Monthly change query with SQL Server 2012 I'm new to SQL and working on a monthly change calculation.  I want to calculate the change between this months balance and the previous months balance. 

This query is working for me but does not feel like the best syntax.  Do you think this is fine, or are there any suggestions?

SELECT
        ROW_NUMBER() OVER(ORDER BY (CONVERT(varchar, effectivedate, 102)) ASC) Rn,
        CONVERT(varchar, effectivedate, 102) effectivedate,
        SUM(EuroCurrentBalance/1000000) TotalArrears,
        SUM(CASE WHEN Multiplier &gt; 2 THEN EuroCurrentBalance/1000000 ELSE 0 END) NPLs,
        CASE WHEN ROW_NUMBER() OVER(ORDER BY (CONVERT(varchar, effectivedate, 102)) ASC) = 1 THEN 0 ELSE SUM(EuroCurrentBalance/1000000) - (LAG(SUM(EuroCurrentBalance/1000000),1,0) OVER (ORDER BY (CONVERT(varchar, effectivedate, 102)))) END MonthlyChange
    FROM
        DataWarehouse.dwa.FinanceMonthEndData
    GROUP BY
        CONVERT(varchar, effectivedate, 102)
    GO
The size of the horizontal scrollbar is the first smell. I'd start by breaking down the CASE WHEN's into multiple lines:

SELECT
    ROW_NUMBER() OVER(ORDER BY (CONVERT(varchar, effectivedate, 102)) ASC) Rn,
    CONVERT(varchar, effectivedate, 102) effectivedate,
    SUM(EuroCurrentBalance/1000000) TotalArrears,
    SUM(CASE WHEN Multiplier &gt; 2 THEN EuroCurrentBalance/1000000 
             ELSE 0 
        END) NPLs,
    CASE WHEN ROW_NUMBER() OVER(ORDER BY (CONVERT(varchar, effectivedate, 102)) ASC) = 1 THEN 0 
         ELSE SUM(EuroCurrentBalance/1000000) - (LAG(SUM(EuroCurrentBalance/1000000),1,0) OVER (ORDER BY (CONVERT(varchar, effectivedate, 102)))) 
    END MonthlyChange
FROM
    DataWarehouse.dwa.FinanceMonthEndData
GROUP BY
    effectivedate
GO


Note that you can group by effectivedate without doing the conversion again.



Then I'd look at the redundant pieces: EuroCurrentBalance/1000000 is repeated quite often, and CONVERT(varchar, effectivedate, 102) as well. Consider a subquery, or a CTE:

WITH PreSelectionCTE
AS
(
    SELECT 
        CONVERT(varchar, effectivedate, 102) EffectiveDate,
        EuroCurrentBalance/1000000 Arrear,
        CASE WHEN Multiplier &gt; 2 THEN EuroCurrentBalance/1000000
             ELSE 0
             END NPL
    FROM
        DataWarehouse.dwa.FinanceMonthEndData
)
SELECT
    ROW_NUMBER() OVER(ORDER BY EffectiveDate) Rn,
    SUM(Arrear) TotalArrears,
    SUM(NPL) NPLs,
    CASE WHEN ROW_NUMBER() OVER(ORDER BY (EffectiveDate)) = 1 THEN 0
         ELSE SUM(Arrear) - (LAG(Arrear,1,0) OVER(ORDER BY EffectiveDate))
         END MonthlyChange
FROM
    PreSelectionCTE
GROUP BY
    EffectiveDate

GO


This could probably be improved further, but at least it's much easier to read now! Note that ASC is implicit in an ORDER BY - I'd simply omit it, or specify it consistently: you have it explicit in 2 of your 3 ORDER BY's.