Business Intelligence Development tools

SSIS Designer is a graphical tool for creating packages that includes separate tabbed design surfaces for building the control flow, data flow, and event handlers in packages.

Control Flow tab. On the Control Flow tab, you arrange and configure the tasks, including the Data Flow task, that provide functionality in packages, the containers that provide structure in packages and services to tasks, and the precedence constraints that connect containers and tasks into a control flow. The shortcut menu available on the Control Flow design surface lets you add text annotations, set breakpoints for debugging, and zoom out or zoom in on the layout of the package. The shortcut menu available on individual tasks lets you execute the task by itself, without running the whole package. For more information, see and .

Data Flow tab. On the Data Flow tab, you combine into a data flow sources that extract data, transformations that modify and aggregate data, destinations that load data, and paths that connect the outputs and inputs of data flow components. The shortcut menu available on the Data Flow design surface also lets you add text annotations. The shortcut menu available on the paths that join data flow components lets you configure Data Viewers to watch data as it passes through the data flow. For more information, see and .

Event Handlers tab. On the Event Handlers tab, you configure workflows to respond to package events. For example, you can create an event handler that sends an e-mail message when a task fails. For more information, see and .

Package Explorer tab. The Package Explorer tab provides a convenient explorer view of the package, with the package as a container at the top of the hierarchy, and underneath it, the connections, executables, event handlers, log providers, precedence constraints, and variables that you have configured in the package. For more information, see and .

Progress tab. The Progress tab displays information about package execution when you run a package in Business Intelligence Development Studio. For more information, see .

Connection Managers area. Integration Services uses connection managers to encapsulate connections to a data source. These connection managers are shared within the package by control flow components, data flow components, and log providers, and are displayed in a special area of the designer at the bottom of the Control Flow, Data Flow, and Event Handlers tabs. For more information, see and .

The designer also provides access to the dialog boxes, windows, and wizards that you use to add functionality and advanced features to packages and to troubleshoot packages. For more information, see .