RE: I need faster SQL

First thing to do is to pull out the SQL and run separately. How long
does it take to run?

<snip>
Would a named activation group positively affect performance in
this case?
</snip>

Always run ILE programs in a named activation group.

<snip>
Is there a way to reset the cursor without executing the declare
repeatedly
</snip>

If you issue the declare once and do an open and close each time, it
will reuse the Open Data Path(ODP). Actually, if you look at the
compiled code you will see that the declare is just a comment. There is
no executable code. 

Based on your SQL, you should be reusing the ODP 

Last thing. If you are reading in a lot of records, the best way to
increase the performance is to read in many records into an array. 

The best way to do this is to create a user space and load the records
directly to the user space. Then read the user space in a loop. 

I don't know your field sizes so I am guessing. Partial code. Just the
flavor. 

D dsRecord...
D                   s               Qualified
D                                   Based(ptrRecord)
D                                   Occurs(32766)
D  IORD#                     7a
D  IITEM                    15a
D  IQORD                     7p 2
D  IQSHP                     7P 2
D  SLDATE                    8s 0
 /Free

  ptrRecord = MakeUserSpace();

 /Exec Sql
  Fetch From C1 For 32766 Rows Into :dsRecord  
 /End-Exec

  w_RowCount = SQLERRD(3);

  For x = 1 to w_RowCount;
    %Occur(dsRecord) = x;
    // process record
  EndFor;