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Wednesday, May 13, 2015

When Writing an SQL Query, Performance Really Matters. “Dynamics GP Custom Report - Practical Case”


I have been working recently on a report to retrieve data through SQL script, the database I was dealing with is almost 50 GB and the number of daily transactions is huge. In such cases, performance really matters, it should be the main parameter to check through the QA phase. So I will initially provide the final presentation layer of the report then digs back in the SQL to see how calculations have been analyzed and considered.

The following case is a good example of how to minimize the execution duration from hours to only one second

Presentation Layer

Now, apparently, the design implies considering two primary characteristics which are:

  • Historical Report: There should be a date range determining the starting date and ending date of the reported data.
  • Cumulative: the report should provide running total column for both, the quantity balance and cost balance on a transaction-bases .

Technical Consideration

When writing the SQL query for this, there are plenty of ideas which could flash into your mind, such as; but not to limit:

  • Inner join
  • Sub query
  • Cursor

In this article, the comparison will be limited to both methods; sub query and cursor.

Sub query Method

DECLARE

    @ItemNumber NVARCHAR(MAX) ,

    @LocationCode NVARCHAR(MAX) ,

    @From_DateRange DATE ,

    @To_DateRange DATE

       

--SET @ItemNumber = ' '

--SET @LocationCode = '  '

--SET @From_DateRange = '  '

--SET @To_DateRange = '  '

 

SELECT  [Record index] ,

        [Document Type] ,

        [Item Number] ,

        [Document Date] ,

        [Document Number] ,

        [Location Code] ,

        [Unit of Measurement] ,

        [Quantity in Base] ,

        [Quantity Balance] ,

        [Unit Cost] ,

        [Extended Cost] ,

        [Cost Balance]

FROM    ( SELECT TOP 1

                    0 AS 'Record Index' ,

                    @ItemNumber AS 'Item Number' ,

                    @From_DateRange AS 'Document Date' ,

                    'Beginng Balance' AS 'Document Type' ,

                    '' AS 'Document Number' ,

                    @LocationCode AS 'Location Code' ,

                    '' AS 'Unit of Measurement' ,

                    0 AS 'Transaction Quantity' ,

                    ( SELECT    SUM(TRXQTYInBase)

                      FROM      dbo.SEE30303

                      WHERE     ITEMNMBR = @ItemNumber

                                AND LOCNCODE = @LocationCode

                                AND DOCDATE < @From_DateRange

                    ) AS 'Quantity in Base' ,

                    ( SELECT    SUM(TRXQTYInBase)

                      FROM      dbo.SEE30303

                      WHERE     ITEMNMBR = @ItemNumber

                                AND LOCNCODE = @LocationCode

                                AND DOCDATE < @From_DateRange

                    ) AS 'Quantity Balance' ,

                    0 AS 'Unit Cost' ,

                    ( SELECT    SUM(EXTDCOST)

                      FROM      dbo.SEE30303

                      WHERE     ITEMNMBR = @ItemNumber

                                AND LOCNCODE = @LocationCode

                                AND DOCDATE < @From_DateRange

                    ) AS 'Extended Cost' ,

                    ( SELECT    SUM(EXTDCOST)

                      FROM      dbo.SEE30303

                      WHERE     ITEMNMBR = @ItemNumber

                                AND LOCNCODE = @LocationCode

                                AND DOCDATE < @From_DateRange

                    ) AS 'Cost Balance'

          FROM      dbo.SEE30303

          UNION ALL

          SELECT    *

          FROM     

                ( SELECT  Record_Index ,

                    ITEMNMBR ,

                    DOCDATE ,

                    DOCUMENTType ,

                    DOCNUMBR ,

                    LOCNCODE ,

                    UOFM ,

                    TRXQTY ,

                    TRXQTYInBase ,

                     ( SELECT    SUM(TRXQTYInBase)

                           FROM     

                           (   SELECT   

                                  RANK() OVER

                                  ( ORDER BY DOCDATE,

                                         DOCNUMBR,

                                         DEX_ROW_ID

                                  ) AS Record_Index ,

                                  DOCDATE ,

                                  ITEMNMBR ,

                                  LOCNCODE ,

                                  TRXQTYInBase ,

                                  DOCNUMBR

                     FROM      dbo.SEE30303

                     WHERE    

                     ITEMNMBR = @ItemNumber

              AND LOCNCODE = @LocationCode

                           ) AS I

                           WHERE    

                           I.Record_Index <= X.RECORD_Index

                     ) AS 'Quantity Balance' ,

                     UNITCOST ,

                     EXTDCOST ,

                     ( SELECT    SUM(EXTDCOST)

                           FROM      ( SELECT   

                                                RANK() OVER

                                                ( ORDER BY DOCDATE,

                                                DOCNUMBR, DEX_ROW_ID )

                                                AS Record_Index ,

                                                DOCDATE ,

                                                ITEMNMBR ,

                                                LOCNCODE ,

                                                TRXQTYInBase ,

                                                DOCNUMBR ,

                                                EXTDCOST

                           FROM      dbo.SEE30303

                           WHERE    

                           ITEMNMBR = @ItemNumber

                     AND LOCNCODE = @LocationCode

                                         ) AS I

                           WHERE    

                           I.Record_Index <= X.RECORD_Index

                     ) AS 'Cost Balance'

       FROM      ( SELECT   

                           RANK() OVER

                           ( ORDER BY DOCDATE,

                           DOCNUMBR, DEX_ROW_ID )

                           AS Record_Index ,

                           ITEMNMBR ,

                           DOCDATE ,

                           CASE DOCTYPE

                                  WHEN 1 THEN 'Adjustment'

                                  WHEN 2 THEN 'Variance'

                                  WHEN 3 THEN 'Transfer'

                                  WHEN 4 THEN 'Purchase Receipt'

                                  WHEN 5 THEN 'Sales Return'

                                  WHEN 6 THEN 'Sales Invoice'

                                  WHEN 7 THEN 'Assembly'

                                  WHEN 8

                                  THEN 'POP Cost Adjustment'

                                  WHEN 11

                                  THEN 'IV Cost Adjustment'

                                  ELSE ''

                           END AS DOCUMENTType ,

                           DOCNUMBR ,

                           LOCNCODE ,

                           UOFM ,

                           TRXQTY ,

                           TRXQTYInBase ,

                           UNITCOST ,

                           EXTDCOST

              FROM      dbo.SEE30303 AS a

              WHERE     ITEMNMBR = @ItemNumber

                           AND LOCNCODE = @LocationCode

                     ) AS X

       ) AS Y

       WHERE     Y.DOCDATE BETWEEN @From_DateRange

                     AND     @To_DateRange

       ) AS RPT

 

 

When executing the query above, it was so clear that the performance is just too miserable for it to be deployed on a live environment with thousands of daily transactions. Here is the “Plan Diagram” as generated by SQL Sentry Plan Explorer (You may use the traditional SQL execution plan for this as well). Apparently, the same table is scanned too many times, it is quite consuming.

With each sub-query, SQL server rescans the table to get the running total for the specific transaction generated.

Plan Diagram

If we look at the “Top Operations” tab, we can see the table scan processing consuming up to 98 % of the overall process (15 % for each * 7 times)

Top Operations

Of course, there is no “balanced” DBA on earth who would even think of running this script on a live environment. Although, my curiosity pushed my sanity to give it a shot.

Database: Testdb ( back up from the live one  Winking smile
Database Size: above 50 GB
Table Size (SEE30303): 823,008

Number of Rows (SEE30303): 835160 rows

The selected parameters (Item, Location, Starting data and Ending Date) shall retrieve a data set of almost 7000 + rows.

After One hour and a half, I stopped the query from running since I got bored of waiting, and I still have around 4000 records. See below:

Un Satisfying Results

 

Cursor Method

For me, the case was quite tempting to roll up my sleeves and start the SQL journey to understand how I could end up with enhanced and better performance. For that, I picked the cursor method. Here is the code:

DECLARE @ResutlTable TABLE

    (

      [Date] DATETIME ,

      ITEMNumber NVARCHAR(MAX) ,

      LocationCode NVARCHAR(MAX) ,

      Quantity NUMERIC(38, 10) ,

      Quantitybalance NUMERIC(38, 10) ,

      Cost NUMERIC(38, 10) ,

      CostBalance NUMERIC(38, 10)

    )

 

DECLARE @From DATE ,

    @To DATE ,

    @Date DATETIME ,

    @ItemNumber NVARCHAR(MAX) ,

    @LocationCode NVARCHAR(MAX) ,

    @Quantity NUMERIC(38, 10) ,

    @Cost NUMERIC(38, 10) ,

    @QuantityBalance NUMERIC(38, 10) ,

    @CostBalance NUMERIC(38, 10)

      

      

      

SET @QuantityBalance = 0

  SET @CostBalance = 0

--SET @ItemNumber = ''

--SET @LocationCode = ''

--SET @From = ''

--SET @To =

 

 

DECLARE IV_CurSOR CURSOR LOCAL STATIC FORWARD_ONLY READ_ONLY

FOR

    SELECT  RANK() OVER

       ( ORDER BY DOCDATE,

         DOCNUMBR, DEX_ROW_ID )

         AS Record_Index ,

            ITEMNMBR ,

            LOCNCODE ,

            TRXQTYInBase ,

            EXTDCOST

    FROM    dbo.SEE30303

    WHERE   DOCDATE BETWEEN @FROM AND @To

            AND ITEMNMBR = @ItemNumber

            AND LOCNCODE = @LocationCode

    ORDER BY DOCDATE ,

            DOCNUMBR ,

            DEX_ROW_ID

 

OPEN IV_CurSOR;

 

FETCH NEXT FROM IV_CurSOR

       INTO @Date,

               @ItemNumber,

               @LocationCode,

               @Quantity,

    @Cost

 

WHILE @@FETCH_STATUS = 0

    BEGIN

 

        SET @QuantityBalance = @QuantityBalance + @Quantity

        SET @CostBalance = @CostBalance + @Cost

 

        INSERT  @ResutlTable

                ( [Date] ,

                  ITEMNumber ,

                  LocationCode ,

                  Quantity ,

                  Quantitybalance ,

                  Cost ,

                  CostBalance

                )

                SELECT  @Date ,

                        @ItemNumber ,

                        @LocationCode ,

                        @Quantity ,

                        @QuantityBalance ,

                        @Cost ,

                        @CostBalance;

 

        FETCH NEXT FROM IV_CurSOR

                     INTO @Date,

                            @ItemNumber,

                            @LocationCode,

                            @Quantity,

                            @Cost;

    END

 

CLOSE IV_CurSOR;

DEALLOCATE IV_CurSOR;

 

SELECT  *

FROM    @ResutlTable

 

 

Here is the plan diagram generated by the same tool above:

Cursor - Plan Diagram

Here it the top operations for the cursor:

Cursor Top Operations

The cursor took only one second to be executed, one the same database mentioned above with the same parameters. The SQL Server scans the table only one time, and as the cursor is fetching new parameters, local variables for the quantity balances and cost balances are updated accordingly.

See below, Now we are talking !

Cursor Result

The bottom line is, be quite aware when writing your SQL query, pay attention to the SQL Query analyzer, execution plan and other associated tools, because simply, performance really matters.

Related reports can be found on Dynamics GP Essentials - SQL Scripts Page
Codes for the reports above can be downloaded from here >> Download Link

Best Regards,
Mahmoud M. AlSaadi

3 comments:

  1. Msg 208, Level 16, State 1, Line 42
    Invalid object name 'dbo.SEE30303'.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello,
      That simply means that you have not deployed the HITB reset tool, which is why the SEE30303 table is not built yet.

      You need to deploy HITB reset tool, which is illustrated in another blog post:
      http://mahmoudsaadi.blogspot.com/2014/04/hitb-essentials-series-hitb-reset-tool.html


      Delete
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