2008
From his experiences working on several BI projects Scott Currie realized the need for businesses to have the ability to make more intelligent decisions based on the data that they have captured. So in 2008 Scott developed Business Intelligence Markup Language more popularly known as Biml. Up to this point there was no quick way to implement changes to your BI solution. By using Biml BI developers could now automate the repetitive and mundane tasks that consumed large amounts of their time.
2009
Varigence decided it was time to push Biml a little further. We implemented the ability to inject C# or VB.NET code nuggets directly into the Biml code. The main goal of these BimlScripts was to take the tedious repetitive tasks and automate them with reusable scripts.
<OleDbSource Name="Retrieve Data" ConnectionName="AdventureWorks">
<DirectInput>SELECT * FROM <#=table.Name#></DirectInput>
</OleDbSource>
2010
While Biml has stayed relatively the same since 2010 the application and its capabilities have become widely accepted in the business intelligence community. The Varigence team continues to search for new ways to implement Biml into different BI solutions as well as developing Mist, an IDE for business intelligence, allowing for agile BI development changes by maximizing the effectiveness of Biml and Bimlscripts.
2011
Varigence could see the need to get the capabilities of Biml out to the BI world so they made a strategic decision to allow users to use Biml in BIDS Helper. This gave people free access to Biml and take advantage of its generous feaure set. Biml continued to thrive but the users needed a resource to give them direction in the proper use of Biml.
2012
As if this wasn't enough Varigence also created an online community at BimlScript.com. BimlScript.com is a place where people, who are passionate about maximizing their BI solutions, can share tips and tricks for implementing Biml into other BI solutions.
2013
Besides releasing Biml for free, Varigence wanted to enlist the help of users and consulting companies to spread the word of how powerful Biml is and how Varigence tools can maximize Biml to its full potential. So in 2013, Varigence announced its Consulting and Community Partner Programs. Both programs focus on the individual or consulting company contributing content ot the Biml Community and in return receives subscriptions to Mist and receive news about upcoming versions and updates.
2014
It was exciting to see Biml spread around the world. While seeing how far Biml had reached, Varigence noticed a substantial interest coming from the Australia and New Zealand area. Based on that interest, Varigence decided to launch an office in Sydney, AU in order to better serve the growing partner and customer base in Oceania.
2015
Because of the popularity of Biml and the support it has received from the community, Varigence has been able to continue to develop Biml and Mist. This year Varigence released a new version of Biml for BIDS Helper as well as having released Mist 4.0, which is one of the largest releases to date for the software. We wanted to pack in as much value into this release with some incredible features that change the way people should approach their BI and data solutions and allow them to make better decisions with their data.
It has been quite exciting to see the rapid adoption of Biml spread across the globe. With your help we look forward to growing the community and finding new ways to apply Biml across many different platforms.
