I tend to write my own code for looping through databases.  That way I have more control of the process instead of relying on undocumented MS code.

My post isn't there.  Look at this for an idea:

DECLARE @TestTable TABLE (tableid INT IDENTITY(1,1), DateStr VARCHAR(30));
INSERT INTO @TestTable([DateStr]) VALUES ('13th March 2016');
SELECT...

You may also want to look at the other processing to determine if it needs to be rewritten to improve performance.  Taking ten minutes for what appears to be a...

What kind of constraint?  Also, with it all wrapped in a transaction it may still work.  Worth a test in a development environment.  If you don't test it, you never...

This is way it was suggested to go back to the source of the file and have them fix the dates, unfortunately you already shot that down saying it is...

Licensing is a pain.  Everyone has their own interpretation, even within Microsoft.  To get the "best" answer you should contact Microsoft or your software vendor.

Any answer given here...

Going out on a limb here, but based on your pseudo code, yes.  It is possible that there is no lock taken on table_a when the data is read and...

The OP is using SSMS as a reporting tool.  Just look at some of the other threads on the same topic.