Migrating On-Premise SQL Data Warehouse to Azure Data Warehouse

• Our client is a large retail company based in Florida, USA, with over 500 stores across the country.

• Known for their commitment to excellence, their branches promise a wide range of goods, from groceries and household items to books and toys.
  

• Our client uses an on-premise SQL Server data warehouse to store and analyze their sales, inventory, customer, and marketing data. Our client uses various BI tools, such as Power BI, Tableau, and Excel, to access and visualize the data warehouse.

• Our client decided to migrate their SQL Server data warehouse to Azure Data Warehouse as part of their digital transformation strategy. Our client wanted to benefit from the scalability, performance, and security of Azure Data Warehouse

• The SQL Server data warehouse was large and complex, with over 2000 tables, 1000 views, 500 stored procedures, and 10 TB of data.

• The SQL Server data warehouse had many dependencies and integrations with other systems, such as ERP, CRM, POS, and web services.

• The SQL Server data warehouse had many customizations and optimizations, such as partitioning, indexing, compression, and encryption.

• The SQL Server data warehouse had to be migrated in a short time frame with minimal downtime and impact on business users and processes.

• The SQL Server data warehouse had to be migrated with high data quality and accuracy to comply with regulatory and security standards.

Cloud Readiness Assessment: Conducted a comprehensive assessment of the on-premise data warehouse to evaluate its readiness for the cloud.

Identified dependencies, data interdependencies, and potential compatibility issues with Azure SQL Data Warehouse.

Data Preparation: The data sources were validated and cleansed, and the data warehouse schemas and objects were simplified and standardized using SQL Server Management Studio and Azure Data Studio. The data warehouse schemas and objects were deployed to Azure Data Warehouse, and the data was loaded using Azure Data Factory and Azure Blob Storage.

Report Development: The BI tools were configured and connected to Azure Data Warehouse, using Azure Active Directory and Azure Analysis Services. The reports and dashboards were modified and optimized to work with Azure Data Warehouse, using Power BI Desktop, Tableau Desktop, and Excel.

Report Deployment: The reports and dashboards were published and shared with the business users using Power BI Service, Tableau Server, and SharePoint. The security and access control were configured using Azure Active Directory and Azure Data Warehouse roles.

Improved Performance: The migration to Azure SQL Data Warehouse significantly improved query performance, allowing faster analytics and reporting.

Cost Savings: Our client experienced cost savings by eliminating the need for on-premise hardware upgrades and maintenance.

Global Accessibility: With Azure's global data centers, data became more accessible to users across different geographical locations, enhancing collaboration.

Minimal Downtime: The carefully planned migration process minimized downtime, ensuring that our client continued its business operations without significant disruptions.

Scalability: Azure SQL Data Warehouse's scalability allowed our client to adapt to changing data volumes and analytic requirements.