Arshad Ali

I have been working with Microsoft for almost five years now and have 10+ years of extensive experience in the software industry. As a DB/BI Consultant, in an end-to-end delivery role, lately I have been working on a several enterprise scale data warehousing project for enabling\developing BI/Analytic solutions. I specialize in Database, Data Warehousing and Business Intelligence application design, development and deployment, at enterprise level, with SQL Server, SSIS, SSRS, SSAS, Service Broker, MDS, DQS, SharePoint and PPS. In past, I also performed performance optimization for several projects with significant performance gain.

I am a Microsoft Certified IT Professional (MCITP) in Microsoft SQL Server - Database Development 2008, Data Administration 2008 and Business Intelligence 2008.

In my earlier experience, I had also been developing applications in VB/ASP/.NET/ASP.NET/C# and am a Microsoft Certified Application Developer (MCAD), Microsoft Certified Solution Developer (MCSD) for the .NET platform in Web/Windows/Enterprise.

I have presented in several technical events and have written 150+ technical and performance optimization technique articles on SQL Server and its related technologies which have been published on several sites.

On educational front, I am a Master in Computer Applications (MCA) and Master in Business Administration in IT (MBA-IT).

Disclaimer: I work for Microsoft and help people and businesses make better use of technology to realize their full potential. The opinions mentioned herein are solely mine and do not reflect those of my current employer or previous employers.

2014 Awards   

2013 Awards   

2011 Awards   

2010 Awards   

Category	Tip Title
Analysis Services Administration	Understanding the SQL Server 2012 BI Semantic Model (BISM)
Analysis Services Development	Comparing Data Warehouse Design Methodologies for Microsoft SQL Server
Analysis Services Development	Microsoft SQL Server Business Intelligence - What, Why and How - Part 1
Analysis Services Development	Microsoft SQL Server Business Intelligence System Architecture - Part 2
Analysis Services Performance	SQL Server Analysis Services Best Practices for Performance Optimization - Part 2 of 4
Analysis Services Performance	SSAS - Best Practices and Performance Optimization - Part 1 of 4
Analysis Services Performance	SSAS - Best Practices and Performance Optimization - Part 3 of 4
Analysis Services Performance	SSAS - Best Practices and Performance Optimization - Part 4 of 4
Analysis Services Tutorials	Getting started with Tabular Model in SQL Server 2012 - Part 1
Analysis Services Tutorials	Getting started with the SQL Server 2012 Tabular Model - Part 2
Application Development	Using Data Access Application Block DAAB in SQL Server Part 2 of 2
Application Development	Using SQL Server Data Access Application Block (DAAB) Part 1 of 2
Application Development	Writing a Data Access Layer (DAL) for SQL Server
Azure	Creating backups and copies of your SQL Azure databases
Azure	Getting started with SQL Data Sync
Azure	Getting Started with the SQL Azure Database Manager
Azure	Moving your database to the cloud with SQL Azure
Azure	SQL Azure enhancements with SQL Server 2008 R2
Azure	Understanding SQL Data Sync for SQL Server
Azure Backup and Restore	SQL Server Backups and Restores Directly with Windows Azure Blob Storage Service
Azure Backup and Restore	SQL Server Database Backup and Restore with Windows Azure Blob Storage Cloud Services using T-SQL Commands
Azure Backup and Restore	Windows Azure SQL Database Backup and Restore strategy
Backup	Backup and Restore SQL Server databases programmatically with SMO
Backup	Backup and Restore SQL Server databases with Azure cloud services and SMO
Backup	Backup and Restore with Cloud services (Windows Azure Blob Storage Service) using PowerShell
Change Data Capture	Using Change Tracking in SQL Server 2008
Comparison Data and Objects	SQL Data Comparison with Visual Studio 2010
Comparison Data and Objects	SQL Schema Comparison with Visual Studio 2010
Data Quality Services	Creating a knowledge base and cleansing data using Data Quality Services in SQL Server 2012 - Part 3
Data Quality Services	Getting Started with Data Quality Services of SQL Server 2012 - Part 2
Data Quality Services	Getting Started with Data Quality Services of SQL Server 2012 Using SSIS - Part 4
Data Quality Services	Getting Started with SQL Server 2012 Data Quality Services - Part 1
Database Administration	Different strategies for removing duplicate records in SQL Server
Debugging	SQL Server 2008 TSQL Debugger is back in SSMS
Debugging	SQL Server 2012 TSQL Debugging enhancements
Dynamic Management Views and Functions	Understanding Catalog Views in SQL Server 2005 and 2008
Dynamic Management Views and Functions	Understanding Dynamic Management Views and Functions in SQL Server 2008
Dynamic SQL	Dynamic SQL execution on remote SQL Server using EXEC AT
Error Handling	SQL Server 2012 THROW statement to raise an exception
Extended Events	An Overview of Extended Events in SQL Server 2008
Extended Events	Getting Started with Extended Events in SQL Server 2008
Fragmentation and Index Maintenance	Fixing Index Fragmentation in SQL Server 2005 and SQL Server 2008
Fragmentation and Index Maintenance	Index Fragmentation Report in SQL Server
Functions System	SQL Server 2005 and 2008 Ranking Functions DENSE_RANK and NTILE
Functions System	SQL Server 2008 System Functions to Monitor the Instance, Database, Files, etc.
Functions System	SQL Server Functions for Tables, Views, Indexes, Columns, Stored Procedures
Functions System	SQL Server Ranking Functions Row_Number and Rank
In Memory OLTP	Getting started with Indexes on SQL Server Memory Optimized Tables
In Memory OLTP	Getting started with SQL Server 2014 In-Memory OLTP
In Memory OLTP	Getting started with the AMR tool for migration to SQL Server In-memory OLTP Tables
In Memory OLTP	Overview of Applications, Indexes and Limitations for SQL Server 2014 In-Memory OLTP Tables
In Memory OLTP	SQL Server 2014 In Memory OLTP Durability, Natively Compiled Stored Procedures and Transaction Isolation Level
In Memory OLTP	SQL Server 2014 In-Memory OLTP Architecture and Data Storage
Indexing	SQL Server 2012 Column Store Index Example
Indexing	SQL Server Filtered Indexes What They Are, How to Use and Performance Advantages
Integration Services Best Practices	SQL Integration Services SSIS Troubleshooting Best Practices
Integration Services Best Practices	SQL Server Integration Services Best Practices
Integration Services Best Practices	SQL Server Integration Services Design Best Practices
Integration Services Best Practices	SQL Server Integration Services Performance Best Practices
Integration Services Configuration Options	Data tapping during SSIS package execution in SQL Server 2012
Integration Services Configuration Options	SSIS Project Deployment Model in SQL Server 2012 (Part 1 of 2)
Integration Services Configuration Options	SSIS Project Deployment Model in SQL Server 2012 (Part 2 of 2)
Integration Services Control Flow Transformations	SQL Server Integration Services FTP Task for Data Exchange
Integration Services Control Flow Transformations	Transfer Database Task and Transfer SQL Server Objects Task in SSIS
Integration Services Control Flow Transformations	Transfer SQL Server Jobs Task and Transfer SQL Server Logins Task in SSIS
Integration Services Data Flow Transformations	SSIS Multicast Transformation vs Conditional Split Transformation
Integration Services Development	Creating SSIS Package Templates for Reusability
Integration Services Development	Sending email from SQL Server Integration Services
Integration Services Development	Sending HTML formatted email in SQL Server using the SSIS Script Task
Integration Services Development	SQL Server 2012 SSIS Enhancements Part 1 of 2
Integration Services Development	SQL Server 2012 SSIS Enhancements Part 2 of 2
Integration Services Excel	Importing Data From Excel Using SSIS - Part 1
Integration Services Excel	Importing Data From Excel Using SSIS - Part 2
JOIN Tables	SQL Server CROSS APPLY and OUTER APPLY
JOIN Tables	Understanding SQL Server Physical Joins
Master Data Services	Excel add-in for SQL Server 2012 Master Data Services - Part 1
Master Data Services	Let's Explore Excel add-in of Master Data Services of SQL Server 2012 - Part 2
Microsoft Excel Integration	Creating Power View Reports in Excel 2013
Microsoft Excel Integration	Getting started with Power View Reports with SharePoint, Excel and SQL Server
Microsoft Excel Integration	Teach Business Users How To Create Power View Reports With SQL Server Data Sources
Paging	SQL Server 2012 Server Side Paging
Professional Development Interview Questions BI	SSIS Architecture and Internals Interview Questions
Professional Development Interview Questions BI	SSIS Interview Questions - Part 1
Professional Development Interview Questions BI	SSIS Interview Questions for Basic Concepts and Event Logging
Professional Development Interview Questions BI	SSIS Interview Questions for Data Profiling, Protection Level and Package Configuration
Professional Development Interview Questions BI	SSIS Interview Questions for Memory Management and Deployment
Professional Development Interview Questions BI	SSIS Interview Questions on Transactions, Event Handling and Validation
Reporting Services Overview	SQL Server Reporting Services vs. PerformancePoint Services
Resource Governor	Handling workloads on SQL Server 2008 with Resource Governor
Scripts	Iterate through SQL Server database objects without cursors
Service Broker	Event Notifications in SQL Server for Tracking Changes
Service Broker	SQL Server Service Broker Poison Message Handling
SharePoint	Understanding WSS 3 and MOSS 2007
SharePoint Administration	Diagnostic logging in SharePoint 2010
SharePoint Administration	Backup and Restore in SharePoint 2010
SharePoint Administration	Developer Dashboard in SharePoint 2010
SharePoint Administration	Exporting and Importing SharePoint 2010 Content
SharePoint Administration	Getting Started with the SharePoint Logging and Reporting Database in SharePoint 2010
SharePoint Administration	Granular Backup and Restore in SharePoint 2010 (Part 2)
SharePoint Administration	Health Analyzer in SharePoint 2010
SharePoint Administration	How the Recycle Bin Works in SharePoint
SharePoint Administration	Installing and Configuring Windows SharePoint Service (WSS) 3.0
SharePoint Administration	Unattached Content Database Recovery in SharePoint 2010
SharePoint Configuration	Creating Web Applications, Site Collections and Sites in SharePoint 2010
SharePoint Document Management	Document Versioning in SharePoint 2010
SharePoint Document Management	The Ins and Outs of SharePoint Document Check-In and Check-Out
SharePoint Document Management	Understanding and creating libraries in SharePoint 2010
SQL Server Agent	Running a SSIS Package from SQL Server Agent Using a Proxy Account
SQL Server Configurations	Understanding SQL Server Net Libraries
SQL Server Management Objects SMO	Generate Scripts for database objects with SMO for SQL Server
SQL Server Management Objects SMO	Getting started with SQL Server Management Objects (SMO)
SQL Server Management Objects SMO	Transfer SQL Server database schema objects and data with SMO
SQL Server Management Studio	Getting started with Code Snippets feature of SQL Server 2012
SQL Server Management Studio Shortcuts	SQL Server Management Studio keyboard shortcuts (Part 1 of 2)
SQL Server Management Studio Shortcuts	SSMS keyboard shortcuts (Part 2 of 2)
Testing	Generating SQL Server Test Data with Visual Studio 2010
Testing	SQL Server Unit Testing with Visual Studio 2010
TSQL	Using MERGE in SQL Server to insert, update and delete at the same time
XML	Importing and Processing data from XML files into SQL Server tables

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CategoryGroup	Category (articles)
Analysis Services	Analysis Services Administration (33)
Analysis Services	Analysis Services Development (95)
Analysis Services	Analysis Services Dimensions (16)
Analysis Services	Analysis Services Measure Groups (7)
Analysis Services	Analysis Services Performance (14)
Analysis Services	Analysis Services Security (7)
Analysis Services	Analysis Services Tutorials (6)
Business Intelligence	Artificial Intelligence (34)
Business Intelligence	Big Data (25)
Business Intelligence	Data Science (3)
Business Intelligence	Data Warehousing (8)
Business Intelligence	Import and Export (80)
Business Intelligence	R Language (11)
Business Intelligence	Snowflake (28)
Cloud	Amazon AWS (38)
Cloud	Amazon AWS RDS (22)
Cloud	Azure (154)
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Cloud	Azure Cosmos DB (15)
Cloud	Azure Functions (7)
Cloud	Azure SQL Database (52)
Cloud	Azure SQL Managed Instance (7)
Cloud	Cloud Strategy (31)
Cloud	Google Cloud (10)
Cloud Analytics	Apache Spark (13)
Cloud Analytics	Azure Data Factory (73)
Cloud Analytics	Azure Databricks (40)
Cloud Analytics	Azure Integration Services (14)
Cloud Analytics	Azure Synapse Analytics (43)
Cloud Analytics	Microsoft Fabric (36)
Data Quality	Data Cleansing for Validation (5)
Data Quality	Data Quality Services (10)
Data Quality	Master Data Services (41)
Database Administration	Central Management Servers (10)
Database Administration	Comparison Data and Objects (15)
Database Administration	Database Administration (213)
Database Administration	DBA Best Practices (39)
Database Administration	Dedicated Administrator Connection (4)
Database Administration	Scripts (35)
Database Administration	System Databases (31)
Database Configuration	Compression (22)
Database Configuration	Database Configurations (20)
Database Configuration	Database Mail (19)
Database Configuration	FILESTREAM (9)
Database Configuration	Full Text Search (21)
Database Configuration	In Memory OLTP (32)
Database Configuration	Linked Servers (18)
Database Configuration	Policy Based Management (29)
Database Configuration	Recovery Models (4)
Database Configuration	Resource Governor (5)
Database Configuration	SQL Server Configurations (75)
Database Design	Constraints (20)
Database Design	Data Types (22)
Database Design	Database Design (94)
Database Design	Identities (17)
Database Design	JOIN Tables (23)
Database Design	Synonyms (5)
Database Design	Table Valued Parameters (4)
Database Design	Temp Tables (16)
Database Design	Temporal Tables (13)
Database Design	User Defined Type UDT (3)
Database Design	Views (17)
Database Development	Application Development (53)
Database Development	Common Runtime Language (13)
Database Development	Debugging (4)
Database Development	DevOps (40)
Database Development	Entity Framework (13)
Database Development	Language Integrated Query LINQ (7)
Database Development	Paging (5)
Database Development	Referential Integrity (5)
Database Development	Service Broker (11)
Database Development	Testing (32)
Database Development	XML (15)
Database Maintenance	Database Console Commands DBCCs (25)
Database Maintenance	Fragmentation and Index Maintenance (28)
Database Maintenance	Maintenance (34)
Disaster Recovery / High Availability	Availability Groups (81)
Disaster Recovery / High Availability	Backup (81)
Disaster Recovery / High Availability	Clustering (77)
Disaster Recovery / High Availability	Database Mirroring (33)
Disaster Recovery / High Availability	Disaster Recovery (23)
Disaster Recovery / High Availability	High Availability (3)
Disaster Recovery / High Availability	Log Shipping (18)
Disaster Recovery / High Availability	Replication (78)
Disaster Recovery / High Availability	Restore (42)
Functions	Dates (56)
Functions	Functions System (99)
Functions	Functions User Defined UDF (41)
Infrastructure	Contained Databases (4)
Infrastructure	Containers (13)
Infrastructure	Hardware (13)
Infrastructure	Spatial Data Storage (9)
Infrastructure	Virtualization (25)
Integration Services Admin	Integration Services Administration (10)
Integration Services Admin	Integration Services Best Practices (12)
Integration Services Admin	Integration Services Configuration Options (22)
Integration Services Admin	Integration Services Performance (12)
Integration Services Admin	Integration Services Security (7)
Integration Services Admin	Integration Services Upgrade (4)
Integration Services Development	Data Transformation Services (6)
Integration Services Development	Integration Services Analysis Services Tasks (5)
Integration Services Development	Integration Services Connection Managers (5)
Integration Services Development	Integration Services Control Flow Transformations (14)
Integration Services Development	Integration Services Data Flow Transformations (19)
Integration Services Development	Integration Services Development (118)
Integration Services Development	Integration Services Error Handling (8)
Integration Services Development	Integration Services Excel (14)
Integration Services Development	Integration Services Execute Package Options (8)
Integration Services Development	Integration Services Oracle (4)
Microsoft Office	Microsoft Access Integration (8)
Microsoft Office	Microsoft Excel Integration (46)
Microsoft Office	Microsoft Flow (1)
Other RDBMS	Other Database Platforms (16)
Other RDBMS	PostgreSQL (16)
Other RDBMS	SQL Server and Oracle Comparison (30)
Other RDBMS	SQL Server on Linux (78)
Other RDBMS	SQL Server vs Oracle vs PostgreSQL Comparison (20)
Performance	Dynamic Management Views and Functions (34)
Performance	Error Logs (12)
Performance	Extended Events (22)
Performance	Indexing (97)
Performance	Locking and Blocking (44)
Performance	Monitoring (110)
Performance	Partitioning (17)
Performance	Performance Data Warehouse (4)
Performance	Performance Tuning (129)
Performance	Profiler and Trace (20)
Performance	Query Optimization (15)
Performance	Query Plans (20)
Performance	Query Store (9)
Power Platform	Power Apps (20)
Power Platform	Power BI (180)
Power Platform	Power BI Charts (59)
Power Platform	Power BI Formatting (17)
Professional Development	Professional Development Branding (16)
Professional Development	Professional Development Career (18)
Professional Development	Professional Development Career Planning (21)
Professional Development	Professional Development Certifications (64)
Professional Development	Professional Development Community (16)
Professional Development	Professional Development Interview Questions BI (18)
Professional Development	Professional Development Interview Questions DBA (23)
Professional Development	Professional Development Interview Questions Developer (9)
Professional Development	Professional Development Interviewing (40)
Professional Development	Professional Development Job Search (24)
Professional Development	Professional Development Management (14)
Professional Development	Professional Development Resume (13)
Professional Development	Professional Development Skills Development (18)
Python	Python (99)
Reporting Services Admin	Reporting Services Administration (21)
Reporting Services Admin	Reporting Services Best Practices (6)
Reporting Services Admin	Reporting Services Configuration (10)
Reporting Services Admin	Reporting Services Installation (10)
Reporting Services Admin	Reporting Services Migration (5)
Reporting Services Admin	Reporting Services Monitoring (5)
Reporting Services Admin	Reporting Services Network Load Balancing (4)
Reporting Services Admin	Reporting Services Performance (6)
Reporting Services Admin	Reporting Services Security (9)
Reporting Services Development	Reporting Services Analysis Services (4)
Reporting Services Development	Reporting Services Charts (25)
Reporting Services Development	Reporting Services Data Sources (10)
Reporting Services Development	Reporting Services Development (68)
Reporting Services Development	Reporting Services Dynamic Reports (11)
Reporting Services Development	Reporting Services Formatting (26)
Reporting Services Development	Reporting Services KPI (5)
Reporting Services Development	Reporting Services Overview (6)
Reporting Services Development	Reporting Services Parameters (15)
Reporting Services Development	Reporting Services Report Builder (9)
Security	Auditing and Compliance (48)
Security	Encryption (35)
Security	Security (201)
Security	SQL Injection (5)
Security	Surface Area Configuration Manager (4)
SharePoint	SharePoint (131)
SharePoint	SharePoint Administration (45)
SharePoint	SharePoint Configuration (27)
SharePoint	Sharepoint Design (46)
SharePoint	SharePoint Document Management (20)
SQL Coding	Change Data Capture (16)
SQL Coding	Common Table Expressions (5)
SQL Coding	Dynamic SQL (7)
SQL Coding	Error Handling (13)
SQL Coding	Stored Procedures (32)
SQL Coding	Transactions (10)
SQL Coding	Triggers (44)
SQL Coding	TSQL (355)
Tools	Azure Data Studio (18)
Tools	PowerShell (131)
Tools	SQL Operations Studio (11)
Tools	SQL Server Agent (96)
Tools	SQL Server Management Objects SMO (3)
Tools	SQL Server Management Studio (79)
Tools	SQL Server Management Studio Configuration (22)
Tools	SQL Server Management Studio Shortcuts (10)
Tools	Tools (35)
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Versions	Install and Uninstall (33)
Versions	Licensing (4)
Versions	SQL Server 2016 (96)
Versions	SQL Server 2017 (44)
Versions	SQL Server 2019 (20)
Versions	SQL Server 2022 (21)
Versions	Upgrades and Migrations (54)