Data Quality Services and SSIS in SQL Server Denali

SQL Server Data Quality Services (SSDQS) is one of the new advancements in SQL Server Denali that is getting crafted at Microsoft labs. If you try to google out on this subject, you would find almost no content even on MSDN, as this development of this service is still is progress, and this is probably one of the reason that it has not been released in CTP1.

These days I have been spending quite a lot of time analysing SQL Server Denali CTP1. SSIS has already opened an interface to take advantage of this service, and this is in the form of a Data Flow Transform - "Data Correction" transform. The below image shows the interface of the editor of this transform.

Data Cleansing is a very big exercise and is one of the most integral part of any data migration project. There are a lot many different kind of portal based tools available in the industry for data quality, having a sort of operational interface that Master Data Services provides. The beginning of Data Quality related services and components began with SQL Server 2008 with the inception of Data Profiling Task and Data Profile Viewer. In my views, making data quality related services available in ETL is a very wise move and symbiotic for SSIS and SSDQS. This would help to open another very strong avenue where SSIS can serve in a very promising manner i.e. Corporate Data Cleansing projects, and SSDQS got it's very first integral client as SSIS apart from the DQ Client.

SQL Server has introduced many management libraries like AMO, SMO, DMO, RMO etc over the period of time. Data Quality Services can be expected to introduce a brand new object model something like Quality Management Objects - QMO, that can be operated by client applications like .NET and Sharepoint, where service providers can build their own flavor of data quality solutions using this framework. These are just some thoughts that my mind is sketching out, knowing SSDQS is on the horizon. I would have to wait to see if my vision about the roadmap for SSDQS is correct, or Microsoft surprises us even beyond our imagination.