Apparatus and method for automating the logging of table changes in a database

A system and method for logging changes to a database table are disclosed. The system comprises an administration tool, table metadata, a history table, and a service engine. The administration tool provides an interface through which a DBA, database programmer, or other user can manage the table metadata and the history table, including the selection of columns within the table for which the system will track changes. In the preferred embodiment, the service engine is a middleware application that tracks changes for the selected columns. The service engine processes all user-requested database operations and adds operations to manage the history table before relaying the request operations to a DBMS. Alternatively or additionally, the service engine may be a wrapper to existing services that the database application provides.