I am not a database expert so I hope this makes sense.

We run a website with a CMS based on MS-SQL.

Everything generally works like clockwork but there are some cursors our developer has created that our director runs sometimes. They are so intensive it can render the site useless for quite a few seconds.

These reports have soft deadlines i.e. they take 10 seconds but it wouldn't matter it they took 5 minutes. Our general pages have a much harder deadline in that if a page takes to long to load we'll probably lose the customer.

Is it possible to place a delay in a cursor to reduce their detrimental effect on the server?

Thanks - Chris