...His and hers monogrammed backscratchers for me and Mrs. M to celebrate the 7-year itch celebration?

....where cast(year1 as char(4))+right('00'+cast(periodid as varchar(2)),2)<='200703')

OR

...Where (year1<2007 OR (year1=2007 AND periodid<=3))

Second version:  should do better on large sets, as long as you don't have incredibly long "unbroken streaks".  Same remark re: indexes.

this one is iterative in nature, doing n update...

This should be a functional one.  Not a well performing one on large set (because of the nested subquery).  But it does get you out of the recursive business. 

It...

..or why they can't deal with a "standard format" file + something like the output from a sp_help <table>.

Maybe I'm biased, but every time I hear "fixed width file" I...

Okay - I give .  I'm not understanding how you're counting, because your sample numbers aren't making sense relating to your sample data.

Caffeine will...

you're on the right track - here's a rough checklist:

• set up the global variable to store the filename (the Access DB name).
• set up a "static" database connection to one that...

As in:

select p.KPAIDS_NO, [TotalCurrentDelivery]

, Year_Of_DeliveryCount

from

Patient_Demographics p

left outer join

(