Trouble Opening A Connection To SQL 2000 DB

I'm developing an intranet site in ASP.NET 2.0 but I can't seem to connect to the DB from within my code. I've created a .vb class that houses a private Connection() that other functions within the class can call to connect to the database. In the calling function, I've declared my connection object and called the "Open" method on the object. However, when I attempt to execute the stored procedure command by calling the "ExecuteScalar" method, I get the following error:

"ExecuteScalar requires an open and available Connection. The connection's current state is closed."

Here's the code from my class:

Imports System.Data

Imports System.Data.SqlClient

Namespace Encompass

Public Class EncompassSecurity

Public Shared Function GetHRIDByNTUserID(ByVal strNTUserID) As String

Dim strHRID As String

'Create command object

Dim cmd As New SqlCommand("usp_Get_HRID_By_NTUserID", Connection())

cmd.CommandType = CommandType.StoredProcedure

'Open DB connection

Dim DBConnection As SqlConnection = Connection()

DBConnection.Open()

'Input parameters

Dim inNTUserParam As New SqlParameter("@NT_UserID", SqlDbType.VarChar)

inNTUserParam.Direction = ParameterDirection.Input

inNTUserParam.Value = strNTUserID

cmd.Parameters.Add(inNTUserParam)

'Output parameters

Dim outHRIDParam As New SqlParameter("@HRID", SqlDbType.Int)

outHRIDParam.Direction = ParameterDirection.Output

cmd.Parameters.Add(outHRIDParam)

'Run stored procedure

strHRID = cmd.ExecuteScalar()

Return (strHRID)

'Close DB connection

DBConnection.Close()

End Function

Private Shared Function Connection() As SqlConnection

Dim strConnectionString As String

strConnectionString = ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings("Conn").ConnectionString

Return New SqlConnection(strConnectionString)

End Function

End Class

End Namespace

Here's the code from my web.config file:

<?xml version="1.0"?>

<!--

Note: As an alternative to hand editing this file you can use the

web admin tool to configure settings for your application. Use

the Website->Asp.Net Configuration option in Visual Studio.

A full list of settings and comments can be found in

machine.config.comments usually located in

WindowsMicrosoft.NetFrameworkv2.xConfig

-->

<configuration xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/.NetConfiguration/v2.0">

<connectionStrings>

<add name="Conn" connectionString="Data Source=ServerName;Initial Catalog=NPASDV;uid=UserName;password=*******;"

providerName="System.Data.SqlClient" />

</connectionStrings>





<system.web>

<!--

Set compilation debug="true" to insert debugging

symbols into the compiled page. Because this

affects performance, set this value to true only

during development.

Visual Basic options:

Set strict="true" to disallow all data type conversions

where data loss can occur.

Set explicit="true" to force declaration of all variables.

-->

<roleManager defaultProvider="AspNetWindowsTokenRoleProvider" />

<compilation debug="true" strict="false" explicit="true" />

<pages>

<namespaces>

<clear />

<add namespace="System" />

<add namespace="System.Collections" />

<add namespace="System.Collections.Specialized" />

<add namespace="System.Configuration" />

<add namespace="System.Text" />

<add namespace="System.Text.RegularExpressions" />

<add namespace="System.Web" />

<add namespace="System.Web.Caching" />

<add namespace="System.Web.SessionState" />

<add namespace="System.Web.Security" />

<add namespace="System.Web.Profile" />

<add namespace="System.Web.UI" />

<add namespace="System.Web.UI.WebControls" />

<add namespace="System.Web.UI.WebControls.WebParts" />

<add namespace="System.Web.UI.HtmlControls" />

</namespaces>

</pages>

<!--

The <authentication> section enables configuration

of the security authentication mode used by

ASP.NET to identify an incoming user.

-->

<authentication mode="Windows" />



<!--

The <customErrors> section enables configuration

of what to do if/when an unhandled error occurs

during the execution of a request. Specifically,

it enables developers to configure html error pages

to be displayed in place of a error stack trace.

<customErrors mode="RemoteOnly" defaultRedirect="GenericErrorPage.htm">

<error statusCode="403" redirect="NoAccess.htm" />

<error statusCode="404" redirect="FileNotFound.htm" />

</customErrors>

-->

</system.web>

</configuration>

What am I doing wrong? Any help would be most appreciated!!

Manuel