State Transportation Agency Speeds Access to Business Intelligence for Better Reporting

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Customer Solution Case Study

Overview “With SQL Server PowerPivot for Excel, our safety Country or Region: United States engineers can mine data in SQL Server 2008 R2 to help Industry: Government—Public works agencies prevent road accidents.”

Customer Profile John Simpson, Chief Technology Officer, Mississippi Department of Transportation The Mississippi Department of Transportation (MDOT) maintains and improves highway and other The Mississippi Department of Transportation (MDOT) is transportation infrastructure in the state. responsible for maintaining the state’s highways and other Based in Jackson, it has 3,000 employees. transportation infrastructure. The agency wanted to improve its Business Situation data management system so it could use external storage for MDOT wanted to upgrade its data management software to take advantage huge data files and enhance the maps it includes in its reports. of external storage while improving its MDOT capitalized on an opportunity to install a beta version of business intelligence capabilities. Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Enterprise to accomplish this goal. Solution With the new software, MDOT can now provide fast access to MDOT upgraded to Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Enterprise, which works with large files stored externally and easily generate reports featuring Microsoft Excel 2010 for business maps that take advantage of existing geospatial information. intelligence and Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 for collaboration. Furthermore, the new solution provides high availability and scalability and reduces the burden on the agency’s IT staff. Benefits Fast access to huge documents MDOT also plans to take advantage of PowerPivot technologies Enriched geospatial reporting in SQL Server 2008 R2 to help employees better analyze and Increased availability and scalability Reduced IT burden share business intelligence. Enhanced data analysis capabilities Situation money from the federal stimulus program The Mississippi Department of —the American Recovery and Transportation (MDOT) plans, maintains, Reinvestment Act of 2009—it’s very and improves the highway, rail, maritime, important for us to be transparent about public transportation, and aviation where and how funds are being spent on infrastructure in the state. Based in Jackson, road projects,” says Slay. “We had some it has 100 field offices, more than 3,000 internal tools, but it was difficult for our employees, and an annual budget of U.S. business analysts to show geospatial data $900 million. within a public report in a meaningful way.”

MDOT seeks to provide a safe intermodal MDOT wanted new data management transportation network that is planned, software that could store and quickly designed, constructed, and maintained in search large amounts of data while an effective, cost-efficient, and improving its capabilities to analyze environmentally sensitive manner. Effective business intelligence and report on IT services can make that mission easier to geospatial data. accomplish, and so the agency maintains a staff of 70 IT specialists in Jackson. Solution In January 2010, MDOT learned about In late 2009, MDOT was managing its data Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Enterprise, using Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Enterprise which includes powerful new data analysis data management software, and although and reporting features. The agency’s BI MDOT was pleased with it, the agency’s analysts were impressed, and MDOT needs were about to change. In decided to implement a beta version of the conjunction with the development of a new software. Meanwhile, it was also portal system to be powered by Microsoft implementing the new portal system, a SharePoint Server 2010, MDOT planned to content management and search solution move many large engineering documents based on SharePoint Server 2010 and into its database. “These documents are Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010. MDOT several hundred megabytes apiece in size, found that the software packages worked totaling two terabytes of data all together,” well together. says Ken Slay, Project Manager at MDOT. “We could see that storage was going to SQL Server 2008 R2 includes two new become an issue.” features that help organizations efficiently manage data. With the first feature, the MDOT was also interested in increasing its agency can move storage of binary large business intelligence (BI) capabilities. The objects (BLOBs) to external storage agency wanted to take advantage of the solutions; this feature is called Remote vast amounts of content it had in reports, BLOB Storage (RBS). RBS maintains the spreadsheets, documents, presentations, integrity and reliability of the externally and other types of communications. For stored data and makes it possible to do example, it was particularly interested in fast, full-text searches on that data. mapping functionality. “Certainly, with

25 The second feature, FILESTREAM, takes taxpayer money. When they can save advantage of RBS so that BLOB columns money or show value with the money they can be managed inside the database. This are spending, it’s a huge win for them. And gives the remote data the same that’s what most excited them about SQL manageability and security capabilities of Server 2008 R2.” the rest of the database, eliminating the need to manage files separately. MDOT began installing SQL Server 2008 R2 Enterprise in early February 2010 and plans Additionally, Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 to go live with the solution in late April. It Reporting Services introduces new features runs on HP ProLiant DL380 G6 server and enhancements that help users create computers. The agency intends to use reports and make those reports more Microsoft SQL Server PowerPivot for comprehensive. Among the new features is Microsoft Excel, an in-memory BI support for reports with visual geographic technology that employees can use to mapping. The new features also give MDOT analyze and combine data. With BI users the ability to add analytical data to PowerPivot for Excel, MDOT users can maps. create workbooks that assemble and relate hundreds of millions of rows of data from SQL Server 2008 R2 also works well with virtually any source. Furthermore, they can Microsoft System Center Data Protection do this work using the familiar Microsoft Manager 2010, a backup and recovery Excel 2010 spreadsheet software interface. solution that MDOT is currently implementing as its primary backup for all With a companion technology, Microsoft of its servers. SQL Server PowerPivot for Microsoft SharePoint, users will be able to display To implement SQL Server 2008 R2, MDOT those same workbooks using Excel Services worked with consultants from Microsoft in Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010. Thus, Services and with LifeCycle Solutions, a by using SQL Server 2008 R2 combined Microsoft Gold Certified Partner based in with the new portal and search solution, Jackson. “LifeCycle provided us with the MDOT hopes to empower all of its users to expertise and tools to make this not just a quickly search all of its data. completed project, but a successful one,” says Slay. “We’re deeply appreciative of Benefits LifeCycle, and we look forward to MDOT uses SQL Server 2008 R2 to provide continuing to work with its staff and with fast access to large documents stored the world-class technology from Microsoft.” externally and to generate reports featuring geospatial maps. With SQL Server 2008 R2, Daniel Root, Director of Software MDOT provides a highly available and Development at LifeCycle, who served as scalable solution, reduces the burden on its technical lead on the project, says that he IT staff, and enhances its users’ data was impressed with the attitude of MDOT analysis capabilities. employees. “I frequently hear people at MDOT talking about trying to save the Fast Access to Huge Documents

35 MDOT uses the RBS and FILESTREAM MDOT uses SQL Server 2008 R2 to provide features of SQL Server 2008 R2 to provide high availability and scalability for its users with fast access to large documents databases. “Because SQL Server 2008 R2 stored in a reliable, secure, cost-effective powers both public Internet content and external storage solution. “We have already the day-to-day business of thousands of heard anecdotal stories of MDOT employees, the service level we had to employees who have saved hours because provide on this project was as high as any they have much faster access to documents application in the organization. And that through SQL Server 2008 R2,” says Slay. includes our financial, construction “For example, one of our executives needed management, and engineering systems,” to quickly find specific information related says Slay. “We know that SQL Server 2008 to 24 stimulus projects. By entering a R2 provides that high availability.” simple phrase into FAST Search Server 2010 to search documents stored in SQL Server The solution is also scalable to meet future 2008 R2, in minutes he found the expansions in data storage. “If at any point information that previously would have we need to, we can add a third node to our taken him a couple of days of digging SQL Server 2008 R2 cluster to store through files.” additional data,” Slay says. “Using SQL Server 2008 R2, we have a scalable business Enriched Geospatial Reporting platform that not only meets the needs of MDOT uses the geospatial reporting the taxpayers of Mississippi today, but also capabilities of SQL Server 2008 R2 to easily provides us with the ability to grow to meet add analytical mapping information to future departmental requirements while reports. “With SQL Server 2008 R2 maximizing the value of the investment.” Reporting Services, our business analysts can now quickly draw up a report and drop Reduced IT Burden in a map that takes advantage of existing The solution also reduces time spent on geospatial information,” says Slay. “They several common IT tasks. For example, with can now produce publicly available reports RBS and FILESTREAM, IT staff can manage that highlight, for example, the exact road data more efficiently. With System Center that’s being repaved.” Data Protection Manager 2010, database administrators will save time by gaining MDOT can also retrieve data based on granular control over backups and restores. geospatial queries and can use other And reporting staff is already saving time capabilities of SQL Server 2008 R2 by using the expanded features of SQL Reporting Services to export reports in a Server 2008 R2 Reporting Services. variety of formats, including Excel 2010, PDF, or Microsoft Word 2010 documents. Enhanced Data Analysis Capabilities “Our reporting specialists are able to do MDOT employees will take advantage of more, faster,” says Slay. PowerPivot for Excel to do more self- service BI analysis. “Now users can easily Increased Availability and Scalability access traffic safety information and stimulus project spending data,” says Slay.

45 “In addition, the SQL Server 2008 R2 Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 architecture enforces data and access Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 delivers security, while the SQL Server PowerPivot higher scalability for mission-critical for Excel provides an intuitive interface in a environments, more efficient IT, and familiar tool.” expanded reporting and analytics through self-service business intelligence. “With SQL Server PowerPivot for Excel, our safety engineers can mine data in SQL For more information about Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 to help prevent road Server 2008 R2, go to: accidents,” says John Simpson, Chief www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/2008/en/us/ Technology Officer at MDOT. “They can see R2-editions.aspx whether certain road features, lighting, or incidents of impaired driving are causing accidents at specific locations and can design new safety strategies based on those insights. We expect to use SQL Server PowerPivot for Excel and SQL Server 2008 R2 to save lives.”