kevabug, 
I think you mentioned your solution, or at least half of it.  "In Excel I can create an ODBC or OLEDB connection and extract information direct from the...

VD, that won't help speed things up, but it is certainly proper use of Try Catch logic.  Below is what we use in the CATCH portion: 
BEGIN CATCH

While I agree that what you are looking to implement as a solution isn't horrible, I would agree with Thom that getting the client to commit to a repeatable process...

As with most SQL Questions, it depends.  First, I would hope that a batch that updates millions of records is run off hours so that application users wouldn't be held...

Robert, 
I think your issue is with "min(content)".  I don't see content in your list of fields.  You may want to substitute an actual column name.

If your web server is on a different physical box than your report server you will need to install the fonts on the web server too.

I don't know if this will help but it helped me locate users logged in from multiple pc's.

selectdistinct

loginame,

hostname

from master..sysprocesses

whereloginame IN (

SELECTloginame

FROM(

selectdistinct

loginame,

hostname

from master..sysprocesses

where loginame not in ('sa')

and...

I think you will see a performance gain if you variablize this instead of doing it inline every time.
The way you have this set up it will run the...

Sam, 

What BCP outputs is XML.  It's the viewer that you're having issue with. 
I use NotePad++ and have added the XML Plugin. 
Once I open...

Assuming that you have hundreds or thousands of files and a manual comparison would be too time consuming I would create an SSIS Package using a For Each Container and...