oracle8.1.6 select journal_id, action_pretty, msg, decode(NVL(p.person_id, 0), 0, 'System', substr(p.first_names, 1, 1) || '. ' || p.last_name) person, to_char(o.creation_date, 'MM/DD/YY HH24:MI:SS') when from journal_entries j, acs_objects o, persons p where ( j.object_id = :item_id or j.object_id in (select case_id from wf_cases c where c.object_id = :item_id) ) and j.journal_id = o.object_id and o.creation_user = p.person_id (+) and msg is not null order by o.creation_date desc