Data Architecture

12. Time as a Dimension of the Database

What Is to Be Done with Historical Data?

The scope of this problem is growing just as historical data stores on large database servers are swelling with data. It is not a trivial issue; modeling historical data, doing the logical design of database components, and creating the physical implementations are tough tasks. However, the problem is often overlooked because in the initial phases of system design, there isn’t any historical data, and so the real problems haven’t arisen.

But with today’s capability (and need) to access, retrieve, and process this data—both in production and in ad hoc query systems—historical data issues are gaining attention. The access mechanism for both processing and retrieval is ...