Here are some more variations on this..

For the Update, you could use:
Code:

UPDATE a 
SET a.storage_co = c.storage_co
FROM dbo.shp a 
	INNER JOIN dbo.gen b 
		ON a.[file_id] = b.[file_id]
	INNER JOIN KDyer.hold_storage c
		ON c.loan_num = b.loan_num


or:
Code:

UPDATE 
    SHP 
    SET shp.storage_co=
(SELECT     KDyer.hold_storage.storage_co
FROM         KDyer.hold_storage INNER JOIN
                      dbo.gen ON KDyer.hold_storage.loan_num = dbo.gen.loan_num)
FROM         dbo.shp INNER JOIN
                      dbo.gen ON dbo.shp.file_id = dbo.gen.file_id


One variation for Inserts
Code:

INSERT translog 
    (
        file_id,
        employ_id,
        field,
        oldval,
        newval, 
        changdate
    ) 
SELECT     a.file_id,'ADP','Storage Company', a.storage_co, c.storage_co,getdate()
FROM         dbo.shp a INNER JOIN
                      dbo.gen b ON a.file_id = b.file_id INNER JOIN
                      hold_storage c ON c.loan_num = b.loan_num


Doing three inserts at once:
Code:

INSERT translog 
    (
        file_id,
        employ_id,
        field,
        oldval,
        newval, 
        changdate
    ) 
SELECT     a.file_id,'ADP','Storage Company', a.storage_co, c.storage_co,getdate()
FROM         dbo.shp a INNER JOIN
                      dbo.gen b ON a.file_id = b.file_id INNER JOIN
                      hold_storage c ON c.loan_num = b.loan_num
UNION SELECT     a.file_id,'ADP','File Location', a.file_location, c.file_location,getdate()
FROM         dbo.shp a INNER JOIN
                      dbo.gen b ON a.file_id = b.file_id INNER JOIN
                      hold_storage c ON c.loan_num = b.loan_num
UNION SELECT     a.file_id,'ADP','Package Track No', a.pkg_trac, c.pkg_trac,getdate()
FROM         dbo.shp a INNER JOIN
                      dbo.gen b ON a.file_id = b.file_id INNER JOIN
                      hold_storage c ON c.loan_num = b.loan_num


HTH,

Kent
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