UFN_MEMBERSHIP_GETNUMBEROFMEMBERS_FROMITEMLISTXML

        CREATE function [dbo].[UFN_MEMBERSHIP_GETNUMBEROFMEMBERS_FROMITEMLISTXML](@ITEMLISTXML xml) 
        returns smallint with execute as caller
        as
            begin
                declare @NUMBEROFMEMBERS smallint;

                select
                    @NUMBEROFMEMBERS = count(T.members.value('(ID)[1]','uniqueidentifier'))
                from 
                    @ITEMLISTXML.nodes('/MEMBERS/ITEM') T(members)


                return @NUMBEROFMEMBERS
            end