Optimize this SQL query for performance

I'm trying to optimize the following statement:

'VI'+CAST(month(GETDATE()) AS NVARCHAR)+'/'+CAST(year(GETDATE()) AS NVARCHAR)
+'/00000' +CAST(@number+1 AS VARCHAR)

The statement produces a value like VI1/2011/000002 if the @number parameter is 1.

I would like to optimize this in terms of removing redundant cast statements and providing an efficient way to concatenate the strings and integers.

If you find yourself frequently performing this conversion as data gets selected out, try using a persisted calculated field instead. It gets added to the table, and SQL Server automatically calculates it whenever the data is inserted or updated. You pay the calculation penalty once - just once - and then it's less CPU whenever the data is selected back out. You can even put an index on it if you find yourself filtering queries with that field.

StackExchange Database Administrators Q#861, answer score: 7