The SQL Server 2012 also introduced UNBOUNDED option using PRECEDING and FOLLOWING options.

The UNBOUNDED option is very useful to determine a calculation from the beginning of a set to the current row, or from the current row to the end of a set or group.

We can calculate the cumulative SUM column with the many different options like: CTE, Self join, but in this post I am using UNBOUNDED PRECEDING option of SQL Server 2012.

For example, If we are working with sales and inventory management domain, every day we require to calculate cumulative sum of different columns like: stock value, profit figure, expense figure.

Generally, we can use this kind of demonstration for report purpose only and if it is required to store, we can populate and store for permanent use.

Below is a small demonstration to calculate Cumulative SUM column.

First, create sample table with data:

CREATE TABLE tbl_SampleSum
(
	ID INT
	,SumValue INT
)
GO

INSERT INTO tbl_SampleSum
VALUES 
(1,100),(2,150),(3,175)
,(4,250),(5,100),(6,88)
,(7,120),(8,130),(9,275)
GO

Populate cumulative SUM column using UNBOUNDED PRECEDING:

SELECT 
	ID
	,SumValue
	,SUM(SumValue) OVER(ORDER BY ID ROWS BETWEEN UNBOUNDED PRECEDING AND CURRENT ROW) AS CumulativeSum
FROM tbl_SampleSum
ORDER BY ID

The Result:

ID          SumValue    CumulativeSum
----------- ----------- -------------
1           100         100
2           150         250
3           175         425
4           250         675
5           100         775
6           88          863
7           120         983
8           130         1113
9           275         1388