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Fast Focus: Time Travelling Data
Many teams need to answer questions like “what did this record look like last week?” and often rely on custom triggers and history procedures to get there. This session shows how SQL Server and Azure SQL already provide built-in temporal table capabilities to solve this problem more cleanly. You’ll see key use cases, point-in-time query syntax, and how Entity Framework Core support makes temporal querying easier in modern .NET applications.
What This Session Covers
This lightning-style session focuses on practical, built-in options for historical data analysis without complex custom auditing infrastructure.
You’ll walk through:
- What temporal tables are and the scenarios where they add immediate value.
- How to get started with temporal tables in SQL Server and Azure SQL.
- Point-in-time querying patterns to retrieve record state at a specific date and time.
- How Entity Framework Core streamlines temporal table access in application code.
Practical Outcomes
By the end of the session, you should be able to:
- Identify business scenarios where temporal tables are the right fit.
- Implement a starter temporal table strategy and query historical data effectively.
- Recognize best practices and limitations before adopting temporal tables at scale.