microsoft / microsoft/sql-server-samples

Suggestion: Add a Community Reference Project — Northwind Enterprise Data Platform (Kimball DWH/BI Implementation)

Open
#1,470 0 comments 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

Nobody has claimed this yet.

Dominant language
PowerShell
Stars
11.2k
Forks
9.1k
Avg merge
2d 7h
Merged PRs (30d)
14

Description

Hello Microsoft SQL Server Team,

I would like to share a community-driven reference project that may be valuable for developers, data engineers, BI professionals, and architects working with SQL Server and classical Kimball-style Data Warehouse design.


📌 Project: Northwind Enterprise Data Platform (EDP)

A full end‑to‑end DWH/BI implementation built entirely on the Microsoft SQL Server ecosystem.
The solution demonstrates a complete architectural lifecycle and covers all layers of a traditional Microsoft-based analytical platform:

Architecture & Modeling
  • Kimball Bus Matrix with conformed dimensions
  • SCD1/SCD2 implementation
  • Fact/dimension modeling with proper grain definitions
  • Back Room → Front Room separation
ETL & Data Processing
  • Modular SSIS pipelines
  • Delta detection using SHA2_512
  • Partition switching & sliding window maintenance
  • Full audit (JSON hybrid model) and lineage tracking
Data Quality & Master Data
  • Integration with SQL Server Data Quality Services (DQS)
  • Integration with Master Data Services (MDS)
  • Extended validation and error handling framework
Semantic Layer & Reporting
  • Power BI Report Server
  • Planned migration path to SSAS Tabular
  • Centralized DAX-based business logic
DevOps, Testing & Operations
  • CI/CD pipelines in Azure DevOps
  • Automated functional ETL test suite (MSTest)
  • Operational runbooks and maintenance plans
  • Performance baseline & monitoring reports

Even though some components (MDS/DQS) are deprecated in SQL Server 2025, the project remains a useful architectural and educational reference for classical on‑premise DWH implementations.


🔗 Public Repositories


📌 Why this may be relevant for SQL Server Samples

This project:

  • Demonstrates a real-world, production-grade Kimball DWH implementation on SQL Server
  • Can help developers and data engineers learn fact/dimension modeling, SCD logic, staging design, and partitioning strategies
  • Shows how to orchestrate ETL, DQS/MDS workflows, and auditing in a cohesive solution
  • Includes automated test coverage and DevOps patterns rarely seen in educational samples
  • Modernizes the classic Northwind scenario into a complete BI platform

If you find this valuable, feel free to reference it in the SQL Server Samples as an advanced community example.

Thank you for your time and for maintaining this repository!

Best regards,
Denis Zinukov

Contributor guide

No contributing guide indexed for this repository

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Review the linked GitHub mirror and Azure DevOps Northwind EDP project, then inspect this repository for its existing sample or community-reference documentation. Confirm whether the project fits the repository's scope and determine where a reference would belong; done means an approved, accurate reference is added or the proposal is declined with a clear rationale.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
azure, sql
Domain
data-engineering, documentation
Issue type
Documentation
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

Get new issues in your inbox

A short digest of beginner-friendly GitHub issues.