microsoft / microsoft/sql-server-samples
Suggestion: Add a Community Reference Project — Northwind Enterprise Data Platform (Kimball DWH/BI Implementation)
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
-
Azure DevOps (full source & CI/CD):
https://dev.azure.com/zinykov/Northwind%20EDP -
GitHub Mirror (public):
https://github.com/zinykov/NorthwindBI/tree/master
📌 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
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
- Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
- Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
- 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