What is Change Data Capture?
The short answer
Change data capture identifies and delivers modifications to records rather than retransmitting the entire dataset.
Change Data Capture: why it matters
Automated company-data workflows need clear meanings and traceable transformations. An operation that runs successfully can still produce a result that is unsuitable for the intended business question.
How to assess it in practice
For change data capture, retain the specific source, scope and effective date, and distinguish verified facts from assumptions before using the result in a decision. Start by defining the question the team needs to answer. Identify the relevant record or evidence, check its scope and date, and retain the reasoning behind the result. If evidence conflicts, keep that conflict visible for review.
Worked example
Illustrative workflow: a team reviewing a business adds a separate check for change data capture. The reviewer’s task is to for change data capture, retain the specific source, scope and effective date, and distinguish verified facts from assumptions before using the result in a decision. The outcome is recorded together with the supporting evidence; an unresolved question stays open rather than being converted into a positive result.
A connector restarts after an outage. Resume from a valid checkpoint and reconcile the retained state instead of assuming the newest event makes the dataset complete.
Distinctions that matter
Change Data Capture belongs to the data freshness & historical state topic family. Read Point-in-Time Data alongside it to understand the adjacent question. Each page has its own intended scope; shared context does not make the concepts equivalent.
Evidence and review output
Review these
- Event and effective timestamps
- Publication and ingestion context
- Corrections and refresh outcomes
The review should produce
A time-aware record that supports both current use and reconstruction of earlier evidence states.
Across this family
Time has several meanings in company data: occurrence, effectiveness, publication, ingestion and retrieval. Historical analysis and current freshness need different views of those dates. Preserve corrections and delivery gaps so later information does not silently rewrite what was known earlier.
A note from practice
CDC must handle inserts, updates, deletes and replay according to the source mechanism. A checkpoint strategy and reconciliation process are necessary to detect gaps that successful message processing alone may miss.
Limits and common mistakes
The practical boundary is important: For change data capture, retain the specific source, scope and effective date, and distinguish verified facts from assumptions before using the result in a decision. Do not substitute a related label for this check or assume that missing information is a negative finding. Source-specific and jurisdiction-specific rules require their own review.
Frequently asked questions
Which evidence should I review?
How is Change Data Capture different from Point-in-Time Data?
What should the result of the review contain?
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Related topics
- Data freshness & historical statePoint-in-Time DataPoint-in-time data represents information as known or valid at a specified moment.
- Data freshness & historical stateHistorical Company DataHistorical company data preserves prior company attributes, events or documents with their time context.
- Data freshness & historical stateData RefreshA data refresh retrieves or recomputes information to update a retained dataset or view.
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