How would you version an address change in a system that tracks address history?

How would you version an address change in a system that tracks address history?

• A. Create a new address version with updated fields, mark the previous as historic, and maintain an active_version pointer.
• B. Overwrite the existing address record with the new fields.
• C. Keep both versions and delete the old one after a retention period.
• D. Create a copy in a separate table and leave the original record untouched.

Answer: (A)

Maintaining an audit trail of address changes relies on versioning the address records. When the address changes, you create a new version entry with the updated fields and mark the previous version as historic, while a pointer on the address record references the active version. This design preserves every state of the address over time and makes retrieving the current address straightforward by following the active_version link.

Why this works well is that it gives you a complete history for audits and rollback, while keeping a single source of truth for the current data. The historic flag protects past data from being lost, and the active_version pointer lets you fetch the current address without sifting through all past versions.

Other approaches tend to lose or complicate history: overwriting would discard past states; keeping both versions and deleting the old after a retention period adds extra management and can blur which version is current; creating a copy in a separate table and leaving the original untouched introduces duplication and more complex queries to determine the current state.