabels.SSRSallowsonlyuserdefined
fieldlabels.
Q:WhatisReportBuilder?
ReportBuilderisabusinessuser,adhocreportdesignclientthatallowsuserstodesignreportsbasedonthebusinessterms(ReportBuildermodel)
theyarefamiliarwith,butwithoutneedingtounderstanddatabaseschemasorhowtowriteSQLorMDXqueries.ReportBuilderworkswithbothSQL
ServerandAnalysisServicesdatasources.
Q:HowdoesReportBuildersupportAnalysisServicescubes?
ReportBuildersupportsrelationalSQLandAnalysisServicesdatasourcesinSQLServer.TocreateamodelforAnalysisServicescube,gotoReport
ManagerorManagementStudio,createadatasourceforyourAnalysisServicesdatabase,andthenselecttheGenerateModeloptiontocreatethe
model.
Q:HowdousersuseReportBuilderwithSQLServerdatasources?
WhilemodelsthatprovideaccesstoSQLServerAnalysisServicesareautomaticallygeneratedonthereportserver,theReportBuilderModelDesigner
canbeusedtogenerateormodifythemodelsthatarebuiltontopofSQLServerrelationaldatabases.Thesemodelbuildingprojectsareanewtypeof
projectwithinaVisualStudiobaseddevelopmentshell.
Q:HowdoIgetReportBuildertogenerateaparameterthatcanbesetbyusersviewingthereport?
Inthefilterdialogbox,clickthenameofthecriteriathatyouwouldliketoprompttheuserforwhenviewingthereport.Forexample,forthecriteria
OrderYear=2000,clickOrderYear.SelectthePromptoptioninthedropdownlist.
Q:WhatnewdatasourcetypeswereaddedinSSRS2014?
InadditiontothedatasourcetypesavailableinSSRS(SQLServer,Oracle,ODBC,OLEDB),thefollowinghavebeenaddedinSSRS2012:SQLServer
AnalysisServicesSQLServerIntegrationServicesSQLServerReportBuilderModelsXML(throughURLandWebservices)
Q:HowcanIaddReportingServicesreportstomyapplication?
VisualStudio/SSDT/BIDataTools(StandardandEnterpriseeditions)containsasetoffreelyredistributableReportViewercontrolsthatmakeiteasy
toembedReportingServicesfunctionalityintocustomapplications.TwoversionsoftheReportViewerexist,oneforrichWindowsclientapplications
andoneforASP.NETapplications.
Q:DoIneedareportservertorunreportsinmyapplication?
In addition to publishing reports to a report server, you can build reports using the Report Designer that is directly integrated with Visual Studio
language projects. You can embed reports directly in any Windows Forms or ASP.NET Web application without access to a report server. The data
accessinembeddedreportsisanaturalextensionoftheVisualStudiodatafacilities.Notonlycanyouusetraditionaldatabasesasasourceofdatafor
yourreports,youcanuseobjectcollectionsaswell.
Q:CanyouimportMicrosoftExceldatatoSSRS?
ReportingServicesdoesnotimportdata.Itonlyqueriesdatainwhateverformatitisstoredintheirnativestoragesystem.Iwillassumethatyou're
askingwhetheryoucancreatereportsanduseExcelspreadsheetsasdatasources.TheanswerisYes,ReportingServicessupportsawidevarietyof
datasources,includingExcelfiles.You'llgetthebestperformancewiththebuiltinnative.NETprovidersbutyoushouldbeabletoconnecttoany
ODBCorOLEDBdatasource,whetheritcomesfromMicrosoftorathirdpartycompany.
Q:CanwedeploySSRSreportsonourpersonalwebsite?
Yourreportscanonlybedeployedonareportingservicessite.YouronlyoptionforviewingthemfromothersitesisanHTTPlink.Sometools,like
SharePointoffercontrolsallowingyoutoviewreportsinthecontextoftheotherwebsites,butthereportisstilldeployedtoandhostedfromreporting
services.

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MSBIInterviewQuestions|SSIS|SSAS|SSRS|InterviewQuestions

Q:CanweusedatagridsforourreportinSSRS?
WehaveanASP.NETprojectthatpopulatesadatagrid.UsingdatagridasmydatasourceformyreportusingSQLServerReportingServices.Isthis
possible?Thesimpleanswerisno.However,nothing'seversimple.AsetofreportingcontrolswasaddedinVisualStudio2010allowingyoutoreport
in a dataset, on data that was supplied by you. So, if you retrieved your data into a dataset, bound the datagrid to the dataset so it had data to
display,youcouldthenusethatdatasetasthedatasourceforthereportingcontrols.Thesearethenclientsidereports,notserverreportsthough.
Q:WhatarethedrawbacksofreportinginSSRS?
For many years, Microsoft had no direct solution for reporting with the SQL Server besides Crystal Reports. Now, they have SQL Server Reporting
Services,butitdoeshaveseveraldrawbacks.Itisstillcomplextounderstandthecompletefunctionalityandstructureofthisnewcomponent,and
manyusersarestillrelyingonthereportingapplicationtheyaremorefamiliarwith,whichisCrystalReports.Also,componentsinSSRSlikeReport
BuilderandReportDesigneraremeantfordifferentusersfordifferentaspectsofthereportprocess,yetcompleteunderstandingandexposuretoboth
isimportanttoutilizebothfunctionsfullyandextensively.TherearealsoissueswhenexportingverylargereportstoMicrosoftExcel,asitcanleadto
alossofdata.
Q:WillrunningSSRSonWindowsXPlimitthenumberofusers?
Yes,butnotbecauseofSSRS.TheInternetInformationServices(IIS)componentofWindowsXPonlyallowsasmallnumberofuserstoconnectto
thewebsiteatonce.AsSSRSrunsviaIIS,thiswouldpreventmorethanafewpeoplefromusingSSRSatonce.Also,theonlyeditionofSSRSthat
will install on Windows XP is the Developer Edition. This edition can not be used for production use. You need Standard or Enterprise Edition for
productionuse,whichrequiresaServerOStoinstallon(Windows2003Standard,Windows2008Standard,etc).
Q:ArethereissueswhenexportingSSRSreportsintoMicrosoftExcel?
WhenmyusersaretryingtoexportaSSRSreportintoMicrosoftExcel,oneortwocolumnsinthereportappeartomergetogether.Whymightthis
be?ExportingfromSSRSisnotalwaysperfect,evenifyoustaywithintheMicrosoftrangeofproducts.Ifyouhaveextraresources,youcouldsplurge
for an addon that offers much better control over exporting to Excel, such as OfficeWriter. From my experience, though, it is usually headers or
footersthatcauseexportingissues.Ifanyoftheseheadersorfootersoverlapwithdatacolumnsinyourreport,youwillfindthattheexportedversion
ofthereporthasmergedcells.Also,checkcolumnsnexttoeachothertomakesurethatthereisnooverlap,aswell.
Q:HowtosendaSSRSreportfromSSIS?
Often there is a requirement to be able to send a SSRS report in Excel, PDF or another format to different users from a SSIS package one it has
finishedperformingadataload.Inordertodothis,firstyouneedtocreateasubscriptiontothereport.YoucancreateaSSRSreportsubscription
from Report Manager. At the report subscription you can mention the report format and the email address of the recipient. When you create a
schedulefortheSSRSreport,aSQLServerAgentJobwillbecreated.FromtheSSIS,byusingsp_start_jobandpassingtherelevantjobnameyou
canexecutetheSSRSreportsubscription.

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