Handy Tool for BIDS

Here is a handy tool that has been around for a little while that I am still surprised that more people don’t know about. It BIDS Helper and is available on Codeplex. It has a wide array of handy dandy add-ins that make things a whole lot easier to use in SQL Server Analysis Services, Reporting Services, and SSIS. Below is the link to the codeplex site and a list of the current functionality. CHECK IT OUT!

BIDS HELPER CODEPLEX SITE

• Analysis Services
  • Aggregation Manager
  • Calculation Helpers
  • Column Usage Reports
  • Delete Unused Aggregations
  • Deploy Aggregation Designs
  • Deploy MDX Script
  • Dimension Data Type Discrepancy Check
  • Dimension Health Check
  • Dimension Optimization Report
  • Measure Group Health Check
  • Non-Default Properties Report
  • Parent-Child Dimension Naturalizer
  • Printer Friendly Aggregations
  • Printer Friendly Dimension Usage
  • Test Aggregation Performance
  • Tri-State Perspectives
  • Similar Aggregations
  • Smart Diff
  • Show Extra Properties
  • Sync Descriptions
  • Update Estimated Counts
  • Validate Aggregations
  • Visualize Attribute Lattice
• Integration Services
  • Create Fixed Width Columns
  • Deploy SSIS Packages
  • dtsConfig File Formatter
  • Expression and Configuration Highlighter
  • Expression List
  • Fix Relative Paths
  • Non-Default Properties Report
  • Pipeline Component Performance Breakdown
  • Reset GUIDs
  • Smart Diff
  • Sort Project Files
  • Sortable Package Properties Report
  • SSIS Performance Visualization
  • Variables Window Extensions
• Reporting Services
  • Dataset Usage Reports
  • Delete Dataset Cache Files
  • Smart Diff
• General
  • Enable/Disable features
  • Version Notification

Cheers,
AJ