>>>Thanks to all..............Rich
>>

>>select p1.* from prn_Status p1
>>where PrintTime = (select max(PrintTime) from prn_Status p where p.dept = p1.dept)

>
>Thanks Naomi. I appreciate the help.
>
>It turns out that it's MUCH faster to split it into two queries so I'm going to keep the original code.
>
>Again, thanks
>
>.......Rich

Yes, usually the INNER JOIN approach is faster than subquery. There are some other variations of the same theme you can use (say, not exists subquery).