Question

We have this data set:

CREATE TABLE #Changes 
    (
    [GUID] varchar(250), 
    Value numeric(36,6), 
    DocumentNumber varchar(250), 
    Approved bit, 
    ApprovedDate varchar(250), 
    IssuedDate varchar(250), 
    Category varchar(250)
    );
INSERT INTO #Changes 
    (
    [GUID], 
    DocumentNumber, 
    Approved, 
    Value, 
    ApprovedDate, 
    IssuedDate, 
    Category
    ) 
 values
 ('4F7253A4E1B3D841B84D4A82B4F0E7A2', 11, 0, 18526.7, '', '2009-03-31T05:00:00Z', 'UNKNOWN'),
 ('D97537852E927B499C21C14F3D13CF06', 1, 0, 0, '', '2008-11-10T05:00:00Z', 'UNKNOWN'),
 ('857DADB463807345918729B33399B36F', 2, 0, 0, '', '2008-11-10T05:00:00Z', 'UNKNOWN'),
 ('7989D242E05AFF4FB5EE99114822BF80', 21, 0, 50112, '', '2009-07-22T05:00:00Z', 'UNKNOWN'),
 ('16A0AB27FD3A784D9E0A14406C7683E0', 3, 0, 0, '', '2009-01-15T05:00:00Z', 'UNKNOWN'),
 ('D3D7B1C306D38C438FC3DEDFCB57D411', 131, 0, 17204, '', '2010-12-14T05:00:00Z', 'UNKNOWN'),
 ('2C89D974DDF86743A0D7D62B385FBDEF', 147, 0, 0, '', '2010-12-01T05:00:00Z', 'UNKNOWN'),
 ('F371D4237C837D448824697EB0162905', 198, 0, 0, '', '2011-01-10T05:00:00Z', 'UNKNOWN'),
  ('433D64C871AE4E46A0E1BFCE2BB69BA7', 364, 0, 0, '', '2011-11-14T05:00:00Z', 'UNKNOWN'),
  ('808496DBDE76CB4F911396BB817724F3', 352, 0, 0, '', '2011-10-17T05:00:00Z', 'UNKNOWN'),
  ('9545DEF1666B5F4D8626F19F8E9E9333', 418, 0, 10948, '', '2012-03-07T22:19:18Z', 'UNKNOWN'),
  ('244D7D89B79E0F4E91100E4ADB300656', 439, 0, 50945, '', '2012-04-27T20:33:26Z', 'UNKNOWN'),
  ('115A427BBB1D2C43BA11D9E5875FAA2C', 465, 0, 480049, '', '2012-07-20T16:17:54Z', 'UNKNOWN'),
  ('3A2271EFCC767E4CA40017E68802F10C', 478, 0, 54298, '', '2012-08-01T17:26:38Z', 'UNKNOWN'),
  ('99D0EFC5A9F1AA498DB1A4CDF294129B', 490, 0, 11500, '', '2012-09-18T14:23:13Z', 'ALTER'),
  ('38B2E3A379C5084998E6A84D496AC555', 491, 0, 26088, '', '2012-09-25T06:00:00Z', 'ALTER'),
  ('8902831C8FAD4941841EE2847656BDAF', 494, 0, -825, '', '2012-10-16T14:20:06Z', 'ALTER'),
  ('7AFDB08A002AE54A8DE7699855AEBE30', 495, 0, 221, '', '2012-10-16T14:21:27Z', 'ALTER'),
  ('38A2CCEF5F0B294AA8B8752F461D121D', 496, 0, 0, '', '2012-12-24T01:11:15Z', 'ALTER'),
  ('24CCD5CE409E674593108CBD816DBCCE', 486, 1, -825, '2012-10-01T21:42:52Z', '2012-09-17T20:42:12Z', 'ALTER'),
  ('C7458704E36C8F448C1F3A485EB08304', 485, 1, 10000, '2012-10-01T21:25:56Z', '2012-09-11T21:29:44Z', 'ALTER'),
  ('B511953AE6FB6446A63AA83C159057BE', 487, 1, 82170, '2012-10-01T21:42:51Z', '2012-09-17T20:46:41Z', 'ALTER'),
  ('EC977BC304A971439D04BB9DF4D8188A',488, 1, 15500, '2012-10-01T20:58:15Z', '2012-09-18T06:00:00Z', 'ALTER'),
  ('D9B1F0C0A8E490448697B783639E09E0', 489, 1, 11503, '2012-10-01T21:42:50Z', '2012-09-18T13:56:18Z', 'ALTER'),
  ('698BB6D65832D146A49727C717A591A1', 492, 1, 2787, '2012-10-01T21:10:06Z', '2012-09-25T15:55:02Z', 'ALTER'),
  ('155D4F2B1854B34FABCDE8CF20F1E44C', 493, 1, 12162, '2012-10-01T21:10:06Z', '2012-09-25T16:04:40Z', 'ALTER'),
  ('137C9BF2B1EFD34B8831ADA70C5F9431', 1, 1, 369543, '2011-12-08T13:41:04Z', '1899-12-30T05:00:00Z', 'DRAW'),
  ('7F29FC7114BD10468AE92A047345B5DB', 2, 1, 7258, '2011-12-08T13:41:04Z', '2011-10-20T05:00:00Z', 'DRAW'),
  ('6B66D8EAD88E6E4FA29401CD524B978A', 3, 1, 979321, '2011-12-08T13:41:04Z', '2011-11-08T05:00:00Z', 'DRAW'),
  ('7F393B712B213041A6DD211E04F6DCA6', 4, 1, 14998, '2012-04-20T15:16:21Z', '2012-04-18T21:07:07Z', 'DRAW'),
  ('2255F84E7C7DA04389765724872D6413', 5, 1, 58926, '2012-04-20T15:16:23Z', '2012-04-18T21:13:15Z', 'DRAW'),
  ('DB4A5588DEB9F34C868F7AD1CB13ACC3', 6, 1, 13232, '2012-04-20T15:16:05Z', '2012-04-18T21:17:00Z', 'DRAW'),
  ('B5231AE40F8E7D41BA0A4D09614CBDF9', 7, 1, 10176, '2012-04-20T15:16:25Z', '2012-04-18T21:19:41Z', 'DRAW'),
  ('2362D54FCC53E447AC7D8289EA89FD05', 8, 1, 17556, '2012-04-20T15:16:04Z', '2012-04-18T21:21:20Z', 'DRAW'),
  ('6ED4565CA041704B8D006EDA4A1E4CF9', 9, 1, 399639, '2012-05-30T16:32:43Z', '2012-05-17T06:00:00Z', 'DRAW'),
  ('B21BE07E3E42C2418C70AD17862D3AE1', 10, 1, 6231, '2012-08-16T16:55:00Z', '2012-08-02T16:02:03Z', 'DRAW'),
  ('8FD252A50137754A98698F93AC9B01A7', 11, 1, 629, '2012-08-16T16:54:58Z', '2012-08-02T16:07:57Z', 'DRAW'),
  ('1B9AFD2C20362F48A486E8A535B29AF5', 20, 1, -113810, '2011-12-13T17:15:53Z', '2010-02-10T05:00:00Z', 'UNKNOWN');

Here’s the query:

SELECT 
    a.[GUID], 
    [positive_previous_total] = SUM(CASE WHEN b.Value>0 THEN b.Value ELSE 0 END), 
    [negative_previous_total] = SUM(CASE WHEN b.Value<0 THEN b.Value ELSE 0 END) 
FROM 
    #Changes a 
    LEFT OUTER JOIN #Changes b 
        ON 
        b.[GUID]    <> a.[GUID] AND
        b.Approved  = a.Approved AND
        b.Category  = a.Category 
        AND 
        (
        ISNULL(SUBSTRING(CASE WHEN b.Approved=1 THEN b.ApprovedDate ELSE b.IssuedDate END, 1, 10), '0000-00-00') 
          < ISNULL(SUBSTRING(CASE WHEN a.Approved=1 THEN a.ApprovedDate ELSE a.IssuedDate END, 1, 10), '0000-00-00')
        OR 
            (
            ISNULL(SUBSTRING(CASE WHEN b.Approved=1 THEN b.ApprovedDate ELSE b.IssuedDate END, 1, 10), '0000-00-00')
              =ISNULL(SUBSTRING(CASE WHEN a.Approved=1 THEN a.ApprovedDate ELSE a.IssuedDate END, 1, 10), '0000-00-00') 
            AND 
            b.DocumentNumber<a.DocumentNumber
            )
        ) 
GROUP BY a.[GUID]

It’s quick on this number of records but when expanded to 700 recods it takes a couple of seconds which we’d like to bring down to 0.5s.

HERE IS A LIVE EXAMPLE OF THE SCHEMA AND SCRIPT ON SQL FIDDLE

Answer 1

Personally, I would make use of Computed Columns to remove the complexity in the query.

For example: you table definition could become (noting that I have corrected the data types here also):

CREATE TABLE #Changes 
(
    [GUID] varchar(250), 
    Value numeric(36,6), 
    DocumentNumber varchar(250), 
    Approved numeric(36,6), -- Is there any reason this is not a BIT field?
    ApprovedDate datetime,
    ApprovedDate_NoTime AS (CASE WHEN ApprovedDate IS NULL THEN CONVERT(DATETIME, '0000-00-00') ELSE DATEADD(DAY, DATEDIFF(DAY, 0, ApprovedDate), 0) END) PERSISTED
    IssuedDate datetime, 
    IssuedDate_NoTime AS (CASE WHEN IssuedDate IS NULL THEN CONVERT(DATETIME, '0000-00-00') ELSE DATEADD(DAY, DATEDIFF(DAY, 0, IssuedDate), 0) END) PERSISTED
    ApprovedOrIssuedDate AS (CASE WHEN Approved = 1 THEN ApprovedDate_NoTime ELSE IssuedDate_NoTime) PERSISTED,
    Category varchar(250)
);

Then you can re-write your query to be:

SELECT 
    a.[GUID], 
    [positive_previous_total] = SUM(CASE WHEN b.Value>0 THEN b.Value ELSE 0 END), 
    [negative_previous_total] = SUM(CASE WHEN b.Value<0 THEN b.Value ELSE 0 END) 
FROM 
    #Changes a 
    LEFT OUTER JOIN #Changes b 
        ON 
        b.[GUID]    <> a.[GUID] AND
        b.Approved  = a.Approved AND
        b.Category  = a.Category 
        AND 
        (
            b.ApprovedOrIssuedDate < a.ApprovedOrIssuedDate
            OR 
            (
                b.ApprovedOrIssuedDate = a.ApprovedOrIssuedDate
                AND 
                b.DocumentNumber < a.DocumentNumber
            )
        ) 
GROUP BY a.[GUID]

Is there any reason why Approved is not a bit field? I have changed the data types to datetime and provided you with a column to zero out the time portion of date. Also, not tested, but you get the idea.

I would also read this and this (Assuming you want to ignore time portion of datetime in the comparisons)