Revisiedata

Revisiedata is a term used in data management to describe data items that have been updated, corrected, or refined after their initial creation, together with the metadata that documents the revision. It is used to preserve a history of changes and to support auditability, traceability, and data quality improvement.

A typical revision data structure includes the revised value and a revision log. Common fields include revision_id or version, changed_at timestamp, changed_by user or system, rationale or reason_for_revision, change_description, and links to prior versions. Some designs also store the original value, a delta or patch, and provenance information such as source or method of revision, along with data lineage.

Temporal aspects are central to revisiedata. In many implementations, revisions live in versioned records or dedicated revisions tables and may support time-based querying. In bitemporal models, data has valid_time (when the information is true in the real world) and transaction_time (when the revision was recorded in the system). This allows applications to reconstruct the state of the data at any point in time.

Applications span content management, product catalogs, scientific datasets, and financial records. Revision data enables rollback, comparison of versions, audit trails, and reproducibility of analyses. It also supports governance processes such as data quality reviews and compliance reporting.

Common storage patterns include versioned rows in place, separate revisions tables, or event-sourced architectures that emit revision events. Best practices emphasize immutable storage of revisions, clear provenance, access controls, and documentation of revision criteria.