I have been using the KingswaySoft tool for automating ETL data flows for many years and decided to write an article about this tool. KingswaySoft brings a low-code revolution to data integration through SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS). Don’t worry, it’s not a startup, it’s a vendor that has been in the market for many years, providing good support and regular updates. So, what’s it all about?
How KingswaySoft saves time and money in ETL Integrations
It is an add-on to an application where we create SSIS packages (Visual Studio) for ETL processes (data extractions). If you don’t have this add-on, Integration Services itself contains a set of tools for data integration. Previously, I covered an article showing the SSIS tools (components) we can work with in the basic version. The principle is that without the need for programming, we can migrate data from point A (e.g., Excel) to point B (SQL database). However, the challenge is that in the basic version, we only have basic connectors.
KingswaySoft comes with a rich arsenal of components for SSIS. Thanks to the low-code approach, you can intuitively define extractions, transformations, and data loading, significantly speeding up development and saving time. There are numerous source systems, transformations, and security methods to choose from, including oauth2 and many others.
Another advantage of KingswaySoft is that, for connecting to a service, we don’t need to use various tools, programming languages, and services. This avoids additional administrative costs (keeping things organized) and often significantly expands the technological portfolio needed to manage the entire solution. This becomes a problem personnel-wise at a certain point (you need a lot of people to manage it).
The more we use ETL tools for data integrations, the more challenging it is to understand the entire ETL solution. Representativeness decreases, chaos arises in the repository, costs for reengineering (error tracking, fixes) grow, no one knows where everything is, and the data warehouse is dying a slow death. With KingswaySoft, we can keep most of the ETL logic in SSIS packages, upload to the catalog through the project deployment model, keep metadata in the database, and build an orchestration engine on one or a few platforms.
Basic KingwaySoft Products
KingswaySoft is offered in installable packages. The developer license is free (you can test it), but if you want to deploy and run packages in a production environment, you need a license.
I most often use the Toolkit for Dynamics 365 for data integration from CRM and Business Central 365 (accounting system), and the Productivity Pack, which includes tons of connectors to various systems. This allows me to spend most of my time on business logic and reporting, saving a lot of time on data integrations.
KingswaySoft Product Division
(Tip – tested) SSIS Integration Toolkit for Microsoft Dynamics 365
- Specialized toolkit for seamless data integration between SQL Server and Microsoft Dynamics 365
- Easy configuration and access to key entities in Dynamics 365
(Tip – tested) Productivity Pack
- Expands SSIS capabilities with additional components and functionality to increase productivity
- Includes components for working with Excel, data manipulation, and other advanced tools
SSIS Integration Toolkit for Salesforce
- Enables fast data integration between SQL Server and the Salesforce platform
- Intuitive field mapping and support for Salesforce bulk operations
SSIS Integration Toolkit for Microsoft Azure
- Provides tools for efficient connection of SQL Server with various Azure services
- Support for Azure Storage, Azure Data Factory, and Azure SQL Data Warehouse
And many others, such as SharePoint, NetSuite, MS Directory services.
Demo, Installation, and Prices
It works like this: on the website, choose a product, download the installation file, and simply install it on the server where your SQL Server is running. Then run the license manager and enter the code you receive after purchasing a subscription. You can choose a specific package you need or directly purchase the Ultimate edition and get everything at once.
This is what the data flow component looks like after installing the KingswaySoft Productivity Pack – on the left side panel, we have about 100 new options to connect to.
Options for low-code connection to data sources or destinations (source/destination):
- Azure – Blob storage, data lake, files, functions, queue, service
- Google – ads, alloy, Bigquery, cloud, drive, sheets
- Amazon – Dynamo, Redshift, S3, SQS
- Bing ads
- Cassandra
- CDM
- CosmosDB
- Couchbase
- EDI
- HDFS
- HTML
- IBM
- JSON
- XML
- Kafka
- PostgreSQL
- Excel
- Flat file
- RabbitMQ
- Redis
- REST api
- Snowflake
- Tableau
- Webservice
- And many more
The price of the Ultimate edition is, in my opinion, reasonable – approximately 1895 USD for a single server. Too much? Not at all. It can easily save hundreds/thousands of hours annually for a programmer’s work, plus it has the advantages mentioned above. If you have a smaller DWH environment and are only interested in, for example, Dynamics 365 integration, the price will be lower (you can buy a package for 365).
