My name is Rhys Jones and through my company I provide Microsoft SQL Server architecture, design and development services. This website is my repository for scripts, links and other information that I have used during the course of my work. See the Site Map page for a full overview of what is here.

As a SQL Server consultant my goals are to achieve simplicity and quality. Simplicity requires thorough requirements analysis and a good client relationship coupled with broad knowledge and experience of the technological options available and their place within the wider IT infrastructure. Simplicity isn't usually exciting, or cutting edge, but it delivers manageability; stability, reliability and maintainability. Quality comes out of experience and practice and is achieved through peer-review, independent testing and documentation.

Good SQL Server solution design includes functional requirements gathering, technical requirements analysis, data analysis and modelling. Then there are operational considerations such as disaster recovery plans, service level agreements, security, audit and perhaps other legislative issues.

SQL Server is a powerful product that can feature as a key component in a great solution, but used the wrong way it can just as easily become the bottleneck in a poor solution. Careful planning and technical awareness of SQL Server's strengths and weaknesses will lead to a good idea becoming a great implementation.

SQL Server development work consists of considerably more than creating schemas and writing T/SQL code. Around this there has to be reliable source control, organised testing requires a managed release cycle and documentation needs to be created in synch with solution development.

Through the versions of SQL Server from 6.5 to 7 to 2000 to 2005, and now going on to 2008, the T/SQL language and SQL Server product have progressed to become a rich and flexible development environment. However, T/SQL is closer to a functional language than the more common procedural languages and a particular mentality is required to reach a truly productive fluency. Great code, aside from being efficient, isn't fancy or clever, it is clean, clear, consistent, readable and maintainable.