The couple of replies focused on using an IDENTITY field, which i can't do since the counter value is different per Org/Type. So is the solution I present above...

I do not have a trigger that updates the counter. I can add one if I decide that it's definitely the best option. I generally only use triggers...

Sorry Bruce, for clarification, the tables in my 2 statements are actually the same table. I updated my original post.

Stobbs for president! Thanks 🙂

yes, the output runs fine directly.

Incorrect syntax near the keyword 'SELECT'.

I got it to work using:

SET @strExec = N'exec @ValueOUT=@CustomFunctionName @InPtHt, @InHtUnits'

SET @params = N'@CustomFunctionName nvarchar(200),@InPtHt dec(9,3),@InHtUnits varchar(10), @ValueOUT dec(9,3) OUTPUT'

EXEC sp_executesql @strExec,

@params,...

Yes, great idea- I'll try that too, thanks!

All great suggestions, thanks. I ended up using Windiff and it worked fine.

Agreed. Unfortunately I am unable to make changes to the db design, and the whole app/db is slated to be re-written in 08 so the problems will be going...

No, it doesn't look like it.

Hosp_id is a varchar(20) and typically has 4 char values in it (ie '0528'). Ugh, i know.

Maybe it's not going to get much better than 15 minutes, or at...

Possibly, but the table has 17 million records. Might the dropping and recreating of indexes and constraints take long enough to defeat the purpose of trying to speed up a...

Which table do you mean when you "inserted table"? The table I'm inserting into, or inserting from?

The tables i'm inserting into and from are identical in schema. Both...

I don't see implicit transaction in the properties, how do I check it?