Numbers in a db

Oracle and SQL handle numbers just fine. The issue is when you move data from one DB to another. One db that is troubling me lately has some fun ideas about identity numbers (columns used for the unique primary key, and it's a number). The Oracle table has them as Number (20,0) instead of INT or BIGINT. For those who don't see my pain right off, the troubling part in that sentence is the (20,0). Number is a data type you would use when storing values that have something after the decimal point, like how I bought a pack of gum today and it was $1.29. 20,0 states that there are 20 available spaces to the left of the decimal and NONE to the right. If you are not storing anything after the decimal use an INT!

SSIS is nice enough to automatically map this from Oracle as Numeric(20,0) into SQL. Changing the data type to BIGINT makes it much less moronic and usable. Oh, and a nugget of fun with this. If you are using the SQL connections in .NET they tend to flip out at a Numeric (20,0) data type.