Like I said before, values in a date column are stored as a number, not with any particular format.  The format you see when you select from the table in...

Then you must have some "dates" that can't be converted - something like "13/13/11", maybe?  Try using TRY_CONVERT to find out which are the offending values.

John

The value of a persisted column is calculated at select time, not at insert or update time - consider the code below and you'll see that.  That's why the persisted...

Try running a trace to capture queries that run for more than, say, five seconds.  That'll give you an idea of what's going on when the server is supposed to...

Are the log backup jobs actually clearing out the transaction logs when they run?  If not, use this query to find out why:
SELECT log_reuse_wait_desc
FROM sys.databases
WHERE...

When you run the package manually, it runs in the context of whatever user you're logged in as.  When you run it from a job, it runs in the context...

What is the data type of the Dates column in your new table?  If it's datetime (or similar), then dates are stored as dates, not strings.  That's how it should...

Thanks Carlo.  Good to know I'm not the only one who feels that way!  But the behaviour appears to be in the "observed" rather than "documented" category.  Perhaps Microsoft should...

Do you know whether that's documented anywhere?  It's not on the page you linked to.  To me, this behaviour is...

Thom is absolutely right.  Having your reporting requirement dictate your database structure is like the tail wagging the dog.  Keep your database in proper normal form, and handle the pretty...

Yes, of course.  I...

I think I'd leave most of those questions until after an offer is made - maybe ask to speak to a techie (not necessarily one of your interviewers) if you're...

Or if you have administrator (or sufficient) permission on the server, you can open the actual text files that the logs are stored in (errorlog, errorlog.1 etc).

John