?s regarding sparse indexes

I'm new at a company that has launched a DDS to DDL initiative.

The idea has been introduced to replace our select/omit logicals with sparse indexes.

The idea of a sparse index is new to me and I'm wondering about best practices regarding sparse indexes.

The first thought that comes to mind is that I was always taught not to use select/omit logicals. Quite frankly this has been so ingrained in me that I'm not sure why anymore. The most obvious argument is that when researching code it's frustrating. Some of the business logic is hidden in the logical and being new to the environment I don't always realize what might be happening outside of the program.

For that reason alone I'm not a fan of creating sparse indexes to replace select/omit logicals. For review/analysis purposes - it would hide some of the business logic.

But the idea of a sparse index also perplexes me for another reason. I thought the idea in SQL was always to reference the table - not a logical. And let the engine do the work. If you used sparse indexes wouldn't you have to reference the specific index?

Thoughts on best practices and references would be appreciated. I tried a google search and did not come up with much.

Thanks.
Vicki Wilson