Description
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms714632(v=vs.85).aspx
This column is the same as the DATA_TYPE column, except for interval and datetime data types. For interval and datetime data types, the SQL_DATA_TYPE field in the result set will return SQL_INTERVAL or SQL_DATETIME, and the SQL_DATETIME_SUB field will return the subcode for the specific interval or datetime data type. (See Appendix D: Data Types.)
BI tools or SDKs may use this metadata field to do type conversion.