>We took a similar approach (Temp Table used in a join) for a large nightly update. Our original approach was row-by-row because we thought there would be fewer contention issues. We did not understand, at that time how powerful SQL Server is using a set based approach. Our job went from hours to minutes to complete with no contention issues. For other ideas, google "RBAR SQL"

Thanks, how did you negotiate with unique updates syntax, as far as variations in the fields to update, in a batch approach?