Presents your 
SQL SERVER E-NEWSLETTER for February 25, 2003

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MAINTAIN SCHEMA CHANGE TABLE ON DATABASES

It's a good business practice to maintain a database table that lists
the schema changes made in databases over time. This table should contain
information such as:


* The date the schema change was made.

* The name of the script that contains the schema changes.

* A short description of the schema change, specifically stating the purpose.

* The product build number correlating to the schema change.

* The person who executed the schema change.

* The person authorizing the schema change.


This is very beneficial if you're maintaining a product that has SQL
Server database(s) and are maintaining this product at several sites. 
You can identify which site has which build of the product you're supporting.

Once you know the build of a product, you can then determine what
functionalities may not be available at that site; this allows you to assess
which bugs can be eradicated with new builds of the product.

This information can prove helpful when a product doesn't have
sufficient database support and you need to quickly establish the 
product version a client is running to help troubleshoot issues.

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