Management of time-variant data schemas in data warehouses

1. A computer-implemented method, on an information processing system, for preserving information in time variant database schemas, the method comprising:

determining if at least one modification request associated with a database schema has been received;

determining a modification associated with the modification request that is to be performed on the database schema;

modifying, based on the modification to be performed, the modification request prior to the modification request being received at a system comprising the database schema by adding at least one instruction to the modification request that instructs the modification request to add at least one entry to a metadata table associated with the database schema, wherein the modifying the modification request further prevents the modification associated with the modification request from deleting at least one of a column and a table from the database schema, and wherein the metadata table is a schema catalog table including metadata associated with a plurality of tables within the database schema,

updating, by the modification request based on the at least one instruction, the metadata table to include at least one entry associated with the modification request, wherein the entry identifies an instance in time when an action associated with the modification request was performed on the database schema, and wherein the entry is associated with one of a column and a table in the database schema,

wherein in response to determining that the modification associated with the modification request is for adding a column to a table in the database schema, the modifying further comprises:

modifying the modification request by adding at least one instruction to the modification request that instructs the modification request to set a time stamp to reflect a time when the column was added to the database schema;

wherein in response to determining that the modification associated with the modification request is for deleting a column from the database schema, the modifying further comprises:

modifying the modification request by adding at least one instruction to the modification request that instructs the modification request to set a time stamp to reflect a time when the column became inactive; and

modifying the modification request by adding at least one instruction to the modification request that prevents the modification request from deleting the column from the database schema;

wherein in response to determining that the modification request is for renaming a column in the database schema, the modifying further comprises:

modifying the modification request by adding at least one instruction to the modification request that instructs the modification request to add a new row comprising at least a new column name associated with the column;

modifying the modification request by adding at least one instruction to the modification request that instructs the modification request to add a time stamp to the new row reflecting a time when the new column name was created; and

modifying the modification request by adding at least one instruction to the modification request that instructs the modification request to add an entry to a row corresponding to the column reflecting a time stamp when a name of the column became inactive;

wherein in response to determining that the modification associated with the modification request is for adding a table to the database schema, the modifying further comprises:

modifying the modification request by adding at least one instruction to the modification request that instructs the modification request to set a time stamp to reflect a time when the table was added to the database schema;

wherein in response to determining that the modification associated with the modification request is for deleting a table from the database schema, the modifying further comprises:

modifying the modification request by adding at least one instruction to the modification request that instructs the modification request to set a time stamp to reflect a time when the table became inactive; and

modifying the modification request by adding at least one instruction to the modification request that prevents the modification request from deleting the table from the database schema;

wherein in response to determining that the modification request is for renaming a table in the database schema, the modifying further comprises:

modifying the modification request by adding at least one instruction to the modification request that instructs the modification request to add a new row comprising at least a new table name associated with the table;

modifying the modification request by adding at least one instruction to the modification request that instructs the modification request to add a time stamp to the new row reflecting a time when the new table name was created; and

modifying the modification request by adding at least one instruction to the modification request that instructs the modification request to add a time stamp to a row corresponding to the table reflecting a time when a name of the table became inactive.