Import batches of rows from Excel in parallel

Question

We receive an Excel file weekly currently containing about 250k rows. The file grows by about 300 rows each week.

In SSIS I've hooked up an Excel source to an OLE DB destination to import the file but it takes a long time.

I've looked at using the SQL Command to specify how to select part of the sheet but I can't see how to turn this in to a parallel operation.

Is it possible in SSIS to split the Excel file (by rows) and import it in parallel?

Answer 1

I would Export the Excel file to a Text file (e.g. tab-delimited) and load it into SSIS in that format. It will be much quicker and less subject to odd errors which sometimes come up when reading Excel files.

I would expect any attempt at parallel Excel imports to be slower than a single import - Excel is not a server.