For example, if a user inserts "John Smith" into the Staff table of a current database, this asserts that the fact is valid now and until it is subsequently deleted. By contrast, a temporal database qualifies each row with a valid time stamp, valid time period or valid time interval.
If a user enters "John Smith" into the Staff table of an ongoing database, it indicates that the fact is current and will remain so until it is later removed. Conversely, in a temporal database, each row includes a valid timestamp, valid time span, or valid time range.