Tips for Simplifying Crosstab Query Statements
Rob Gravelle takes a complex SQL statement and shows you several ways to re-write it that both simplifies and shortens it, while still yielding the same results.
TSQL Challenge 24 - Find discrepancies in the scheduled activities and actual activities performed by employees
This is a problem that I had seen in one of the forums many years back. This problem is related to a reporting requirement from the data stored by a 'poorly designed' system.
Finding the Correct Weekday Regardless of DateFirst
In this article, learn how to get the correct weekday regardless of the DateFirst setting on your server.
When Do You Deploy?
Finding downtime can be hard at times, but Steve Jones recently found a company that took it during the week. This Friday's poll asks when you can have downtime.
Why Use SSAS?
After a great presentation from Brian Knight at the NYC User Group, Robert Pearl summarizes some information about SSAS and when it makes sense to use this subsystem. And why you might want to attend that next user group meeting.
Code that Writes Code - A Good Idea or Not?
I’m a big fan of code that writes code – most of the time. For instance, whenever you use the “templates” feature in SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) or the Maintenance Wizard, you’re using code that writes other code. There’s even ...
Corruption Recovery Tips, Database Shrinkage Advice and More
Question: My backup strategy is a daily full backup at 1 a.m. and a log backup every hour. A DBCC CHECKDB also runs every day at 4 a.m. If I get to work at 8 a.m. and discover that the nighttime consistency checks found extensive corruption, how can I recover without losing a lot of data?
Job Quality
Through a circuitous route, I encountered a meaningful, thought-provoking quote lately: "... the best way to predict the future is to...
Quick Tip Of The Day
Over and over again we are told that the DMV’s only hold data since your last reboot. So, how do...
Blogs
Databases and AI Agents
By Arun Sirpal
As part of my wider work exploring Claude Code and AI-assisted database engineering, I...
Creating a Pulsing Conducting Baton - Part 1
By Bert Wagner
Train Wreck The last time I watched a high school band nearly fall apart mid-performance...
ISACA AI Material/Exam Prep Discount (May 18 – June 30, 2026)
By Brian Kelley
If you are considering any of the ISACA AI certs like the Advanced Artificial...
Forums
Why Your Index Isn't Being Used? - Reading Execution Plans to Find the Real Culprit
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Why Your Index Isn't Being...
Distance Metric Algorithms
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Distance Metric Algorithms
What Can AI Really Do?
Comments posted to this topic are about the item What Can AI Really Do?
Question of the Day
Distance Metric Algorithms
What are the distance metric algorithms that can be used in VECTOR_DISTANCE()?
See possible answers