SSIS Control Flow vs Data Flow

Data flow - are for just moving data from one source to another.

Control flow - provide the logic for when data flow components are run and how they are run. Also control flow can: perform looping, call stored procedures, move files, manage error handling, check a condition and call different tasks (incl data flows) depending on the result, process a cube, trigger another process, etc.

If you're moving data from one location to another and it's the same each time, not based on any other condition, then you can get away with a package with just a dataflow task, but in most cases packages are more complex than that.

A data flow defines a flow of data from a source to a destination. You do not start on one data flow task and move to the next. Data flows between your selected entities (sources, transformations, destinations).

Moreover within a data flow task, you cannot perform tasks such as iteration, component execution, etc.

A control flow defines a workflow of tasks to be executed, often a particular order (assuming your included precedence constraints). The looping example is a good example of a control-flow requirement, but you can also execute standalone SQL Scripts, call into COM interfaces, execute .NET components, or send an email. The control flow task itself may not actually have anything whatsoever to do with a database or a file.

A control flow task is doing nothing in itself TO the data. It is executing some that itself may (or may not) act upon data somewhere. The data flow task IS doing something with data. It defines its movement and transformation.

It should be obvious when to execute control flow logic and data flow logic, as it will be the only way to do it. In your example, you cite the foreach container, and state that you could connect to the spreadsheet in the data flow. Sure, for one spreadsheet, but how would you do it for multiple ones in a folder? In the data flow logic, you simply can't!

Hope this helps.