◆ Microsoft SQL Server

List users and permissions in SQL Server

This is real work, not a feature someone invented — it comes from real job ads and real questions people asked. Below are four ready AI prompts: get it done, make it easy for the next person to say yes to, work out the right move when you are stuck, and stop it coming back.

4prompts
See the prompt↓All Microsoft SQL Server tasks

The same task, four prompts

today's deadline · the next reviewer · the stuck moment · the pattern
AExecute — do the immediate taskList all users and their assigned permissions for the 'SalesData' database, including any…+
List all users and their assigned permissions for the 'SalesData' database, including any inherited roles, and export it to a CSV file named 'SalesData_Permissions_2024-07-26.csv' on the shared drive by end of day Friday.
when the reply comes backPush once: ask it to sharpen the weakest part, and to say what it assumed. Helpful?
BImprove — make it easier to acceptBefore I send this user permissions report to the auditors, make it easy for them to review.…+
Before I send this user permissions report to the auditors, make it easy for them to review. Group permissions by user, highlight any users with 'sysadmin' or 'db_owner' roles, and add a column showing the last login date for each user.
when the reply comes backPush once: ask it to sharpen the weakest part, and to say what it assumed. Helpful?
CDecide — diagnose the stuck momentOur new developer, Mark, needs to troubleshoot a critical production issue, but the 'dev_read'…+
A new developer just started and needs access to production, but the standard 'dev_read' role isn't enough for their specific task.
Our new developer, Mark, needs to troubleshoot a critical production issue, but the 'dev_read' role isn't giving him access to the stored procedures he needs. I'm worried about granting too much access, especially to production, but the issue is urgent and I can't get a definitive answer from the lead architect until Monday. What's the safest, most immediate way to grant him just enough access to those specific procedures without opening up the whole database, and what's the best way to document this temporary change?
when the reply comes backPush once: ask it to sharpen the weakest part, and to say what it assumed. Helpful?
DBecome — change the patternI'm constantly losing time and risking audit failures by manually verifying user permissions…+
I keep spending hours manually verifying user permissions after every major database change or new project rollout.
I'm constantly losing time and risking audit failures by manually verifying user permissions after every major database change or new project rollout. It's a tedious, error-prone process. What habit can I change to ensure user permissions are always accurately aligned with new requirements and easily verifiable, without having to re-check everything from scratch each time?
when the reply comes backPush once: ask it to sharpen the weakest part, and to say what it assumed. Helpful?

Questions people actually ask

honest answers, no sign-up

Every task here was seen in the real world. Someone doing the job named it, a real job ad asked for it, or a lot of people asked about it online.

If nothing real showed a task, it is not on the page. That is the whole rule.

They are the same job approached four ways, because what you need depends on where you are.

Get it done today. Make it easy for the next person to say yes to. Work out the right move when you are stuck. Learn the pattern so the job stops coming back.

For most of these jobs it can carry the heavy thinking - draft it, sort it, check it, rehearse it with you.

It cannot sit in your chair, take the blame when a number is wrong, or notice what nobody wrote down. Let it do the first 80%. Keep the last 20% that is truly yours.

No. Copy any prompt and paste it into the AI you already use. No account, no score, no wall in the way.

Any of them. The prompts describe the work rather than naming a product, so they are not tied to one assistant.

That is also why they keep working when you switch.

Change it freely. Every prompt is a starting line, not a rule.

Put in your real numbers, your real names and your real deadline. The more you make it yours, the better the answer comes back.

The tasks come from real job ads, published job data and the questions people ask in public forums.

The steps come from Microsoft SQL Server's own documentation, with practitioner sources for the traps the manual does not mention.

Push once. Ask it to sharpen the weakest part and to say what it assumed.

Most wrong answers come from a missing detail rather than a bad prompt - tell it the thing it could not know.