Database audit issues prompt development of bi-temporal systems

A customer invoice dispute highlights a common database limitation where only current data is retained, obscuring what the system believed at a past moment. Most applications store only one timestamp and overwrite old data, preventing historical queries. Bi-temporal databases maintain two separate timestamps: one for when a fact was true in the world and another for when the system recorded it. This allows answering audit questions about past system states, such as disputed invoices. Minigraf, an embedded graph database released this week, implements this bi-temporal model for forensic analysis.