DATETRUNC

Instead of using clunky workarounds like combining MONTH() and YEAR() to check if two dates are in the same month, the article shows how DATETRUNC can do that cleanly. It also gives insight into better ways of joining or relating tables with different levels of time granularity – like matching transactional data to quarterly goals through date truncation. If you’ve ever wrestled with messy date fields, Dan Chissick’s piece will give you something concrete and immediately usable.