What am I missing in this insert statement?

Question

INSERT INTO GIADM.GI_TRANSFER_EMP(TRANSFER_EMP_ID,USER_ID,EMP_LAST_NAME,
                                  EMP_FIRST_NAME,EMP_ACTIVE_FLAG) 
VALUES (select a.USER_ID as transfer_emp_id,
          u.user_id as user_id,
          u.user_last_name as emp_last_name,
          u.USER_FIRST_NAME as emp_first_name,
          u.USER_ACTIVE_FLAG as emp_active_flag
     from db_user u, application_group_user a
     where u.user_id in
          (select a.user_id
             from application_group_user a
            WHERE a.APP_ID = 46
              and a.SEC_GROUP_ID = 17)
      and a.user_id = u.user_id);

Answer 1

Don't need the VALUES keyword when you're using SELECT to populate an INSERT statement:

INSERT INTO GIADM.GI_TRANSFER_EMP
    (TRANSFER_EMP_ID,USER_ID,EMP_LAST_NAME,EMP_FIRST_NAME,EMP_ACTIVE_FLAG)
SELECT a.USER_ID as transfer_emp_id,
       u.user_id as user_id,
       u.user_last_name as emp_last_name,
       u.USER_FIRST_NAME as emp_first_name,
       u.USER_ACTIVE_FLAG as emp_active_flag
  FROM DB_USER u
  JOIN APPLICATION_GROUP_USER a ON a.user_id = u.user_id
                               AND a.APP_ID = 46
                               AND a.SEC_GROUP_ID = 17

Answer 2

The syntax is either

INSERT INTO tablename (columnnames...) VALUES (values...)

or

INSERT INTO tablename (columnnames...)
SELECT values
FROM ...