I am doing some database updates and would appreciate guidance from others.
We have a table that records basic details (id, name, address, city, etc..) about a location (tblProperties). Within this table we have a field called PropertyName - this field can represent an apartment complex name or a business name.
It's not unusual for an apartment complex to change names, happens more than I thought it ever would, and I need to come up with a better system to make the "old name" searchable. Example of my issue:
PropertyName: Riverview Commons
We get a phone call that the property has been sold, and they have a new name.
New name: Arise River Bend
When the business owner asks me about a property, he often refers to it by the old name, simply because he's been using that name for 15+ years. To help me with my search, I store name changes the following way:
PropertyName: Arise River Bend (Riverview Commons)
I know this is not a good way to do things, but I've never had time to make any changes and want to do those now.
I plan to create a new table to record property name changes and thinking I may only need basic information like: PropertyID, PropertyName, NameChangeDate.
I'm wondering if anyone does anything similar where you record database changes and best practices, advice you can share? Thank you.
