Computer system, a database for storing electronic data and a method to operate a database system

1. A computer system comprising:

a read-only archive system;

a database, wherein the read-only archive system electronically archives data documents originating from said database, the database storing at least:

a plurality of data documents stored thereon, each data document containing at least one data field;

a control table stored thereon containing change rule information pertaining to the at least one data field of a data document archived in an archive system, and

a log table that stores changes to content of archived data documents in the archive system;

a processor communicatively coupled to the database and the read-only archive system that executes at least:

deleting a first data document from the database and storing the first data document in the read-only archive system;

accessing the control table in the database to determine whether the data field of the first data document can be modified;

updating, if the data field of the first data document can be modified, the log table of the database to reflect new content of the data field of the first data document;

receiving a request to return the first data document, and, in response:

retrieving the first data document from the archive system;

retrieving the new content from the database; and

returning the first data document with the new content in place of the original content of the data field; and

a client interconnected with said database and set up to retrieve any of the plurality of data documents from said database and retrieve an archive data document, wherein the fields of said retrieved archive data document are displayed active or non-active to change in response to said change rule information.

2. A computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to perform steps comprising:

access a read-only archive system;

access a database that stores electronic data including:

a plurality of data documents, each data document containing at least one data field;

a control table containing change rule information pertaining to the at least one data field of a data document archived in an archive system; and

a log table storing changes to content of the archived data documents of the archive system;

transfer a first data document from the database to the read-only archive system;

delete the first data document from the database;

determine whether a first data field of the first data document in the archive system can be modified by accessing the change rule information in the control table in the database;

modify, if the modification is allowed, the first data field by storing the new content in the log table of the database;

receive a request to retrieve the first data document, and, in response:

retrieve the first data document from the archive system;

retrieve the new content from the log table of the database, the database being arranged to be interconnected with a client, said client being set up to retrieve one of the plurality of data documents from said database and to display a retrieved archive data document, wherein data fields of said retrieved archive data document are displayed active or non-active to change in accordance with said change rule information; and

return the first data document with the new content of the first data field.

3. A method to operate a database system, said database system comprising a database containing a plurality of data documents stored thereon, each data document containing at least one data field, the method comprising:

providing a read-only archive system that electronically archives data documents originating from said database;

providing a log table in the database that stores any alteration to said at least one data field of the archived data documents;

deleting a first data document from the database and storing the first data document in the read-only archive system;

upon retrieving and opening the first data document archived in said archive system, retrieving from said database change rule information pertaining to said retrieved archived data document;

displaying the change rule information together with said retrieved archived data document and the alteration, wherein said change rule information displayed together with said retrieved archived data document indicates which of said at least one data field of said displayed data document can be altered;

receiving a request to modify a first data field of the first data document archived in the archive system;

determining whether the check rule information allows the modification;

modifying, if the check rule information allows, the content of the first data field by storing new content in the log table of the database;

receiving a request to access the first data document archived in the archive system, and, in response:

retrieving the first data document from the archive system;

retrieving the new content from the log table of the database system; and

returning the first data document with the new content of the first data field.

4. A method of changing archived data documents, comprising:

retrieving, via a processor, an archived data document from a read-only archive system that electronically archives documents originating from a database;

retrieving, via a processor, change rule information pertaining to at least one data field of said retrieved archive data document;

displaying said retrieved archive data document with any data field identified in said change rule information as being alterable set active for change, all remaining data fields set non-active;

storing, via a processor, any change to said active data field in a log table within the database;

receiving, via a processor, a request to access the archived data document, and, in response:

retrieving the archived data document from the archive system;

retrieving the new content from the log table of the database system; and

returning the first data document with the new content of the first data field;

retrieving the change from the log table from said database; and

displaying said retrieved archived data document with the content of any data field listed in said log table being the content identified in said log table for said data field and with any data field identified in said change rule information as being alterable set active for change, all remaining data fields set non-active.

5. The computer system of claim 1 , wherein the changes to content stored by the log table include multiple different changes to content of a single archived data document.

6. The computer system of claim 1 , wherein the log table comprises information that allows the identification of the data field of the first data document.

7. The computer readable storage medium of claim 2 , wherein the changes to content stored by the log table include multiple different changes to content of a single archived data document.

8. The computer readable storage medium of claim 2 , wherein the log table comprises information that allows the identification of the first data field.

9. The method of claim 3 , further comprising storing, via the processor, multiple changes to said active data field in the log table within the database.

10. The method of claim 3 , wherein storing new content in the log table of the database includes storing the information such that the data field of the first data document can be identified.

11. The method of claim 4 , further comprising storing, via the processor, multiple changes to said active data field in the log table within the database.

12. The method of claim 4 , wherein storing new content in the log table of the database includes storing the information such that the data field of the first data document can be identified.