Thanks, Ken

Someone else suggests a much simpler way:

change

case when charindex('(', asset.asset_name) > 0 then

left(asset.asset_name, charindex('(', asset.asset_name) - 1)

else

asset.asset_name

end

asset_name,

to

CAST(CASE WHEN charindex('(', asset.asset_name) > 0 THEN

LEFT (asset.asset_name, charindex('(', asset.asset_name) - 1)

ELSE asset.asset_name

END AS VARCHAR(1000)) AS asset_name,