optimizing stored procedures

hi all,
i'm working in a database, i'm not the creater of it, and was assigned to optimize the stored procedures running against this database.
can someone tell me what steps should i follow to check these SP's and to what should i look at and what can be done to optimise them.

thanks expertsIt might be a two line question but it is a massive subject. People make their careers out of this.

read stuf here:
http://www.sql-server-performance.com/
Learn to read execution plans.
Learn about SET STATISTICS IO
Learn to use profiler.
Read BoL (section on Optimising Database Performance).
Learn your database.
Learn about indexing strategies.|||First make sure all the critical joins are indexed. Then eliminate any cursors or loops.|||I usually I just ask the QA people what parts of the app sucks the will to live out of them and then I trace those screens to identify the really big pieces of suck ass code and I look at the execution plans of those queries. I like being reactive.|||exactly. the ONLY sure way to find where the perf problems are is to measure.

ask any dev where the most time is spent in their code, and 90% will give you the wrong answer. the other 10% are right only because they have profiled it. :)|||I would trac it all to a table, th query the damn thing for the longest running pieces of code...

I guess we could make you look like a hero, sinve it seems no one else knows what's going on.

How big is this company?

And how what's your experience level

And do you have SQL Server client tools installed

Do you know what books online is?

Do you know what Google is?|||I guess we could make you look like a hero
...
Do you know what Google is?Downgrading as you type.|||There are some good articles about perf tuning here:

http://www.sql-server-performance.com/articles_performance.asp
http://www.sql-server-performance.com/articles_audit.asp

in particular this one will show you how to use profiler for catching the biggest pigs in your database:
http://www.sql-server-performance.com/sql_server_performance_audit10.asp

and elsewhere on that site.

Be aware, however, sql is not the only process that can kill your perf. compiled code can be poorly written too. for compiled code you need to use a different profiling tool (I usually use perf studio in VS).|||I trace all the queries to a table, as Brett mentioned. Then query it for the total number of reads grouped by say the first 50 or 100 characters of the textdata field. I find it is usually better to tune the average running query that runs 1,000's of times per day than the one pig that runs once at midnight. With all the variations that the textdata field can have, getting that aggregate right is a challenge, though.|||...
Downgrading as you type.

Are you saying that you should assume something about someone's experience?|||Nope - but if you take a poster on a forum from not knowing what google is to being a hero dba then I will eat all my hats.

Anyway yes - the OP needs to identify the sprocs to tune and then needs to learn the skills to tune them. Or post them here of course.