 <p>I am not claiming this is how to do it, but it seems to work, and would appreciate any opinions. Thanks</p> <pre><code>DELIMITER $$ CREATE PROCEDURE `createRecord` () BEGIN IF NEW.created_by_user IS NULL OR NEW.created_by_user = '' THEN SET NEW.created_by_user = @users_id; END IF; IF NEW.modified_by_user IS NULL OR NEW.modified_by_user = '' THEN SET NEW.modified_by_user = @users_id; END IF; END$$ CREATE PROCEDURE `modifyRecord` () BEGIN IF NEW.modified_by_user = OLD.modified_by_user THEN SET NEW.modified_by_user = @users_id; END IF; END$$ CREATE TRIGGER tg_notes_upd BEFORE UPDATE ON notes FOR EACH ROW BEGIN CALL createRecord(); END$$ CREATE TRIGGER tg_notes_ins BEFORE INSERT ON notes FOR EACH ROW BEGIN CALL modifyRecord(); END$$ DELIMITER ; </code></pre>