What is it ?
A Database Trigger is a special business rule that is associated with a specific file within your Stamina Software solution that is activated whenever a record is written to, or deleted from, the nominated file

What does this mean to me ?
Database triggers enhance the capabilities of customizing you Stamina Software solution by enforcing business rules at the file level within your application. If you want to enforce specific behavior, checks and controls that you may think are outside of the scope of normal software to perform, then a Database Trigger may provide the level of functionality you require.

For example, a business rule that you might want to put in place might be "send an EMAIL message to the credit controller as soon as a customers account exceeds their credit limit". This rule only need to be installed against a single file, and will be activated whenever any transaction, from any source, causes a customers balance to exceed their stated credit limit.

Of course there is no limit as to what constitutes a business rule - the possibilities are almost endless. It can be simple or complex, with a single or multiple criteria and outcomes, and may also be used to operate on objects outside of the Stamina Software environment.

A common use of a database trigger is to update foreign database environments, typically when Stamina Software is installed in say a branch or division, but still needs to update a Corporate G/L system at head office. In this case a business rule, expressed as a database trigger, can not only update the external/foreign system, but also take care of any account translation, reformatting etc.

The use of Database Triggers facilitates special processing to be performed based upon criteria you control. If you want the system to ensure that this happens if that occurs then Database Triggers provide a simple and very efficient means of enforcing your requirements.

How does it work ?
A Database Trigger is expressed as a program written in the native programming language of the underlying database employed by your Stamina Software solution. This special program, known as a subroutine, is then linked to a specific file within your database by making an entry into the data dictionary associated with the target file.

Once this entry has been made, the system will automatically reference the database trigger whenever the file is

Because this is a technical aspect of your system, it is likely that the programming involved is actually expressing a business rule, or defining the database trigger, will be carried out by your Stamina Software solution provider.

However, if you do have technically competent staff, then this is a task that you can undertake internally, though a degree of caution must be exercised as these database triggers operate at a low level of the system, and by their nature have the capacity to modify (and therefore corrupt) you database if they contain logic errors.

For this reason your Stamina Software solution provider will still want to examine and check your database trigger before it is installed in your live system.