Q & A: Where is the Business Intelligence Development Studio (BIDS) in SQL Server 2014?

Q: I just installed SQL Server 2014 and I need to work on some of my Integration Services packages but I don’t see the Business Intelligence Development Studio (BIDS). How do I modify my SSIS packages, Reporting Services and Analysis Services projects?

A: Microsoft no longer provides BIDS with SQL Server 2014. Instead you need to download the SQL Server Data Tools – Business Intelligence for Visual Studio 2013 (SSDT-BI) to get the functionality that was formerly in BIDS. SSDT-BI can be found at the Microsoft Download Center. The download is called SSDTBI_ x86_ENU.exe for the English language version. Running it launches a pared down version of the SQL Server setup program that you can see in Figure 1. This version of the setup program only offers the SQL Server Data Tools – Business Intelligence for Visual Studio and the SQL Client Connectivity SDK features.

Figure 1 - Installing SQL Server Data Tools -- Business Intelligence for Visual Studio 2013

After installing SSDT-BI you can open it using the SQL Server Data Tools for Visual Studio 2013 option. When you open a new project you can then use the SQL Server BI templates that were formerly part of BIDS. You can see the SQL Server BI templates in the Visual Studio 2013 shell in Figure 2.

Figure 2 -- Running SQL Server Data Tools -- Business Intelligence for Visual Studio 2013

Hopefully, the next release of SQL Server will make this process easier and more straightforward by including these necessary tools as a part of the SQL Server installation program itself.