Patent ID: 8700566

Claim:
A computer programmed to perform an offline data entry database (DEDB) restructure operation, the operation comprising: identifying an online source DEDB having a first structure; identifying an offline shadow DEDB having a second structure that differs from the first structure; registering one or more areas of the source DEDB with a change capture module prior to copying data from the source DEDB to the offline shadow DEDB, an area comprising a specified number of units of work (UOWs), a UOW being a region contained in a specified number of storage blocks; copying data from the one or more registered areas of the source DEDB into the offline shadow DEDB in units of work, wherein the copying of each unit of work (UOW) occurs sequentially so that copying begins after the preceding UOW has been written to the offline shadow DEDB; identifying a modification to the source DEDB occurring during the act of copying; determining whether the modification is directed to a registered area; applying the modification to the offline shadow DEDB while keeping the source DEDB online; quiesceing the source DEDB; taking the source DEDB offline; applying any additional modifications made to the source DEDB that have not been applied to the offline shadow DEDB; swapping the offline shadow DEDB for the source DEDB; and putting the offline shadow DEDB online, wherein the offline shadow DEDB replaces the source DEDB as an online DEDB.