tables to the new temporal capabilities. There are two common scenarios to consider: If you have existing tables without timestamp columns and you want to turn these into temporal tables with system time or business time periods, you can use ALTER TABLE statements to add the required timestamp columns and period definition to the table. For a system period temporal table, you would then also create a history table like your original table and use another ALTER TABLE statement to enable versioning. The second scenario involves migrating tables that already have timestamp columns. For example, you might already be using triggers to set timestamp columns and populate a history table. In that case, you can reuse the existing timestamp columns and history table. You simply perform ALTER TABLE statements to declare that the existing timestamp columns are now interpreted as a SYSTEM_TIME period. You can then drop your triggers and issue another ALTER TABLE statement to enable versioning between your base table and history table. Similar migration options exist for business time as well. The new DB2 temporal data support provides simple yet sophisticated capabilities for managing multiple versions of your data and tracking effective business dates. Based on the temporal features in the SQL:2011 standard, DB2 enables database professionals to work with temporal data in an efficient manner, saving considerable time and effort when compared with hard-coding temporal logic into triggers, stored procedures, or homegrown applications. Build your next development project with IBM trial software , available for download