Eric i see just a couple of things i'd change.
the IF UPDATE(Canc) is misleading...it doesn't test if the column changed...it tests if the column was referenced in the update;
some apps will send an update that references all columns, so you want to test for actual values.
second thing, the way you have it, if there were multiple rows in the update, and only one of the rows had cancelled in the group, all the rows being updated would get the cancelled date, even though the canc value was still zero/null on the other rows.
I would change it to this:
CREATE TRIGGER dbo.tri_Cancelled
ON Orders
FOR UPDATE
AS
--objective: set the cancel date to GETDATE if the CANC value <>0
BEGIN
UPDATE Orders
SET CancDate = GETDATE()
FROM INSERTED
WHERE Orders.OrderID = INSERTED.OrderID
AND INSERTED.Canc <> 0
--only change if Canc is changing in this transaction:
--we don't want to change the date if the value of Calc is the same, but other columns are vbeing changed.
AND Orders. Canc <> INSERTED.Canc
END
Lowell