Patent ID: 8037088

Claim:
A computer-implemented method that returns a change status for a given user, artifact pair, where the artifact has a unique artifact identifier and an artifact type, and where the given user is selected from at least two users with access to the artifact., the method comprising: storing, in a data store an access table that records access information, where the access information includes, for each instance of an artifact being accessed by a user, an access time, a user identifier, and the artifact identifier; storing, in the data store, a type registration table that maps artifact types to an artifact data store for the artifact type and an access table that records access information for artifacts of the artifact type; with a processor, querying the type registration table to return a data store and access table associated with the artifact type; with a processor, querying the access table to return the user's last access time for the artifact; if a last access time is returned as a result of the querying of the access table, querying the data store to return a last modification time for the artifact; based on the last modification time and the last access time, determining a change status for the given user, artifact pair, wherein the given user is selected from at least two users with access to the artifact; and providing the change status for the given user, artifact pair.