Hi I have the following query for an Identity Management Tool: SELECT userobj.ID, NAME, summary FROM userobj WHERE userobj.NAME LIKE 'A%' AND userobj.ID IN ( SELECT ID FROM userattr WHERE ( attr1 IN ('#ID#TOP') OR attr1 IN ( SELECT ID FROM orgattr WHERE orgattr.attrname = 'CONTAINEDBYOBJECTGROUP' AND attrval IN ('#ID#TOP')) )) ORDER BY userobj.ID select table_name, num_rows, last_analyzed from dba_tables where table_name in ('USEROBJ', 'USERATTR', 'ORGATTR'); TABLE_NAME NUM_ROWS LAST_ANAL ------------------------------ ---------- --------- USERATTR 1851675 20-OCT-08 USEROBJ 64972 20-OCT-08 ORGATTR 2251 20-OCT-08 I am having difficulty understanding the query, for example the condition " attr1 IN ('#ID#TOP') " can it be taken out to the outer query and not used in the subquery? TIA Alex