Notebook security - password protecting your hard drive

As a mobile worker for a government agency, I am constantly aware of the vulnerability of my notebook. The portability that I value so highly also makes it an easy target for thieves in places such as airports, cafes, and even serviced apartments and shared offices. Not only is the actual device more vulnerable than a desktop PC, the data stored on the hard drive needs to be secured as well.

Convert dates to Salesforce format in T-SQL

When preparing csv files for import through the data loader, it is best practice to format the datetime values in the full yyyy-mm-ddThh.mm.ss.sssZ format required by Salesforce.com. This prevents any complications with Data Loader or other migration tools which may have different settings depending on the environment or installed software (for example, dates can be scrambled if your data loader has 'Use European Date Format' checked, but your client's data loader does not.

CONVERT float to nvarchar

Attempting to compare company numbers (e.g. ABN) stored as datatype float to text strings is complicated by the fact that the default display for float numbers over 6 digits is scientific notation. To work around this you need firstly to convert the float to a bigint, then convert to nvarchar.