What's New (Integration Services)

This latest release of Microsoft Integration Services introduces new features and enhancements that increase the power and productivity of developers, administrators, and knowledge workers who develop data transformation solutions.

Use the following list to find new features and enhancements by area:

  • Deployment

  • Management and Troubleshooting

  • Development Enhancements

  • Performance

  • Data Quality

  • Access to Samples and Tutorials

Deployment

In the current release of Integration Services, you can deploy your projects to the Integration Services server. This is the new project deployment model. The Integration Services server enables you to manage packages, run packages, and configure runtime values for packages by using environments.

The following topics provide information about converting projects to the project deployment model and deploying projects, and the Integration Services server.

Management and Troubleshooting

Development Enhancements

  • Project Connection Managers
    This release allows you to create connection managers at the project level that can shared by multiple packages in the project. The connection manager you create at the project level is automatically visible in the Connection Managers tab of the SSIS Designer window for all packages. For details, see Add, Delete, or Share a Connection Manager in a Package.

  • Offline Connection Managers
    Integration Services now validates all connections before validating all of the data flow components when a package is opened and sets any connections that are slow or unavailable to work offline. This helps to reduce the delay in validating the package data flow. After a package is opened, you can also turn off a connection by right-clicking the connection manager in the Connection Managers area and then clicking Work Offline. This can speed up operations in the SSIS Designer.

    For more information, see Troubleshooting Tools for Package Development.

  • Flat File Connection Manager Changes
    The Flat File connection manager now supports parsing files with embedded qualifiers. The connection manager also by default always checks for row delimiters to enable the correct parsing of files with rows that are missing column fields

    For more information, see Flat File Connection Manager.

  • Parameters
    Integration Services (SSIS) parameters allow you to assign values to properties within packages at the time of package execution. You can create project parameters at the project level and package parameters at the package level. Project parameters are used to supply any external input the project receives to one or more packages in the project. Package parameters allow you to modify package execution without having to edit and redeploy the package. For more information, see Integration Services (SSIS) Parameters.

  • Execute Package Task and Parameters
    In this release, you can configure the Execute Package task to to make values available to the child package by mapping variables or parameters to child package parameters. For more information, see the Passing Values to Child Packages section of Execute Package Task.

  • Comparing and Merging Packages
    The structure of package .dtsx files has been modified to make it easier for you to compare packages. You can also more reliably merge packages that don’t contain conflicting changes or changes stored in binary format.

    For more information, see SSIS Package Format.

  • Undo/Redo in SSIS Designer
    You can undo and redo up to 20 actions in the SSIS Designer. For a package, undo/redo is available in the Control Flow, Data Flow, Event Handlers, and Parameters tabs, and in the Variables window. For a project, undo/redo is available in the Project Parameters window.

    For details, see SSIS Designer.

  • Column Mapping
    When an error occurs due to a column mapping problem in the data flow, such as missing columns, the error icon appears on the path or above the component if no path is connected. In addition, you can still edit the component when there is a mapping problem.

    The SSIS Designer is now smarter about re-mapping columns when a new data source is connected. Columns are re-mapped based on their name and data type rather than by lineage ID.

    You can more easily resolve issues with disconnected input paths and unmapped columns in an execution tree, by using the Resolve Column Reference Editor.

  • Script Task and Script Component
    If you create a package by using SQL Server Data Tools - Business Intelligence for Visual Studio 2012 that includes a Script task or Script component, you can configure the script project to target the .NET Framework 4.5 class library. You set the Target framework property in Microsoft Visual Studio Tools for Applications (VSTA).

    You can install SQL Server Data Tools - Business Intelligence for Visual Studio 2012 side by side with SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT) that is included in SQL Server 2012.

    Important

    Script tasks and Script components that target the .NET Framework 4.5 class library, cannot be edited in SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT) that is included in SQL Server 2012. The workaround is to load the package in SQL Server Data Tools - Business Intelligence for Visual Studio 2012 and change the script project to target the .NET Framework 4.0 class library.

    It is recommended that if you plan to edit the package in both SQL Server Data Tools - Business Intelligence for Visual Studio 2012 and SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT) that is included in SQL Server 2012, to configure the script project to target the .NET Framework 4.0 class library.

Performance

  • Reduced Memory Usage by the Merge and Merge Join Transformations
    Microsoft has made the Integration Services Merge and Merge Join transformations more robust and reliable. This is achieved by reducing the risk that these components will consume excessive memory when the multiple inputs produce data at uneven rates. This improvement helps packages that use the Merge or Merge Join transformations to use memory more efficiently.

    Microsoft has also provided new properties and methods for developers of custom data flow components to implement a similar solution in their own components. This improvement makes it more feasible to develop a robust custom data flow component that supports multiple inputs. For more information, see Developing Data Flow Components with Multiple Inputs.

Data Quality

  • DQS Cleansing Transformation
    Integration Services now includes the DQS Cleansing transformation that enables you to more easily and accurately improve the quality of data.

    For more information about improving data quality using these components, see DQS Cleansing Transformation.

Access to Samples and Tutorials

  • Getting Started Window
    The Getting Started window in the SSIS Designer provides links to samples, tutorials and videos. You can customize the window by adding links to additional content. For more information, see Integration Services User Interface.

  • SSIS Toolbox
    The SSIS Toolbox in SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT) provides links to samples and Help content for Control Flow and Data Flow items. You can add links for custom components. For more information, see Developing Custom Objects for Integration Services.

Integration Services icon (small) Stay Up to Date with Integration Services

For the latest downloads, articles, samples, and videos from Microsoft, as well as selected solutions from the community, visit the Integration Services page on MSDN:


For automatic notification of these updates, subscribe to the RSS feeds available on the page.

See Also

Concepts

Features Supported by the Editions of SQL Server 2012