>We will need to create reports based on start and end dates. We do not need any minutes and seconds. I am thinking to create an extra column for dates in char(8) in the format YYYYMMDD to store dates and create an index to make the reports go faster instead of having a datetime column.
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>Does anyone use the same idea?
>Any problems when using <>= for start and end dates?
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>Thanks

You don't need to create an extra column and index, use the same datetime column and and just convert the column to a char in the returned set for the desired format. You can use CONVERT() for this like so:

Select CONVERT(Char(8), myDateField, 112) From myTable Where myDateField = '2001-12-29'

And use an index on the datetime column for help in optimizing. For start and end dates use BETWEEN instead. Something like:

Select CONVERT(Char(8), myDateField, 112) From myTable Where myDateField BETWEEN '2001-12-29' AND '2001-12-31'

Hope this helps.