Why does it sometimes take so long for a package to start executing in Business Intelligence Development Studio?

If you use the Start Debugging button on the toolbar (the green arrow), or press F5, BIDS will run a validation process to make sure connections in the package are valid and will check the metadata in external data sources match the package definitions. However, this validation process runs not only on the current package, but on all packages that exist in the same project. If your package contains an Execute Package task, you should continue to use the Start Debugging command to make sure dependent packages are validated before executing the current package. However, if you right-click the package in Solution Explorer and select Execute Package, BIDS validates only the current project and starts the execution much sooner.

Tip by Stacia Misner, a consultant and author specializing in business intelligence solutions since 1999, providing consulting and training services through Data Inspirations, and writing about BI at blog.datainspirations.com.